The rear left shock on my Jetta sprung a leak at 50,000 miles. My mechanic says it needs to be replaced. I was going to put on a quality stock-replacement aftermarket unit (i.e., keeping the stock springs and not going for significantly stiffer shocks). I was looking at either a Bilstein HD or a KYB GR-2.
The mechanic says that we should just do the rear suspension, not all four corners. I was a little concerned that this might leave the car unbalanced somehow, having used OEM shocks up front and new aftermarket in back. But at the same time, if there's no real problems, I really need to save the money (student loans and the US health care system have left us with precious little cash sitting around).
Are my concerns legit? Or is the mechanic right, that there's no reason to replace the front shocks in this situation?