Shock Absorbers

carole1664

2006 Honda with over 95000 miles on clock.


Thanks for advice

AdrianC

So, yes, they probably are fairly worn. A new set will likely improve the way it drives. But I really wouldn't be panicking about driving it.

Strider590

Other than the points mentioned above, the immediate thing to watch is the car will feel like its skipping around when you hit bumps in the road, this could potentially cause a danger if you hit such a bump at speed in the wet, as the tyres won't stay planted to the road surface.

gilbert_and_sullivan

The car will obviously benefit from new dampers, but unless its setting up a repetitive bounce over road undulations, or making themselves known by weird noises, bangs or puddles of oil leaking out, i wouldn't be worried about driving the car.

It can be interesting to watch your own car being driven along, you can see which shockers are worn because the bounce won't be ''damped'' too well whichever corner or end is worn, in bad cases you can see the tyre hopping along the road as Strider mentions, watch it again when you have a new pair or set and see the difference for yourself.

bod1467

My (company, lease) car goes into the garage next Tuesday for investigation into a knocking sound, that I very much suspect is caused by a cracked offside front suspension spring. Has this stopped me driving it? No.

In fact I drove to from Glasgow to Norfolk and back (about 820 miles) a week or so ago with it having that same noise.

Stoke

Not that I am recommending it, I drove for many months (about 6) on a set of knackered rear gas shock absorbers including a trip to Wales. Perfectly fine when driving town speeds, anything up to 60mph ish. At motorway speeds, the car felt absolutely lethal though. The back end seemed to have a mind of its own and at times felt as though it was swaying around.

If you're getting it fixed on Monday lol, you'll be fine.

Stoke

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

The car will obviously benefit from new dampers, but unless its setting up a repetitive bounce over road undulations, or making themselves known by weird noises, bangs or puddles of oil leaking out, i wouldn't be worried about driving the car.

It can be interesting to watch your own car being driven along, you can see which shockers are worn because the bounce won't be ''damped'' too well whichever corner or end is worn, in bad cases you can see the tyre hopping along the road as Strider mentions, watch it again when you have a new pair or set and see the difference for yourself.

Just to add to this, if you drive fast enough with wrecked shockers (in my case a single trip up the motorway), every little road imperfection is absorbed by the spring, which is why I am sure this is the reason my cars rear end felt like a boat in the wind.

I eventually changed them myself.

AdrianC

It all becomes much more explanatory if you ignore the (utterly incorrect) term "shock absorbers", and use the more accurate term "dampers".

The springs absorb the shocks from the road surface.
The dampers damp their movement.

CHR15

bod1467 wrote: »

My (company, lease) car goes into the garage next Tuesday for investigation into a knocking sound, that I very much suspect is caused by a cracked offside front suspension spring. Has this stopped me driving it? No.

In fact I drove to from Glasgow to Norfolk and back (about 820 miles) a week or so ago with it having that same noise.

You should have seen me a couple of years ago trying to steer my Saab to safety from the inside lane of a roundabout with the front spring buried in the front tyre.
It completely ripped the inner tyre wall apart.

facade

CHR15 wrote: »

You should have seen me a couple of years ago trying to steer my Saab to safety from the inside lane of a roundabout with the front spring buried in the front tyre.
It completely ripped the inner tyre wall apart.

There was a Renault Laguna parked outside my house for a few days with the inside of the front tyre ripped out from a broken spring.

Brilliant Renault design, the lower spring seat is D shaped, and when the spring breaks the free end shoots down and unwinds into the tyre. :eek: