Rancho RS5000X: Paint them!

pcoplin

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These are a month and a half old. One trip to the hammers and maybe another 50 miles here in the PNW.

That is a terribly cheap paint job...
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And this precisely why they cost $50 per shock.

This has always been my gripe with the Ranchos. For an off-the-shelf shock, they ride excellent. However, they come spray painted and look like shit.

On the other hand, you have a nice shock like the Fox off-the-shelf shocks, which are aluminum, look great, and certainly hold up better than this.

I wish Rancho would make a RS5000X that had better cosmetics, or at least a powder coat as oppose to spray paint.
 
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I sprayed a couple coats of clear coat before install and rinse off post wheeling every time. Then hit it with a little clear coat every now and then.
 
I'm reallllllly close to purchasing these - is there a decent guide or general recommendation(s) when it comes to prepping and painting them?

Consensus seems to be sand them down and get rid of the white paint, then spray on something like Krylon? I don't care about color and black is fine with me. Did you all tape off anything else to just get the body of the shock?

I also keep getting cold feet about ordering from Amazon even though they seem to be the best deal. Authorized retailers are far less budget friendly.
 
I'm reallllllly close to purchasing these - is there a decent guide or general recommendation(s) when it comes to prepping and painting them?

Consensus seems to be sand them down and get rid of the white paint, then spray on something like Krylon? I don't care about color and black is fine with me. Did you all tape off anything else to just get the body of the shock?

I also keep getting cold feet about ordering from Amazon even though they seem to be the best deal. Authorized retailers are far less budget friendly.
Ordered mine from amazon. No issues. Since I used clear coat I sprayed mainly the shock body and lightly sprayed up top.
 
And this precisely why they cost $50 per shock.

This has always been my gripe with the Ranchos. For an off-the-shelf shock, they ride excellent. However, they come spray painted and look like shit.

On the other hand, you have a nice shock like the Fox off-the-shelf shocks, which are aluminum, look great, and certainly hold up better than this.

I wish Rancho would make a RS5000X that had better cosmetics, or at least a powder coat as oppose to spray paint.

One of my first posts on this forum was about opinions on which shocks to buy and why I opted to avoid Rancho. At that time, I questioned the $50 price point. How could they get it that low without cutting corners. Fast forward and now we know.

I got crapped on by the Rancho lovers because of my comments and I am grateful my intuition was 100% correct.

My OME shocks are rust free and ride great. Couldn't be happier with the purchase. Highly recommend the OMEs to people up north.
 
One of my first posts on this forum was about opinions on which shocks to buy and why I opted to avoid Rancho. At that time, I questioned the $50 price point. How could they get it that low without cutting corners. Fast forward and now we know.

I got crapped on by the Rancho lovers because of my comments and I am grateful my intuition was 100% correct.

My OME shocks are rust free and ride great. Couldn't be happier with the purchase. Highly recommend the OMEs to people up north.

I’ve had the OMEs and I prefer the ride of the Ranchos personally.

But, to each their own! The OME has a better finish, but it’s still no Fox ;)
 
These are a month and a half old. One trip to the hammers and maybe another 50 miles here in the PNW.

That is a terribly cheap paint job...View attachment 80847

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Seems like the manufacturer knows what they are selling based on the language within the warranty.

*Tenneco’s obligation under the Limited Lifetime Warranty, 1-Year Limited Warranty and 90-Day Limited Warranty is limited to replacement of the defective or worn-out product (except finish) with the same (or substantially comparable) product in accordance with this warranty.

http://www.gorancho.com/warranty-guarantee/
 
I’ve had the OMEs and I prefer the ride of the Ranchos personally.

But, to each their own! The OME has a better finish, but it’s still no Fox ;)

I recall an older thread where you said that, but I thought you mentioned the Fox's rode extremely harsh and you didn't really "love" them.

It would be a better sales practice for Rancho to sell these shocks unfinished so people up north can paint them properly...or just sell a properly painted set of shocks rather than putting customers in this predicament.
 
I painted mine the MINUTE I got them, with the same color Dark Graphite Metallic that the fender flares on my '04 Columbia Edition has - MUCH better!

I bet that looks really good. What paint did you use, something like this?

paint.jpg
 
Thanks for the kudos! No, I actually had the EXACT shade of Chrysler Dark Graphite mixed in aerosol for them. Truthfully, I had it mixed because I wanted to repaint my fender flares, but after f*cking THAT job up ~3 times, I had my friend who is a painter at a local auto paint shop redo those for me; that's when it occurred to me to paint the ghostly white shocks with the 2 cans I had left...
 
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