I'm at 140k in my 2008 SS/TC and it's time to change out the shocks and struts. I ordered "stock" replacement struts and shock from RockAuto. Struts are P/N: 506684 (replaces 15247246) for the right and P/N: 506683 (replaces 15247245) for the left. These are supposed to be AC Delco stock replacement for the originals with the FE5 suspension.

I got to work this past weekend replacing them and ran into a couple of "possible" issues.

1) When I took the new struts out of the box, I compressed them just to see what they felt like. They took very little effort to compress and by little effort, I mean they nearly compressed under their own weight. I was a bit perplexed but both struts felt the same so I went ahead with the swap. Also, once I got the old ones out, I compressed them just to see what they would feel like and they took a lot more force to compress. Once compressed, the old ones did not decompress on their own so I wasn't sure I could use them as a comparison. Again, I went on with the swap.

2) After the replacement, I took the car for a test drive and noticed a big difference in handling...but in a horrible way. At about 25mph I did a little slalom steering and the body roll is worse then before I replaced the struts! WTH?

Enough babbling, here is my question. What are brand new stock replacement struts supposed to feel like when you compress them? Is what I described accurate or have I screwed up by going forward with the swap? I'm hoping someone who has done this swap before will chime in. My goal is to figure out if the strut is the problem or if my amateur mechanic skills have left me with a new problem. And if it's the strut, where have you been purchasing stock replacement struts so I can get some "real" stock replacements.

Thanks for any help!

 

You got the wrong part numbers my friend. Correct part numbers on struts for the SS are as follows:

Cobalt FE5 Strut LH 19181251
Cobalt FE5 Strut RH 19181631

 

That ^^

 

Cheapest place to get these is amazon.

 

According to the RockAuto website, the struts I purchased are replacements for those very part numbers.

Check out the site: RockAuto Parts Catalog

I checked amazon for part numbers 19181251 and 19181631 and the first results are for identical struts to the ones I purchased from RockAuto (#s 506683 and 506684).

I'm starting to think that I somehow received two bad struts, or the quality control for these "replacements" isn't up to par with the actual originals.

 

the fact that they have the FE1/FE3 struts at a higher price and the FE5 at a lower leads me to belive that RockAuto has them mixed up. They list them correctly PN wise, but i bet they sent you FE1/FE3 struts.

 

You may be on to something. I just pulled the front wheels back off to recheck the part numbers. There are 3 numbers on each strut.

LF:
22240674
16050859
N4PMMBTE

RF:
22240675
25351548
B4PMV4TQ

None of those part numbers match any of the FE5 part numbers I've seen. Also, none of those part numbers come back with anything when searched in Google. I'm not sure what they are.

I might just order replacements from somewhere else and return these just in case.

 

What brand are they?

 

They are supposedly AC Delco but I do not see a brand marking anywhere on the strut.

 

I'm bringing this back alive because I'm having the same exact issue. Did you get this resolved? The boxes my struts came in from Rockauto have the correct ACDelco brand and numbers (19181251, 19181631) but the struts themselves feel too soft and have the different numbers (22240674, 22240675). I told Rockauto other cobalt FE5 owners have had the same exact problem getting the wrong struts, but they would not let me return mine because it has been more than 30 days. I can only do a warranty exchange on them for the same wrong part. Did you ever find out what the 22240674 & 22240675 shocks are?

 

go to Crate Engine Depot, they have a cobalt store with everything you need for a strut swap. Also Contact Matthew Rominski on facebook as he is a CED Red that will get you the best pricing he can get. SUPPORT THE COMPANIES THAT SUPPORT US

 

Yeah I called CED and the guy was about 1,000 times more helpful than rockauto and I didn't even buy anything from him yet. My next purchase will be from CED!

 

Welp... I have the same issue... Part numbers 22240674 & 22240675 with correct AC Delco on box... I bought them off a member 2 years ago and I was about to install them , but looks like I'm going to have to buy some from CED