Ok, i just want to know exactly what i need and how hard if at all is it to replace the rear shocks on my 02 bonneville SLE. I know i have the air leveling shocks, I THINK. All i know is that i hear like a compressor after about 30 secs starting my car so i think its the leveling shocks. But what excactly do i need to buy, and whats the procedure to do this? Also what tools do i need? THANKS ALOT

bump any1?

Very easy job. I just did mine a couple weeks ago. Here was my process:

-Jacked up the back with the car jack.
-Jacked up the control arm a little bit with another jack.
-Take off wheel.
-Loosen the two bolts at the control arm holding the shock (to make sure they can be easily done without busting out some help).
-Remove the black plastic nut on the inside of the trunk holding on the carpet (on the side). Pull back carpet.
-Remove the rubber cover on the nut at the top of the shock (inside the trunk)
-Remove the nut (this is why you don't remove the bottom bolts, otherwise the shock twists when you do the top nut)
-Remove the air line to the shock.
-Remove the bottom bolts.
-Remove shock.
-Take new shock and pull the one end out some.
-Insert the top end of shock (don't forget that concave washer at the top that you remove from the old one).
-Start the bottom bolts into the shock.
-Jack up the control arm until the bolt on the top of the shock sticks through the fender well.
-Put the top nut back on.
-Finish the bottom bolts.
-Reinstall air line.
-Put wheel back on.
-Not sure if necessary, but I then started the car and waited until I heard the ELC kick in. Then I lowered the car and made sure the top nut was sufficiently tight on the shock. Replace rubber boot on nut and carpet.

Took about and hour and fifteen minutes including the time to get out the jacks, tools, etc

hmm sounds easy.... ok so what shock do u reccomend.

Monroe'* are popular. OEM is the other top choice, but they are like twice the cost. The Monroe'* are $60 from Rock Auto. I was able to get Advance Auto to match their price plus shipping since they wanted $75.

do i have to buy new shock mounts?

I wouldn't think so. Mine looked fine from what I could tell. Some might say to do it as preventative maintainence, but others have said the replacements (at least the aftermarket ones) tend to thud when you hit bumps just right. So I wouldn't worry about it until one broke. If $ isn't a concern and you want peace of mind you could go with the OEM shocks as I believe they come with the mounts.

first of all thanks, well i went with the autozone brand they have called Gabriel high jackers...I needed shocks really bad and low on cash and they were 50 bucks. Well i installed them, (u know when a shock is decompressed theres that chrome pipe inside of the shock thats visible?) well one side when i look into the fenderwell with the tires on and the car off the jack, it looks compressed only a little piece of the chrome is showing, but on the other side (passengers) its completely decompressed. What did i do wrong here? anything. Did i do something wrong with one side? Is there no air in that other shock or what? Do i need to add air to it? If i reach into the passenger side rear shock( when it looks like its decompressed) i can pull the whole shock up and it will be compressed. But the otherside, if i try to do it like get it all teh way to the top it hits the top then rests a little back to where theres just a little of that chrome pipe showing. So i did something wrong here. It seems like theres air in the drivers and none in the passengers.

If you re-connected the air line, make certain that airline is not compressed, crimped or plugged.

The other issue is that cars will develop a natural stance in the spring when constantly weighted on one side and not the other (like driven with only a driver and no passengers), so I would not put much credence into a problem with the shock strut being more visible on one side than the other. However; being able to compress an air shock by hand requires some investigation.

yeah do u think i should return it? i still have the receipt.