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1994 SSEi. For my birthday, I recieved 2 new rear airshocks. These shocks are beautiful to look at just by themselves, anyways. I went to install them these past couple days. What a pain in the ass that was! I noticed that the old ones had a 3pin connector plugged into the top of these shocks. The new shocks have no such previsions for any connectors, so I left them off. I'm almost positive that this will disable the CCR. Anyone tell me what electronics are inside the shocks? Pressure sensor,,or is it a bleed valve to release air? Since the exact OEM shocks are very hard to find, I'm affraid that I'm stuck with these for now. They look almost identical to my old shocks, except the connector on the top. I want to retain some features of the CCR. Has anyone manually wired the compressor straight to the shocks with a mom switch, and reuse the level control switch on the back a arm to a analog meter mounted horizontal? You can almost take a old fuel gauge, with no markings on the bezel, mount it sideways and wire it to that level control. It would point low when the back end is low, and point high when the shocks are pumped up.

You're confusing two unrelated systems.

CCR is computer command ride. Electronically valved GAS portion of the strut for variable damping in touring or performance mode.

ELC is Electronic Level Control that uses the AIR portion of the strut. They are GAS and AIR in one. ELC (the air portion) is a calculated part of your FE2 (sport-tuned) supsension and CANNOT be overlooked or bypassed/ignored.

CCR is crap. It's an unreliable system with VERY expensive replacement costs. To make it worse, it's marginal at BEST with regards to the difference between modes. Ignore the CCR. Without the rear struts from a CCR system, your only side effect will be a disabled system with both button's mode lights lit (indicating a fault in the system). But you'll have a better ride with the new NON-CCR struts on the back that still retain the ELC capability.

Now that the struts are replaced, you need a rear-wheel alignment.

CCR lets you change the damping rate of the GAS portion of the struts. Worthless, very little effect, unreliable, and very expensive (if not impossible) to find new CCR struts.

ELC lets the car keep itself level if you have some very large rear seat passengers or alot of beer in the trunk. It also adds to the rear spring RATE, keeping it in tune with the intended overall springrate of the coil springs AND air strut function. It also adds an inflator for your beach ball or blow-up doll for use in the commuter lanes.

Rear struts from the factory had BOTH systems, while the front only had CCR. Lose the CCR.

Yeah, unfortunately it isn't something like electronic magnetic struts with special magnetically fortified hydraulic fluid to control the viscosity of the fluid to change the dampening rate...its a little less awesome in the early trials and tribulations of CCR. however...the cost to replace those much better struts..would be probably the same.

unless you have money to burn...just stick with monroe sensatrac struts on all 4 corners and you'll be plenty happy with their performance.

Unfortunately CCR struts are no longer available for all four corners of your car. I have forgotten if it was front or back that were still available when a dealer checked for a buddy about a year back. The replacements are the only real option you have available.

willwren wrote:CCR is crap. It's an unreliable system with VERY expensive replacement costs. To make it worse, it's marginal at BEST with regards to the difference between modes. Ignore the CCR. Without the rear struts from a CCR system, your only side effect will be a disabled system with both button's mode lights lit (indicating a fault in the system).

Bill and I disagree on the craptasticness of the CCR struts and system. My car and a few others noticed dramatic differences in touring vs performance modes. The new Monroe struts I put onto the car were basically equal to the performance mode of my CCR struts at 150K miles. Different cars, different opinions...it's all good in the end and your choices don't change. One item to note is that Monroe's site has instructions that may also be included with your struts on how to disable the CCR system properly. What this means is that the lights on the mode buttons would not be lit. It also means that if your car was scanned with a Tech II no suspension/CCR faults would be found.

Sorry for my ignorance, my intuition had me thinking that "touring ride" would totally inflate the rear shocks, and would give you a cushy ride. Performance would let all the air out, thus having the rear end hugging the ground. I didn't consider different valve rates within the shocks. That would explain the 3 pin connector on the top.
I just installed these new air shocks, and not intrested (just yet) to convert to monroe's. Does the car change level at all if either touring/performance button is pushed? Or is it purely in the valving inside the shock? If the 2 lights are lit at the same time, does the ELC feature still work? Since the 2 connectors are not plugged into anything on the shocks, could I build a simulator plug to plug into that connector, to kill those 2 lights that are on? I was on the Monroe site, and didn't quite find anything. But I have ADHD and have absolutely no patience in reading! lol

Monroe mentions it in their FAQ's, then the link for it is dead. The basics are you unplug the CCR module under the seat.

The air portion of the rear shocks does nothing different regardless of the CCR mode selected. ELC is a totally independent system, but ultimately can have a far greater effect on handling than CCR.

My 95 SLE has a functioning CCR system. I can barely tell the difference in performance between modes. And this has been true in every CCR-equipped car I've ridden in.

You've already changed to non-CCR struts, so in my opinion, you're heading in the right direction. Proper selection of front struts will be your next happy task.