About a month ago I noticed my car making a weird "ka-chunk" sound when I would go over speed bumps, dips and small imperfections in the road. I ignored it because I was too busy to deal with it.

Finally I took the car in for an oil change yesterday and the mechanic told me that my front-drivers side shock had spewed fluid all over his garage... needless to say it was 'leaking" and needs to be replaced.

I went to Kragen and Pep Boys, they said that they don't carry the part and that I would have to go to the dealership for it. So now I'm going back and forth with a few specailty shops that were recomended to me so far i've got a quote of $350 to do the front. That seems a bit excessive IMO??

Since I have to get new shocks, should I lower the car at the same time or invest a bit more in to any other "mods" that would help the ride?

My car savvy friend offered to install the new shocks for me, but I can't track down the damn parts yet!! However when I find the parts, I will need specs and directions for him on how to do the install, figured the forums is the best place to start.

Or even better if you're in the So Cal area and can recomend a place/guy to install the shocks or do it yourself that would be awesome.