kwack

As the topic says,

MY99 with 44k on it. How do you know when the suspension is on its way out.

Is there any measurements that dealers can do or yourself


Any advice appreciated

Cheers

Kwack

SDB

hi kwack

I don't know about actual measurement, etc but there are some subjective signals you can feel when driving.

For instance.. if you go over a bump with both wheels at the same time (like a speed bump) as the car settles back down the end that has a duff damper may come back down with a lateral roll as well as the expected pitch of the car.

In other words, (if it's one of the front dampers) as the front starts to come down after the bump and press back down on the suspension, one side will go down quicker than the other (or will return slower than the other, etc).

Another way to check (if your suspension isn't too stiff) is to press down over the wheel to compress the suspension and release it.

The suspension should either just return the car to it's static ride height, or possibly go slightly past and then back down to it's static ride height. If it does more than this, your damper is shot. If one corner moves more than the others, it's shot, etc.

I know this isn't technical, but it should give you an idea. If you're at a track day / meet when I'm around, I would be happy to tell you if they're ok with a 2 minutes drive.

All the best

Simon

Little Miss WRX

I can only reinforce what Si has put - my MY94 rear dampers on my WRX were shot and you could literally just press the rear of the car down with no effort!!!

If you are unsure experiment with other people's scoobs to compare.....provided they have standard suspension of course!

DaveW

You could always go to a dealer that has a lower mileage MY99 and test it against yours (just push down on each corner, being careful not to dent the bodywork). And see if there is any difference.

If I remember correctly dampers can start to deteriate after 40k but I've heard of people on the same dampers after 80k. Just depends on how hard the car is driven and over what type of road surface.

Mine still feels OK at the moment, MY99 @ 47k.

DaveW

kwack

Cheers guys for the comments.

I did the push down test and all seems OK. Its just that there is a jiggly kind of sound coming from the back of the car and this is similar to a previous car which had shot dampers and was only working through the springs.


Any ideas on the jiggly sound. Could it be the cardboard bit over the spare?

TBMeech

I would be suprised if after 2 years an 49k your shocks were shot..unless of course you were spanking the car over speed bumps / potholes etc...

The car should rise and fall evenly on all the shocks, as previous posts have rightly said you may get some rising with less effort than other shocks on the car, they should all have an even resistance to when you push the car down.
Also listen for clunking noises too this can be sign of the shocks being tired etc.

IanWatson

Sorry to hijack the thread - but I've also suspecting that I may need (or have now got an excuse!) to put new springs and dampers on. Car's a Euro MY99, done 35k miles.
Everything feels fairly tight, no excessive pitch or shimmying, but when I press down on the rear, there's a slight 'graunching' noise that sounds like a dry shock absorber.

Is this a 'they always do it, mate' - or an upgrade oppo?