bad springs/struts?

[joaks]

Not sure if I have automotive paranoia or denial about an expensive repair, so here goes!

Usually when I drive I have just me or me with my (very small) wife in the car. A couple of weeks ago I had to give a couple of people a ride home (so four people total). I sat down first and was a little surprised at how far the car dropped when each additional person sat. The car seems to handle fine without excessive bounce that I notice, although if my struts are going bad I might just be accustomed to the handling. I replaced my struts about 5 years/35k miles ago. I have not had much luck using google to figure this out but I did run across the idea that the springs themselves rarely wear out-it is usually the shock that goes.

Any thoughts? Anyone know how far YOUR car drops when people sit? Mine seems to be maybe an inch with just me, although I have not measured (I'm 200lbs).

 

[Leo99]

Struts should last a lot longer than 35k miles. Struts dampen the springs so they don't boing, boing, boing. Struts should not make a difference how low the car sags if my understanding of struts is accurate.

 

[Kool1]

What brand of struts do you currently have? Are they gas filled or only liquid filled, and are they monotube or twin-tube? Unfortunately I have seen a brand of struts called Sensen leak twice within 10,000 miles.

 

[Wolf359]

Yeah, there are some cheap struts that only have a one year warranty. Others like Monroe have a lifetime warranty. Sometimes the springs that are part of the quick strut go bad or sometimes they're just defective. Monroe had a bad batch a couple years ago. They just replaced mine under warranty and I didn't even have to pay for shipping, they would have even reimbursed me for labor, but it didn't cost that much at an indy so I never bothered. But yeah, you might want to figure out the max load on the car. Usually the way auto makers figure it, it's typically 150 pounds per person plus another 100 pounds in the trunk. Depending on the size of your passengers, you may actually have been overloaded.

 

[SatinSilver]

Now that the rear springs are 20 years old they may have lost some of their support. New rear springs and struts should make a drastic difference. Just go with high quality units.

 

[BigCahuna]

My wife's Kia Sportage was in need of struts.So I looked online and couldn't find a complete strut/spring replacement. Only the shock part, you have to reuse the springs. What a PITA to change them out. Ride wasn't that much better for the work involved. Maybe the springs got soft after 100k miles tho. Now, I was able to get complete replacements for my Explorer. And a good thing to, as I had broken springs in the rear struts.Before you buy anything (if your doing this yourself), I would go under the car and check for leaking struts or broken springs before I bought replacements. You might only need fronts, or rears, not both.,,,

 

[joaks]

Originally Posted By: Kool1
What brand of struts do you currently have? Are they gas filled or only liquid filled, and are they monotube or twin-tube? Unfortunately I have seen a brand of struts called Sensen leak twice within 10,000 miles.


Im not sure what brand they are-they were installed by NTB, so I am guessing a lower end brand. They are mono and liquid, I think.

 

[CT8]

What you are seeing is probably somewhat normal as you add load. It is similar to when you fill the back of a pick up truck with dirt and the back of the truck drops down from the load. This explanation is very general and not specific. This is the spring rate of the strut and not the shock absorber part of the strut.

 

[Lubener]

Struts have nothing to do with your vehicle dropping. Springs maintain the height. Struts control spring oscillations and in some cases, act an upper ball joint. If you changed struts only, those old springs could be tired. You need to measure ride height and compare that to specs. If you need springs and carry heavy loads, may want to consider variable rate springs but ride might suffer some.