I was surprised to see they come with the expandable rubber boots & long zip ties; I thought for sure they would have either a metal cover like the OME steering dampener I bought last year or plastic covers that slip on but don't close off on the bottoms like the Bilstein set up I currently have on.

I've never been a fan of the zip tie boots since an experience with Rancho's on a Bronco. They do trap a lot of wet crud inside them IME

I might see if the Bilstein covers will fit the OME shocks when I take them off. Anyone have feelings about these (almost) sealed boots? Thoughts?

 

I put mine on when I got my OME's, but took them off because they would never actually stay on.

I then noticed some corrosion on the shaft so from now on it's no boots for me...

 

Tomorrow when this snow melts & it's 78 degrees again I'm going to begin my front end work & see if the Bilstein covers will fit the OME shocks. I like having a cover but prefer the open type to the other kind.

 

i dont know anyone running shock boots except for show trucks

 

I was really surprised to see the OME's came with these.

 

alot of shocks come with the boots.....bilsteins do too

 

Mine didn't come with a boot, & I just bought 'em about this time last year. They came with a cover. It's like a removable plastic version of the metal cover that are usually permanently attached to some/most shocks to keep road debris from scoring & pitting the shaft.

The boots that came with the OME's are the type that use a zip tie & seal at both ends, the cover on the Bil's just keeps sand & small rocks from hitting the shaft & is completely open on the end & slips over the shock body when compressed, allowing air to circulate so it won't collect wet crud & rust the shaft but leaves it semi-protected.


I'll see if I can dig up a reference picture or two of what I consider to be the difference.