Attribute Schema Library
Attribute schemaautomotive aftermarket

Shocks & Struts Attributes

Shocks and struts damp suspension oscillation. A strut also carries load and locates the wheel, which is why it is a structural part and a shock is not. Aftermarket distributors sell them to jobbers, installers, fleets, and DIY retail — and the same platform ships as a bare damper, a loaded assembly, or a coilover.

The data is hard for a specific reason: fitment and specification live in different systems. ACES tells you whether a part fits a vehicle. It does not tell you the numbers a buyer compares on — extended and collapsed length, stroke, mounting configuration, tube design. Those sit in supplier mounting-and-length charts published as PDFs, keyed to each manufacturer's private code system. Gabriel uses ES, BP, EB, CL, LP, LU. Monroe publishes its own chart. Neither arrives in a feed.

Then the variant explosion. One platform spans bare strut and complete assembly, electronic and conventional, front and rear, left and right, stock height and lift. Product titles do not separate them. The fields that would are usually not in the schema.

Core

Every SKU needs these. Without them the record is not a product, it is a row.

Part Type
enum
Strut Assembly

Separates shock, bare strut, complete strut assembly, and coilover. Drives the PCdb part terminology every downstream system keys on.

Manufacturer Part Number
identifier
171427

The number buyers search and jobbers order by. Paired with brand, it is the identity of the record — changing it creates a new product.

Vehicle Fitment (ACES Application)
text
2012-2017 Toyota Camry LE 2.5L FWD

Year/make/model/submodel/engine/drivetrain. Without it the part is invisible to every part finder in the channel.

Position
enum
Front Left

Front vs rear and left vs right are different parts on most struts. The most common wrong-part cause when left blank.

Extended Length
number · in
21.81

Length at full droop. Determines whether the damper tops out or limits travel before the suspension does.

Collapsed Length
number · in
13.35

Length at full compression. Too long and the shock bottoms before the bump stop, and the rod bends.

Upper Mount Type
enum
Stud (S)

Stud, eye ring and bushing, bar pin, top mount, clevis. A correct-length shock with the wrong end will not bolt in.

Lower Mount Type
enum
Eye Ring & Bushing with Sleeve (ES)

Independently specified from the upper end. Mixed configurations (stud top, eye bottom) are the norm, not the exception.

Sold As (Package Quantity)
enum
Each

Each, pair, or set of four. Buyers assume pair, catalogs usually mean each, and the return is a freight round trip.

Differentiating

What buyers actually compare on. This is where catalogs win or lose the filter.

Damper Design
enum
Monotube

Twin-tube vs monotube. Governs heat capacity, mounting orientation, and body diameter (46 mm and 54 mm are common monotube bores).

Gas Charge Pressure
number · psi
260

Monotubes run roughly 260-360 psi; low-pressure twin-tubes 35-210 psi. Sets ride firmness and whether the unit is a hazmat article.

Piston Rod Diameter
number · mm
18

The load-bearing element. 14 mm vs 18 mm is the durability argument on every heavy-duty and off-road line.

Damping Adjustment
enum
Single-adjustable, 10-position rebound

Non-adjustable, single-adjustable (rebound), double-adjustable, or electronic. The primary filter for performance and off-road buyers.

Electronic Damping Interface
enum
GM MagneRide, 2-pin connector

MagneRide, CDC, or EDC vehicles need a damper with the matching connector. A conventional shock throws a suspension fault.

Assembly Contents
enum
Strut, coil spring, upper mount, boot, bump stop

Whether coil spring, upper mount, boot, and bump stop are in the box. Decides if the installer needs a spring compressor.

Compliance & identifiers

Standards, regulatory data, and the identifiers channels reject you for missing.

GTIN / UPC
identifier
00048598171427

Consumer-level (Each) GTIN is mandatory in PIES and every marketplace. 12-digit UPCs are zero-padded to 14.

Country of Origin
enum
Assembled in USA from domestic and imported components

Required in PIES, on customs paperwork, and by fleet and government buyers with domestic-content rules.

Hazmat Classification
enum
UN3164, Class 2.2 — excepted per 49 CFR 173.306(f)

Gas-charged units are UN3164, Class 2.2. Shock absorbers are excepted from labeling and spec packaging under 49 CFR 173.306(f) — not by air.

The fields that aren't in the schema at all

What most shocks & struts catalogs are missing.

The table above is the schema most catalogs already have. These are the attributes that usually aren't in it — each one surfaced by a signal from the live market rather than by an audit of what's already there. This is what Anglera's Schema Foundry does on a real catalog, in this category.

Review signal
+ Assembly Contents

Product Q&A on loaded struts is dominated by 'does this include the spring?' Catalogs title bare struts and complete assemblies identically as 'Front Strut' with no field separating them.

Installer opens the box on a lift with no spring compressor and no spring. Job stops, part goes back, and the labor claim lands on the distributor.

Search signal
+ Electronic Damping Interface

Buyers search 'MagneRide shocks' and 'CDC strut' and get zero results or the conventional part. Pigtail connectors and shock-delete modules exist as products because this field does not.

Conventional damper fitted to an electronically damped car sets a suspension fault. Return plus a diagnostic bill, and the review says the part is defective.

Supplier signal
+ Upper / Lower Mount Type

Gabriel and Monroe publish mounting codes (ES, BP, EB, CL, LP, LU, TM) in standalone PDF charts. The codes never reach the item feed, so filter rails expose length but never mount type.

Right length, wrong end. The part cannot be filtered on the one dimension that decides whether it bolts up, and the buyer calls instead of ordering.

Search signal
+ Ride Height / Lift Range

Lifted-truck buyers search '2 inch lift shocks' and 'shocks for leveling kit'. Off-road lines are engineered to a lift band, but the catalog carries only stock-height ACES fitment.

The largest-margin segment in the category cannot self-serve. The lift SKU either looks like a misfit or gets sold to a stock truck and tops out.

Supplier signal
+ Hazmat Classification

Gas-charged dampers are UN3164 Class 2.2 articles. Supplier PDFs state the burst-pressure basis for the 173.306(f) exception; the item record usually carries no dangerous-goods flag.

Air shipments and freight-forwarder tenders get rejected at the dock, because the exception that applies to ground does not extend to aircraft.

How Schema Foundry finds these

Messy in, governed out.

The same value, spelled every way automotive aftermarket suppliers spell it. A filter only works once they agree.

Upper / Lower Mount Type
EyeEyeletEBLoopBushing EyeEye Ring & Bushing
Eye Ring & Bushing (EB)

Each manufacturer ships its own abbreviation set. Ungoverned, the mount facet fragments into a dozen values that each return one SKU.

Damper Design
Mono-tubeMonoTubeMono TubeSingle TubeDe CarbonGas-a-just
Monotube

De Carbon is a design attribution and Gas-a-just is a Gabriel product line; both get sent in the tube-type field as if they were values.

Extended Length
21.81 in21-13/16"21.8554 mm55.4 cm
21.81 in (554 mm)

Suppliers mix fractional inches, decimal inches, and metric in one column. Sorting a length facet across all three returns nonsense.

Assembly Contents
Quick-StrutLoaded StrutComplete Strut AssemblyStrut & Coil Spring AssemblyReady-to-InstallBare Strut
Complete Strut Assembly (strut + spring + mount)

Quick-Strut is a Monroe trademark used industry-wide as a category word. It cannot be a governed value without leaking one brand into all.

What buyers ask

Every one of these should be answerable from the attributes above. If it isn't, that's a gap.

  • Does this come with the coil spring and upper mount, or just the bare strut?
  • Is that price for one shock or a pair?
  • Is the top mount a stud or an eyelet? What about the bottom?
  • My truck has a 2 inch lift — will these be long enough at full droop?
  • My car has MagneRide. Will this throw a suspension light?
  • What's the extended and collapsed length? I need to check clearance.
  • Is this gas-charged or hydraulic, and what's the charge pressure?
  • Do I have to replace both sides at the same time?

What channels require

The same SKU, different mandatory fields per destination.

Amazon Automotive (Part Finder)
ACES fitment (year/make/model/engine/drivetrain)Brand + Manufacturer Part NumberGTIN / UPCPart TypeProp 65 warning statusHazmat / dangerous goods flag
ACES / PIES feed to WD and jobber systems
Brand AAIA IDPCdb Part Terminology IDPAdb attribute codesACES application recordsPackage segment 'Each' with GTINCountry of Origin
eBay Motors (Parts Compatibility)
Fitment recordsBrand + MPNGTINPositionSold As (quantity in listing)
Distributor's own filter rail
Extended and collapsed lengthUpper and lower mount typeDamper designDamping adjustmentPositionAssembly contents

Shocks & Struts data, in practice

Why isn't ACES fitment enough on its own?

ACES answers one question: does this part fit this vehicle. It does not answer which of the eleven parts that fit you should buy. A 2015 Silverado returns a stock twin-tube, a monotube, an adjustable off-road damper, a MagneRide unit, and a complete assembly — all correct fitment, all different parts. The comparison attributes live in PIES and the PAdb, which is where damper design, mount type, adjustment, and lengths belong. Catalogs that invest only in ACES get parts that are findable but not choosable, and the buyer calls the counter to pick.

Do gas-charged shocks ship as hazmat?

They are UN3164, Articles Pressurized Pneumatic, Class 2.2. In practice most ground shipments move under the 49 CFR 173.306(f) exception: a shock absorber is excepted from labeling and specification packaging if it is designed and fabricated with a burst pressure of at least five times its charged pressure at 70°F. Two caveats matter for the record. The exception does not extend to transport by aircraft, and it does not except the shipment from placarding. If the item has no dangerous-goods flag, nobody downstream can apply the exception correctly or know when it stops applying.

What actually separates a strut, a strut assembly, and a coilover in the data?

A strut is a damper that also carries load and locates the wheel — replacing one means dealing with the coil spring. A complete strut assembly (Monroe's Quick-Strut, sold generically as a loaded strut) ships the strut, coil spring, upper mount, boot, and bump stop preassembled, so no spring compressor is needed. A coilover is a damper with a threaded body and an adjustable spring perch, sold for ride-height and rate tuning. These are three different Part Type values with different Assembly Contents, and the difference is worth several hundred dollars and an hour of labor.

Do shocks and struts have to be replaced in pairs?

Nothing requires it, but damping degrades gradually, so a new unit on one side and a worn unit on the other leaves the axle asymmetric under load. Most manufacturers recommend replacing across an axle, and most installers do. For the catalog the consequence is narrow and concrete: Sold As has to be an explicit field. Shocks are usually catalogued each and bought as pairs, and complete strut assemblies are sold both ways depending on line. If the record doesn't say, the buyer assumes pair, orders one, and the freight goes back twice.

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