Eldo Air/Electronic Vs. Passive shocks!

[TJAXFF]

Looking for some advice:
I have a 99 Eldorado with only 52K on it and the shocks are shot, rears are leaking, and the fronts are not taking the bumps too well. I checked out the cost of all new ones. "UNBELIEVABLE", with labor for installation, I'm looking at about 3 grand. Now, my question to any Caddy mechanic on here. There is a replacement passive system advertised on the internet, that claims it will work just as good as the Air/Electronic system that is now on my car, and the cost of the 4 new struts will be about $400 without labor. Any thoughts or advice on this type of replacement? Any and all advice would be appreciated. Thanks, TJ

 

[Redwingvksm]

1. It's a Cadillac. You're gonna pay top price for ANYTHING on it.

2. Nothing will ride as good as air does on your vehicle. Sorry...

 

[ALBUNDY]

Considering the $3k I'm sure your mind can handle a little rougher ride compared to that price. Alot of guys go passive because the price may be a little >or < that what the car is worth.

 

[eldo99er]

Are the active / passive shocks the only real difference between the ETC and the ESC? Apart from the horsepower, of course, but where does the extra hp in the ETC come from and can you even compare them as they are possibly not even measured at the same rpm?

And what does it feel like to ride on the passive shocks? How big is the difference?

 

[taylor414ce2003]

If you are going to hold on to the car for many more yrs I would bite the bullet and fix it with stock parts-it will hold its value better .as far as the ride you will notice the differance at highway speeds that etc is nice and tight and at lower speeds softens up where the passive gives the "floating" type of ride all the time as far as the hp I think it is just the way the fuel and ignition is mapped thru the computor but dont quote me on that

 

[eldo99er]

Since I bought my ETC used at 63 k miles how would I know if my magnetic shocks are still on or if the previous owner, with whom I have no more contact, installed passive replacements? How long would the magnetic ones last anyway?