How do you know when shocks need to be replaced?

[ThirdeYe]

Originally Posted By: VicVinegar
Originally Posted By: dblshock
200k and going strong on the Accord.


When I got rid of my old Civic with 213k,the shocks were original. No bouncing, no uneven tire wear. I kept waiting for the day I'd see a symptom, but it never came.


I'm on the originals in my '95 Integra with 210k also. I haven't noticed any symptoms of them being bad. There are other suspension issues, but it still handles great.

 

[Vikas]

Drive it on a curve with potholes; if you feel car moving laterally as it bumps from one pothole to another, you know it is time for new shocks/struts.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: Pajamarama
OK, one more newbie question:

Is it necessary or best to replace all 4 struts/shocks at once, or can you do only front or back?


I would at least replace them in pairs. If you plan to keep the car for a while, there's a few brands like Monroe and Moog that offer a lifetime warranty. The only reason I replaced mine the first time was because the coil spring broke on the rear, 10k later, the fronts broke. Next set was because the rears were riding a little low and they were on sale at the time with a good rebate.

 

[Quest]

modern shocks/struts emply multiple valving mechanism, where there's the high-speed and the low-speed part (or maybe even more that that).

Depending on the road conditions, typically the low-speed part will wear out and becomes worn, while the high-speed part still good.

Unfortunately, ordinary "jounce" or "press-n-rebound" type of test will not reveal much on the worn out portion.

In my case both my stealerships (Honda, in particular) and myself both have a favourite stretch of road where there's enough uneven-ness on it where it would be able to test both high-speed and low-speed portion fairly confidently (provided that your mech has sensitive back and is capable of sensing uneven rebounce from the shocks/struts even with minute discrepancies).

Of course: the other one is visual fluid leak checks.

Note to myself: if the struts/shocks have over 120k or similar on them, I'd replace them all 4 and start fresh. I simply cannot afford to risk mine and my family's safety for the sake of saving 360bux (set of 4 monroe OE Spectrum struts for camry) just because static bounce test revealed nothing wrong.

Q.

 

[artificialist]

OK, one more newbie question:

Is it necessary or best to replace all 4 struts/shocks at once, or can you do only front or back? [/quote
I often replace only the fronts or only the backs, it depends on what wears out.

On my mom's car, the fronts were spilling oil around 100,000 miles, but the rears worked perfectly.

 

[asand1]

I must be spoiled. I hear everyone talking about how it feels when you hit potholes. We don't have many potholes here, and when there is its easily avoidable. I avoid them like the plague, while it sounds like for others they are a fact of life.

 

[PandaBear]

When you drive the car over a speed bump and it bounce over more than you feel comfortable with, it is time to replace. Other than leaks, struts/shocks usually wear out gradually over time, so it is more of a subjective rather than objective test.

I've replaced 2 instead of 4 before, that makes the car handle funny (like the front or rear will break loose more than the other). Since you have to do alignment anyways, unless you have a sudden failure of just front/rear or 1 of them, it is best to replace them all at the same time.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: dblshock
200k and going strong on the Accord.


Mile is not a good way to tell its wear and life. My mother in law who drives only local streets, had struts worn out on her car at 120k miles, and it is worn way more than my car at 200k because I drove only highway.

 

[Patman]

This is how I knew when one of my shocks needed replacing in my Corvette:



(and yes, I realize it's super dirty in the engine bay, yikes!)

 

[Kestas]

Patman, I'm not sure of what you're trying to show.

 

[Patman]

Originally Posted By: Kestas
Patman, I'm not sure of what you're trying to show.


That's a shot of the top of my shock, the mount had broken off so the top of it poked through and pushed my coolant reservoir out of position.