How can you tell if your struts are blown? What indicators will the car give?

 

Usually there is oil on the outside of the strut.

Suspension may be bouncy, i.e. no dampenig, or stiff, the strut has locked up.

Sometimes the valves will stick and the car may get a little bouncy, but then they heal themselves. My front gets very loose in cold weather; I have a locked up right rear, and on Tue it's into the shop and new KYB's all 'round.

Don't recommend Monroe shocks - have had two pairs on rear, the first were gone in a year, the next set lasted 14 months.

Regards - Miles

 

dam could not have said it better.

 

are KYBs the best to go with? i know my struts are shot also i was looking for new springs too whats a good combo for springs and struts? i want to lower my car a little bit but not too much so i saw the eibachs 1.2 drop but i wanna know is what kind of strut would be best for lowered springs?

 

if you can afford it, go Koni. I can't wait to install my setup!

 

You could do a shock bounce test to see if the shock has blown. Firmly bounce each corner a few times and then let go. Normally a good shock should stop bouncing after 1 or 2 rebounds. 3 or more means the shock is done for.

This personally hasn't worked for me, because I've tried it on the side where I knew there was a blown strut on my car, and it wouldn't bounce more then twice. Got that info from an automotive text book though.

 

1 full bounce is all a good strut should have

 

I've got blown stuts on my car also. When pulling out of a parking lot and going over a bump the car almost always seems to bottom out. Can hear what I think is the front tires contacting the wheel well. Would some new struts alone take care of the bottoming out, or do I likely need new springs as well? Currently have factory springs w/ about 150K.

 

same thing mayne sometimes it sounds like it bottoms out like CRAZY and then in the same night it might even go back to normal and ride kinda nice, not great but nice...lol does anyone have any problems with thier Bose cd deck skipping when hittin even the TINIEST bumps? i wasnt sure if it was my deck goin or cuz it rides like ****.... hmm curious