New shocks.

[Papa Bear]

I recently posted in "Tires and Wheels" about my tires getting noisy on my '07 Uplander and GM replacing the tires after doing a warranty repair to the rear axle and doing a 4 wheel alignment.
The technician at Tire Tech in Leamington originally told me that the noisy tires were being caused by weak/worn suspension components.... GM would not replace shocks or struts as they weren't leaking. So I ordered a set of rear shocks for the Uplander and did that ever make a difference in the way it rides and handles !! Much better !! No more body roll on turns and the van runs much quiter over irregular road surfaces.... like a different (better) vehicle.
I replaced the enemic OE shocks with Monroe Sensa-Tracs. I think they will help the life of the new tires too. Time will tell.
The van sure runs better with the new rear shocks, I wouldn't have thought just the rear shocks would tighten the vehicle up like that.

 

[Steve S]

Shocks are so important to a vehicles ride and handleing. Change the front if you haven't.

 

[Dave Hess]

I thought the factory shocks would last more than 3 years.

 

[Papa Bear]

To change the front struts would mean another alignment. I am going to try the van with just the new rear shocks, the tire tech thought that the rears were causing my problems in the first place. The OE shocks that I removed sure were enemic (30k miles).

Thanks for the advice Steve... I may take it yet.

LT4 , the factory rear shocks were soft as poop right from the git-go.

 

[Shuttler]

Papa, anemic from anemia and enemic is something pertaining to enema

Aside from this friendly nitpicking you made a commendable move: too many people neglect suspension.

Dr Shuttler

 

[XS650]

Originally Posted By: Shuttler
Papa, anemic from anemia and enemic is something pertaining to enema

Aside from this friendly nitpicking you made a commendable move: too many people neglect suspension.

Dr Shuttler


I thought he meant they were leaking. They were rear shocks.

 

[Steve S]

Originally Posted By: Shuttler
Papa, anemic from anemia and enemic is something pertaining to enema

Aside from this friendly nitpicking you made a commendable move: too many people neglect suspension.

Dr Shuttler
Once you have had a sygmiodoscpoy [sp] the difference isn't of concern

 

[Steve S]

Originally Posted By: Papa Bear
To change the front struts would mean another alignment. I am going to try the van with just the new rear shocks, the tire tech thought that the rears were causing my problems in the first place. The OE shocks that I removed sure were enemic (30k miles).

Thanks for the advice Steve... I may take it yet.

LT4 , the factory rear shocks were soft as poop right from the git-go.



Why would the fronts be any better?

 

[Frbl]

Originally Posted By: XS650
Originally Posted By: Shuttler
Papa, anemic from anemia and enemic is something pertaining to enema

Aside from this friendly nitpicking you made a commendable move: too many people neglect suspension.

Dr Shuttler


I thought he meant they were leaking. They were rear shocks.



ROTFL!!

 

[Papa Bear]

Originally Posted By: Steve S
Originally Posted By: Papa Bear
To change the front struts would mean another alignment. I am going to try the van with just the new rear shocks, the tire tech thought that the rears were causing my problems in the first place. The OE shocks that I removed sure were enemic (30k miles).

Thanks for the advice Steve... I may take it yet.

LT4 , the factory rear shocks were soft as poop right from the git-go.



Why would the fronts be any better?


They probably aren't but I just can't bring myself to R&R them right after getting the alignment.... as I said earlier I will probably end up taking your advice.

 

[Dave Hess]

Don't you have a 6 month or 1 year warranty on an alignment ?

If so you can do the struts and have them realign the car for free. I did this when I had new struts (Monroe Formula GP) installed on my old 5.0 Mustang and they said nothing about asking them to realign it.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette
Don't you have a 6 month or 1 year warranty on an alignment ?


GM gave him an alignment as a one-time goodwill to correct a "factory defect." So, there's no alignment warranty for him.

The Monroe Sensatracs have been known to improve ride quality on a number of vehicles, though sometimes at the expense of ride quality. It sounds like it was the appropriate choice for the application. For my Saturn, I went with KYB GR-2s to replace the original struts after 130k, but after the replacement, the car rides only slightly better-- maybe 20% better.

 

[BearZDefect]

The rear struts on my wife's 2009 Sonata are super soft while the front is hard as usual. OEM must have put minimal damping in back where there is less load, to make it more comfortable.

When I replaced the struts on my i30 I did the rear first because they were easier and I had time constraints. New rear struts made all the difference in ride control.

After replacing the front struts a couple of months later, I hardly noticed an improvement in handling, even though the old OEM units exhibited a bounce after sitting for hours. But the new front struts rode harder.

IMO, the KYB GR-2 struts I put on are a bit too stiff for this application. They haven't become softer over 10k miles. The car was more comfortable before replacing the front struts. If I had to do it again I'd try Sensa-Trac instead.

 

[Papa Bear]

GM gave him an alignment as a one-time goodwill to correct a "factory defect."

You may call it that... I call it honoring their warranty.

The way I had to fight to get it done, there was no "goodwill".