Let me preface this post by saying that yes, I did do a search, and no, I didn't find a specific answer to my question.

Being a motorcyclist, I'm used to paying $600+ for a premium shock. So you can imagine my surprise when, while surfing tirerack.com, I stumbled across aftermarket KYB shocks for $40/corner. After picking my jaw back up off the ground, I started thinking ... and that's never a good thing.

The damping on the X is, IMO, less than ideal. The low-speed damping (and by low-speed I mean the speed of the wheel travel, not the speed of the vehicle) is too fast (soft), while the high-speed damping is too slow (hard). The X floats gracelessly over small bumps but feels locked at the knees over big bumps.

So I'm wondering if for $40/corner I can reasonably except superior damping compared to the OEM shocks. Are these shocks designed to be better than OEM, or are they simply replacements for the stockers when they wear out?

If it's the former, than it's a no brainer. $160 + installation is nothing to pay for superior wheel control. But if it's the latter, how much do I have to spend, and what do I have to buy, in order to get better damping?

TIA,
JAS