I noticed after putting my summer tires back on that the inside of the tires all the way around are pretty worn. I had an alignment done and the car was pretty off. The ride has also been really rough, I can feel every bump in the road and my fiancee has back problems so I need to fix this. I thought the springs might be bad so I checked how high the car sits. The wheel arches sit at about 26.5 to 26.75 inches high, the factory shop manual specifies 27.75 in the front and 27.13 inches in the rear. The springs are stock and the car is a 93 gxe with 211,000 miles. The camber, caster, and alignment are all within spec after the alignment but I don't know if the springs are shot and if they are will the tires wear unevenly even when the alignment and camber is correct. If I do replace the springs I can't afford stock springs from the dealership ($550 a set). I don't want to lower the car more than I need too, Eibach only drops 1.2 inches and everything I've read on the forum says they have a good ride but will the drop throw the camber off or is it too little of a drop to matter. Thanks for the help.

 

Sounds like bad struts to me...

 

you should start with struts, but do not be surprised if you do not go back up in height.
the springs will sag with age, but the spring RATE will not change ever.
putting on eibachs will leave you at the height you are at now with a slightly stiffer ride.
What size tire are you running?
tire size will also raise and lower a cars ride height. they will also affect ride comfort as well.

 

I'm running the stock 205/65/15 tires. I didn't realize that the struts could cause sagging. They were replaced 3 years ago by Les Schwab and the ride really wasn't much better than when I took it in. Turns out when I took it back they said they had incorrectly installed the rear struts. I don't know how you do that but I don't think I'll be taking it back there. The struts have about 40k on them now, I'll see about having them checked.

 

I just read what I wrote and I feel like an idiot, struts don't cause sagging.

 

What brand strut did they put on?

 

Yes, springs cause sag, the struts shouldn't. Does the ride seem stiff or is it that the suspension bottoms out a lot?

 

a badly worn strut will cause a sag, I've seen it.

 

Yup.

If they were replaced 3 years ago, consider that most auto places put in monroes, they blow fast. Also consider how many miles you put on in that time.

Stock replacement I wouldn't go with anything less than KYB's. They are a good price too.

 

I'm pretty sure they are monroes, I was looking at the billing details earlier today but all I remember for sure is that the replacement struts are gas charged. The struts do have at least 40K on them. The bump stops and dust sheilds are also shot which I forgot to mention earlier. The dust sheilds are almost gone and the bump stops have some pretty good cracks, I'm planning on replacing those when I do the suspension. The ride doesn't seem stiff, more like it's bottoming out all the time. There definately isn't stiffness going around corners, the body rolls pretty good if I'm going too fast. The road just feels rough even on fairly smooth roads and I get a ton of road noise. It fells like I'm always driving on a dirt or gravel road.

 

I just had new front struts put in this week and I noticed the tread had worn greatly on the inside due to the old ones. One of the old struts compressed all the way and wouldnt extend even out of the car.

 

Monroes are garbage,my wifes gxe has them also[already on the car when we got it],they have a very spongy feel over bumps,also the car has terrible body roll when hard into a corner...


If you decide to replace the struts,i recommend either tokico or kyb..

I have a set of oem se springs for sale if you want a little firmer spring..

 

monroe makes 2 types of struts for our cars.
1. Sensatrac
2. Monro-matc
most shops use the monro-matics. They are cheaper than the sensatrac, and have a life expectancy of 12k.
Sensatracs are way better, but rarely bought.

 

I think the sagging is a red herring. If the car's bottoming out and wallowing around turns then the shocks are definitely your problem with the ride. You can confirm this by paying attension to the bounce of the car when going over bumps. If the car continues to bounce after the bump at all or, when you bounce it by pushing down on the bumper several times, then the shocks are worn out. Replace them.

 

The car doesn't seem to continue bouncing after a bump, it doesn't even like to come back up all the way when I tried bouncing it in the driveway. I'm going to try to take it in and have it checked out this week and go from there. From what everyone is saying it sounds like struts but I'd rather know for sure before I start buying parts and replacing things.

 

I have koni's and they are great they are the best,they require some work when installing.

 

Yeah, I'd have it looked at. I assume they checked the ball joints and the strut mounts and bearings when they did the alignment, but have those checked too, just in case.

 

I doubt they checked any of it, I asked them to check out the struts and springs when they did the alignment but they didn't. I'm going to be very specific when I have them check it out, either way it doesn't cost me anything but time for them to check it. I've never had good luck with Les Schwab, I got a batter from them when mine died and asked them to check the alternator too. They told me the alternator was fine and then ended up giving me a second new battery when the bad alternator killed the one I'd just gotten. I was also looking back through the invoice for the struts today, it doesn't mention which brand of struts were put on but I was only charged for 3 when they were supposed to do all four. Hopefully all of them were replaced.

 

Yeah, unfortunately it's hard to find someone who knows how to turn a wrench out here. I keep on getting my cars back from repair and have to take them into the garage and fix what's been screwed up or broken or half fixed by the garage.

 

I only take my car in the shop when it needs an alignment. Last time I took it in for mechanical reason it cost me over 2500.... The repair failed 2 months later.

I WOULD NOT TAKE IT BACK THERE! Cut your loss and find someone else. It's like going back to a dentist that has hep C.

Garages tend to charge double for mistakes they made. Being in the business long enough they know how to be pro BSers.

 

I have enough background to do all of this work, but sometimes with a family and work you need to trade money for time. Luckily, for my Integra, I've found that, while not cheap, Eastside Acura can do decent repairs ( i.e. repairs I don't have to redo when I get the car home).