KYB 349105 Excel-G Gas Shock

I'm pretty impressed by these KYB 349105 Excel-G Gas Shocks. I purchased a pair of them to replace the factory-installed Honda OEM hydraulic oil ones on my mother’s 2007 Honda Odyssey EX-L at 89,208 miles.A few days prior to ordering my pair from Amazon, I just happened to notice a very tiny pool of oil on the garage floor located directly beneath the original factory-installed right rear shock. This was obviously concerning, so I got down on the garage floor beneath the rear of the Odyssey and used a flashlight to visually inspect things. I was able to see that a thin layer of leaking hydraulic oil had coated the right rear shock’s cylinder tube exterior, whereas the left rear shock was completely dry. Interestingly, before observing that pooled oil, the Odyssey had been exhibiting absolutely no other signs of rear shock issues or failure such as bouncing unevenly, rough riding, noisiness, etc.I immediately took the Odyssey to the local Honda dealer where a service tech gave the Odyssey a complimentary inspection of the shocks. The tech placed the vehicle on his lift and subsequently confirmed that the right rear shock had completely blown out its cylinder seal. Without me requesting him to do so, the tech invited me back to his lift to actually show me the underside of the vehicle and the blown shock itself. The tech was surprised that the shock had blown out like it did so I asked him what could have caused such a thing to happen. He was a bit baffled. When I informed him that, just a few months earlier in March, the Odyssey had passed its annual state inspection elsewhere, he said he was surprised by that, especially if the blown shock had been in that same condition at the time of inspection.Subsequent online research revealed that many Odyssey owners have reported discovering their factory-installed shocks to be leaking oil around this same amount of mileage. I also learned that struts and shocks may normally need to be replaced anywhere between 50k and 100k miles. Of course, overall vehicle age and not just mileage alone could also be a contributing factor when dealing with failed components.In the case of my mother’s 2007 Odyssey, though, I think I might have actually been the one who caused that shock to blow like it did. My mother babies her Odyssey and always drive’s pretty carefully and cautiously, just as you would expect from an elderly woman in her late 70’s. However, just a few months earlier in the spring, I had used her Odyssey to transport a bunch of HEAVY 2 cubic foot mulch bags on multiple occasions from the store to her home. While doing so, I think I might have exceeded the van’s overall weight carrying capacity by overloading its rear cargo space (located behind the third-row of seats). In hindsight, that was probably pretty stupid of me because I probably should have transported fewer mulch bags at once and/or done a better job distributing the weight so that it was not all placed DIRECTLY over the rear axle and shocks. While I can’t be 100% certain, I really do believe that my failure to distribute all that weight was the most likely culprit here. So live and learn, I guess.Shocks and struts, I learned, should always be replaced in pairs. The dealership quoted me a repair estimate of over $600 for replacement service, and their Parts Department informed me that just one of the genuine Honda OEM rear hydraulic shocks costs nearly $200. Normally, I prefer to just shell out a few extra bucks for genuine OEM parts and forego using aftermarket replacement ones. Doing so tends to provide me with some simple peace of mind, plus I also feel like there will be less likelihood of any potential issue(s) down the road. Oftentimes, the lower quality and reduced longevity of some (but not all) aftermarket parts just isn’t worth the upfront cost-savings. However, in this instance, I thought those quoted costs were a bit steep so I decided to research possible alternatives.Like a lot of people, I wanted to first understand the difference between oil shocks and gas shocks so I could decide which option I most preferred before actually purchasing my replacements. A popular misconception is that a gas shock works on gas whereas an oil (normal) shock works on oil. All conventional automotive shocks work by forcing oil through a programmed set of holes. However, a gas shock will use compressed gas to keep the oil under pressure. This is done largely to minimize aeration or "foaming" of the oil which would reduce the effectiveness of the shock as air passes through the valves rather than fluid. The gas also helps to dissipate heat which keeps the oil cooler and maintains the viscosity and therefore the shock "rate". Evidently, what this all means is that hydraulic oil shocks will provide a softer and smoother ride, whereas gas charged shocks provide a sportier ride. So choose whichever one most suits your own personal preference.Many Odyssey owners online highly recommend the KYB brand and, more specifically, this KYB 349105 Excel-G Gas Shock. After reading the mostly favorable reviews here on Amazon and elsewhere online for these KYB shocks and further determining that KYB is actually a very reputable and quality brand, I decided to purchase a pair of them from Amazon at a cost of $39.98 each (July 2018).Many Odyssey owners have stated online that replacing the rear shocks is a relatively easy DIY project so I decided to try tackling this repair myself.Prior to installing my pair of rear shocks, I first purchased from the Honda dealership two each of the OEM Honda Genuine Part 90215-SHJ-A00 Self Locking Nut (12mm) shown on the parts diagram for my mother’s 2007 Odyssey. That nut is used to secure the bottom of each shock’s damper to the vehicle body. While it’s possible that the two original nuts still had sufficient locking action once removed, I learned that reuse of locking nuts is not recommended since they're designed to be used only once and should be replaced whenever removed. Each nut cost $1.22 from the dealership, which is admittedly a bit steep for just a simple piece of hardware like a nut, but no OEM part is ever cheap and I considered that cost to be relatively negligible considering the peace of mind I would get from knowing that these new nuts wouldn’t unexpectedly loosen sometime down the road... pardon the pun.Despite having never before replaced rear shocks, I found the process of swapping them out to be fairly effortless. If you’re a do-it-yourselfer with the proper tools (e.g., good floor jack, jack stands, torque wrench, etc.) at your disposal, you’re literally looking at only about 15 minutes per side. This is not a complicated process at all. Just remember to be safe!Unlike some others reviewers have indicated, I did not need to use an impact driver to loosen any of the nuts or bolts. Instead, I simply used a 1/2” drive breaker bar followed by a ratchet. Admittedly, though, it was quite a struggle to loosen the very tight lug bolts (for the purpose of removing the rear wheels) using only a breaker bar, but I still managed to do so and that was by far the most difficult part of this entire process. Whatever you do, make sure to obtain the proper torque specs for the bolts and manually tighten everything using a hand wrench and NOT an impact driver. That way, you can ensure that everything is properly secure without the risk of breaking the head off of any bolt. Just don’t forget to tighten and properly torque your lug bolts before wrapping things up!REMOVAL INSTRUCTIONS (refer to attached diagram):1. Raise the rear of the vehicle, and support it with safety stands in the proper locations.2. Remove the rear wheel.3. Position a floor jack at the connecting point of the lower control arm and knuckle (A). Raise the floor jack until the suspension begins to compress.4. Remove the flange bolt (B) and nut (C) from the body.5. Remove the self-locking nut (D) from the knuckle.6. Compress the damper (E) by hand, and remove it from the vehicle.IINSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS (refer to attached diagram):1. Lower the rear suspension. Compress the damper (A) by hand, and move it into position. Loosely install the flange nut (B), bolt (C), and new self-locking nut (D).2. Raise the rear suspension with a floor jack until the vehicle just lifts off the safety stands.3. Tighten the flange bolt and self-locking nut on the bottom of the damper to the specified torque value.4. Install the rear wheel.5. Check the rear wheel alignment, and adjust it if necessary.In the end, I was quite stunned by how simple and effortless this entire replacement procedure proved to be, especially considering the cost that the Honda dealership had quoted me for just the labor portion alone. So ridiculous! Too bad more folks don’t realize how they’re getting completely hosed on the cost of such service.The KYB shocks themselves appeared to be of very nice quality and have a nice hefty feel to them. To my novice eye, they appeared to be practically indistinguishable from the original factory-installed Honda OEM shocks, but for the fact that these are nitrogen gas-filled instead of hydraulic oil-filled. There certainly seems to be a lot of bang for the buck with these… and good luck saying that about much of anything nowadays. KYB claims these shocks to be the #1 recommended Original Equipment replacement choice for Asian mini vans and they’re specifically calibrated to help restore the original handling and control characteristics of the Honda Odyssey.My mother’s Odyssey now has an additional 10k miles on it and the shocks still feel like new and the ride continues to be as smooth and quiet as the first day I installed them. Honestly, I can’t tell any difference whatsoever between these shocks and the original factory-installed ones. Nuthin’. Nadda. And I’m actually pretty hyper-critical when it comes to stuff like this. Things seem to feel pretty similar to how the Odyssey rode when it was brand new. Handling and control are both fine and actually seem to be improved, as best I can tell. Unlike some other negative reviewers of these shocks, I have heard absolutely no squeaks, rattles or other noises coming from them so I’m uncertain what to make of those comments. Perhaps theirs weren’t installed correctly?In summary, I have nothing bad at all to say about these KYB shocks and would not hesitate for one moment to repurchase them.UPDATE (3/27/22): Now, with over 20k miles on this pair of shocks, I continue to be just as pleased with their performance. Still, no complaints whatsoever… and I would most definitely purchase them again!

Fits and feels like the OEM; but the flange on the base bolts is different and a little weird, but doesn’t affect installation or performance; works fine.

These shocks made a huge difference in the ride. Super easy to install yourself. Even if you are not a big DYIer you should do the install yourself. Here are the steps:- Jack up the car and remove the tire. Now the hard part is done.- Remove lower shock nut (17 mm), remove the top shock nuts (14mm)- Now swap the new shock for the old. I used the tire iron as a lever to assist in removing the old one- Reinstall the bolts, put the tire back on and you are done!Very happy with KYB and glad I did not purchase the lower cost item.

The rear shocks on or Honda Odyssey started leaking and caused driving issues. These were easy to bolt on and it is driving like new again.

This shock went on our 08 Honda Odyssey van in the rear. KYB had good reviews for the Odyssey and they greatly improved the feel of the van after install. I was replacing OE shocks at 170K, which one factory shock never rebounded on its own after removal, so ride quality would probably improve even with a cheap shock more than likely. However, OE had plastic over the top of the shock and these KYB are metal, which is much nicer. So far, very happy with KYB shocks.