When purchasing gas filled struts/shocks arent they supposed to be compressed? I purchased a of tokico struts from shox.com and I'm starting to wonder they are used. None of them are compressed, the tape on the bottom and tops of the openings were not sealed, it looks like the inner cardboard has been taken out and when you pick up the struts blue paint comes off on your hands.

Every time I purchased struts in the past they came compressed and never had paint come off on your hands, is this normal for Tokico?

 

The tokicos i bought were not compressed but also did not have paint coming off on my hand. do they have the logo on them? maybe put some pics up because that doesn't sound right.

 

when i bought KYBs for my LS. mine came compressed in the box and im pretty sure the paint is not suppose to come off.

 

I will take some pictures in a few

 

I know KYB's usually come tied down to keep it from shooting through the box. I've never bought tokicos though.

 

sounds fishy to me, are you sure they are genuine?

 

I'm going to be very pissed off if there is something wrong with these. I bought them 2 weeks ago and I just had a change to even open the damn box....................

Here are some pictures and in a few you can clearly see the paint on the box and when I pick them up my hands start to get blue. I post some pictures of the actual struts tonight.

 

Every Monroe and KYB strut I ever bought came compressed as well

 

Here are a few pictures of the actual struts, as you can see the pain is peeling at the bushing, but when you grab the body of the strut and twist your hand some blue paint rubs off.

I'm starting to really question whether or not these are real

 

I had Tokico Blues, looked exactly the same as yours, piston shafts were not compressed/strapped. Also had bought some KYB for a Mercedes, they came compressed and strapped.

I think you are perfectly fine.

 

They are real, tokico is just messy with there powdercoating is all, and the paint wont stick to the rubber so its going to flake. Your good to go

 

x2...had Tokico blues in the past, didnt come compressed and the paint was everywhere..your shocks are new, nothing to worry about

 

I'm pretty sure the blues I bought for the civic came compressed, but the paint was the same.

I don't recall paint coming off in the box, but they've only been on my car 8-9 months (1 winter) and they're already rusty and look like a 10 year old shock.

 

Really? I can only imagine what mine will look like considering I live in the northeast and winter here sucks. Are you using stick bellows? I'm just going to reuse mine instead of spending another $100 or so on new ones.

 

You can get the bellows for 45 bucks from advance auto parts