anybody else have issues with these on the air ride bonnie? the ones i got this weekend are stiff almost like seized up. the guy said they probably will ride a little stiffer but i think theres something wrong with it. my wife called and said she cant drive it, it hurts her back. so now i got to tear the whole thing back apart trade them in and hope it was just a failed part. hopefully it will come apart easier this time i had to break out the torch last time.

Gabriel Ultra/Shock/Strut - Rear

For your 1998 Pontiac Bonneville 3.8L SFI OHV 6cyl

Part Number: G56903

I've heard noting good about gaberials. A friend and I went through 3 on his neon stiff and noisy as hell. I hope it works out.

Only good thing I heard was teh price.

Don't pull them out yet. I had the exact same issue that I resolved by jacking the rear end, pressurizing the struts, and setting it back down on the pressurized struts. Problem worked itself out. I helped with some bouncing as it was coming down. Also, do not drive it until you fix it. Why? Because the air bag is binding up on itself, tearing itself up. The more you drive, worse it is.

im not sure that will do anything, because after i put them on before i put the tires back on i ran the compressor for a little while to check for leaks.

i thought one was messed up , the instructions said to inflate the strut before installation, one was shrunk the other was already extended like maybe it was installed previously. both boxes were sealed though.

I wasn't sure it would do anything myself until it fixed it. How did you go about running the compressor?

Oh, been there, done that, got the pictures:
https://www.gmforum.com/buick-172/strut-install-fail-need-help-298461/

you just take the sensor arm off where it meets the control arm and you can push it up and down to turn on the compressor. im going to work on the thing today, ill see if any thing looks weird with it before i take them off and take them back. added plus to using that ak29 kit to fix the air line, now i have a service port i can go check the pressure and possibly blow it up with the shop compressor

took it for a ride, the stiffness is gone but now it wont hold air. the compressor was just running. i put air in the fill valve i got now and the air just right out through the compressor. its coming out were the vacuum line goes into the foam filter thing. isnt there supposed to be a check valve or something to hold air in the system. where is it and what does it look like?

just wanted to update because they have a bad rap but theres nothing wrong with these struts now they ride almost exactly like when i bought the car after probably 3 or 4 good drives over 40 miles.