Every Kia Optima shock will go bad eventually, so staying on top of their condition will go a long way in keeping your vehicle safe and performing well. If you want to change the handling characteristics, such as making your vehicle ride a bit softer and more luxurious or making it sportier, swapping out the original Kia Optima shocks with more appropriate versions can help make that happen and will transform how it behaves on the road. Sometimes just changing your Kia Optima shocks can make you fall in love with it all over again since it will perform like new.

A worn-out set of Kia Optima struts is not only uncomfortable, it can be downright dangerous, especially in a panic situation. If it's time for a new set of struts or you're looking to change the way your vehicle handles, you should ask yourself what type of driving you enjoy most, and then choose a new set of Kia Optima struts that will complement that style of driving. New Kia Optima struts will give your ride a new lease on life, and will offer you a new level of performance that will help make driving fun again.

Choosing the right Kia Optima shocks can drastically change the ride and handling, so finding the best ones is about much more than price. Some Kia Optima shocks are meant to be simple replacements for your originals (as well as interchange with many other makes and models of vehicles) and will offer a decent ride without much performance to speak of. Other Kia Optima shocks are specifically valved and tuned, sometimes even depending on which particular options the vehicle has installed, which can alter the weight and weight distribution. Obviously, the more research and development that goes into the shock, the more it will cost, but on the flip side you can rest assured that it is engineered to make the most of your vehicle's capabilities.

Upgrading your ride's suspension can do wonders for its handling, and installing a new set of Kia Optima struts is a great way to get a dramatic improvement over your stock setup. Factory struts are usually manufactured to offer a soft ride that will please the masses, but they won't do much for you when you're pushing your ride to its limits. A proper set of Kia Optima struts will meet your performance needs since it will be designed for whatever type of driving you prefer, whether it be cruising the highway, sporty driving, or even full-out racing.

Q: Do shocks come in sets of 4?
A: Struts and shocks are sold individually on our website, but purchasing should always be done in pairs at the minimum (one pair for the front, one for the rear). Most people replace all four shocks/struts at once.

Q: What are struts and shocks? Why buy them?
A: Shock absorbers (shocks) are a device that controls spring motion through dampening. A shock absorber slows down and reduces the vibrations created by imperfections in the roadway. A strut is a shock absorber mounted inside a coil spring that does the same job of dampening. Whether your car uses a strut or shock depends on the factory setup, but both do the same thing and are synonymous in terms of their function. The product listings on our website indicate exactly what is available for your car. Aftermarket struts or shocks are an especially good purchase when lowering your car because they are specially made for optimal performance based on ride height, and can handle the extra stress your suspension will throw at them. Your factory struts or shocks will be out of their "comfort zone" if you lower your car, which causes them to wear down faster and ultimately fail. You can definitely lower your car without replacing the struts/shocks, but they will wear down quickly, and you ride quality will suffer.

Q: How do you install shocks/struts?
A: Shocks are easier to install because there are only two bolts holding in each shock absorber. Struts are a bit more difficult because there is a compressed spring that needs to be removed first. Once the spring has been removed the new strut can be installed with the OEM or aftermarket spring re-installed.

Q: Is there any difference between struts and shocks?
A: Struts/shocks both have the same job by dampening the kinetic energy of suspension travel. Struts perform two jobs: They provide a dampening function like shock absorbers, and they provide structural support for the vehicles suspension. That means that the struts deliver a bit more than shock absorbers, which don't support vehicle weight but control the speed at which weight is transferred in a vehicle. Either way, your options are limited to what is available for your car.