[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)