Suspension Diagnosis

[AZ94]

Hey guys, I was wondering how you can effectively determine the condition of the suspension.

On google a lot of the "symptoms" of a suspension that needs repair are along the lines of car rides roughly, you can feel every bump on the road, drifting during turns etc. Honestly a lot of these "symptoms" sound like the handling characteristics/ride quality of the 86 in a nutshell.

[Teseo]

Take out the wheel, lift the dust boot from shock, inspect if they are leaking oil

[TommyW]

Car goes into wall with the front of the car= add rear sway bar

Car goes into wall with rear of the car first = soften rear sway bar.
In all negative driving conditions = check your driving technique

[Mr.ac]

Originally Posted by AZ94

Hey guys, I was wondering how you can effectively determine the condition of the suspension.

On google a lot of the "symptoms" of a suspension that needs repair are along the lines of car rides roughly, you can feel every bump on the road, drifting during turns etc. Honestly a lot of these "symptoms" sound like the handling characteristics/ride quality of the 86 in a nutshell.

Simple: visually inspect components.
If you can't or don't know how to jack up your car, take it to any professional mechanic.


So keep in mind that sports cars have stiffer suspensions. You can't compare a sports car to luxury SUV.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by AZ94

Hey guys, I was wondering how you can effectively determine the condition of the suspension.

On google a lot of the "symptoms" of a suspension that needs repair are along the lines of car rides roughly, you can feel every bump on the road, drifting during turns etc. Honestly a lot of these "symptoms" sound like the handling characteristics/ride quality of the 86 in a nutshell.

Hello AZ94 ..........

With a car as new as yours, if you bought it new, there is probably nothing wrong with the suspension.

However, if you suspect something is not "right", and it's still under warranty, I'd suggest you take it into the dealer and ask them to check the suspension and maybe the alignment.

If it's not under warranty, consider taking it into a auto shop for an inspection and alignment.


humfrz

[Cole]

Is this your first car?

[strat61caster]

Bushings, nuts and bolts; visual inspection, shake pieces of the suspension and feel for undue play.

Check nuts and bolts with a torque wrench periodically.

Periodic alignments to ensure there is no changes, consistent changes in alignment specs are likely due to parts that need replacing (or a poor procedure/tech).

Bouncy ride is from blown dampers, fluid leaks are also cause for concern. I think there's a few good YouTube videos about blown dampers as this one is hard to feel if you don't know what you're looking for or have extremely low expectations for ride quality. Actually look up YouTube videos for all of these, there's likely some guy in his garage with a camera that can show you something bad and something good side by side that will help you get the picture.

Check ride height periodically to catch springs sagging (highly unlikely with OE or high quality aftermarket springs)

Tire wear generally points to alignment issues, but strange tire wear issues combined with an alignment that looks good could be an indicator for a worn bushing, joint, or loose bolt.


Most people never check these things, maybe a good dealership or mechanic will actually perform a thorough inspection, but they're rare in my experience. Almost all cars in my family have never seen an alignment rack and I wouldn't be surprised if 80% of the nuts and bolts were untouched from the factory to this day. Meanwhile someone going to the track or autox is checking their alignment and doing a visual inspection as frequently as before and after every event, sometimes multiple times per month, at a minimum once per year.

Find a happy medium, I think giving the suspension of a road going sports car a once over every year isn't unreasonable (that goes for both the hyper anal retentive AND the incredibly lazy)

[AZ94]

Thanks for the input. I'm asking because the other day I inadvertently went over a pretty big bump (didn't see it because it was snow covered) and it resulted in a pretty big thud. Since then it feels like whenever I go over a bump or crack in the road instead of the usual solid sound it makes I hear more of a higher pitched dink over the road imperfections. The steering also feels lighter but that could just be my imagination and the left door makes a high pitched dink sound as well when I close it.

[strat61caster]

Take it to a high quality alignment shop and ask for an inspection and alignment reading, my favorite shop charges <$100 for this, an adjustment or repair would bring the price up but that would be money well spent.

[Twinz]

When changing wheels on my wife's FRS, the rear passenger-side shock sounded like Darth Vader when I lifted the car and when I put it back on the floor. That was my first clue. The other symptom was bad wheel hop when trying to apply power out of a corner with the the bad shock on the inside of the turn.

Surprisingly, I don't think the degraded handling would have been noticeable on the street if I wasn't looking for it.

I replaced the rear shocks today and the wheel hop is gone. (No sucking-air noises either)