Are your shocks and struts in control of your ride? (*Part 2*)

Vehicle ride, handling and braking are directly linked to the integrity of your suspension components. Like many of the systems on your vehicle, struts and shocks wear very slowly; many people only realize how worn they have become after they have had them replaced. After replacement the vehicle feels like new.

As the internal components of shocks and struts wear, additional internal heat is created resulting in deteriorating ride quality, braking and handling. With this wear, the oil inside the struts and shocks aerates becoming more like foam than the liquid oil it is meant to be. The farther you drive the worse this gets. The air acts like a squishy ball, allowing excessive movement of the vehicle. When we step on the brakes or make sudden steering moves the vehicle starts to rock or roll, this lifts up one end and drops the other end. Any time this happens the tires, brakes and suspension are over loaded on the low side and you don’t have enough traction on the high side. This is the reason it takes longer to stop and you have less control with worn struts and shocks.

Unfortunately we cannot change the oil in the struts and shocks when it gets old like we do engine oil. You may have seen advertising from manufacturers advising you to replace struts and shocks after 80,000 kilometers; this is the reason; the oil is worn out resulting in the struts and shocks not working as they were intended to.

There are other considerations with worn struts and shocks; all of the extra vehicle movement creates wear in suspension and steering components, requiring replacement sooner than needed. The braking system will be over loaded in the front from having too much weight transferred from the back of the vehicle to the front when slowing down. This overloads the front brakes and causes the rear brakes to be less effective creating longer stopping distances. Additionally your tires will wear out far sooner than a vehicle with good shocks and struts.

Regular maintenance inspections, performed by experienced technicians along with the needed services will help you save time and money keeping your vehicle safe and reliable for many years to come.

At Crestview Auto Service “We’ll Keep Your Car Young a Long Time”

Are your shocks and struts in control of your ride? (*Part 1*)

First, a little trivia about the life of struts and shocks; research by manufacturers shows that on the average road (not Saskatoon’s pothole roads) each strut or shock on your... car cycles (stops and starts moving) 1100 times per kilometer. That works out to be 88 million times in 80,000 kilometers! That’s 88 with 6 zeros added, WOW! When they get worn out they cycle even more. Your vehicle feels the wear, a vehicle with as little as 80,000 kilometers can take an additional 3 meters or more to stop than a vehicle with new struts and shocks! That can be the difference between making a quick controlled stop, or panic and possibly an accident.

Struts and shocks are the components on your vehicle that control the up, down and rocking or sway movement of your vehicle. The struts and shocks don’t hold the vehicle up, that’s the job of the springs. When a vehicle is new, the struts and shocks allow us to have a safe controlled ride. Over time, the struts and shocks are slowly wearing and most drivers do not realize how worn they are until after they have been replaced. The difference in ride and vehicle control after replacement of worn struts and shocks can be dramatic.

In the past we used a visual inspection and a bounce test of the vehicle to determine if they were good or bad. If we saw oil on the outside, or if the vehicle cycled too much after a good bounce we recommended new ones. With the newer manufacturing technology, this only works on struts and shocks that are extremely worn. Over time, as the internal seals, oil and components of struts and shocks wear, they lose the ability to control the springs. This becomes more obvious after driving for a while, the vehicle is relatively stable when starting out but after driving for some time, it becomes less stable and has a mushy feel to the ride. This extra movement creates excessive heat causing the shocks and struts to lose the ability to control the springs.

Watch for part 2 coming soon.

At Crestview Auto Service “We’ll Keep Your Car Young a Long Time”