My car is pretty old, and I've just noticed how bad it drives when I drove my gf's new car (civic).

I can feel every single crack in the road, and potholes basically throw my car in the air. It doesn't bounce or anything, so I know nothing is blown but it just feels like ****. I want to be able to take tight turns and not chip my teeth on every sewer drain hole. I could barley feel the road while driving her car.

What do I need as far as new suspension? Springs? Springs & Struts? The works? I guess I could ask a mechanic but I've just been pondering this at work for a while and figured I'd ask here.

 

get new struts/ a light lowering spring if ya want to spend the extra cash

 

First off, our cars are 9-13 years old. Comparing the ride quality to a brand new car is completely absurd. You need to look under your car and look around to see if anything is worn out. Look for control arm bushings and such!!! You can also replace you springs and struts to drop it a bit, helps out a whole lot.

 

It's not absurd. All he is saying is that driving his gf's car reminded him how his car has some miles and could probably ride better. I don't think he was complaining or anything.

Struts will help a lot if you have near 100k miles on the originals. The original springs will pretty much outlast the car (performance wise) unless they become too corroded after 200k+ miles. Always good to check your tie rods and ball joints for play. Here are a few helpful tips:

Wandering steering: Outter tie rod(s)

A "knock" heard/felt when turning the steering wheel while vehicle is stopped or moving slowly while turning the steering wheel an inch or two in either direction: Inner tie rods

A creak/thump heard when turning the steering wheel while vehicle stopped or while driving during a turn. Sounds like it's coming from under the hood/fender: Strut bearing

A loud BANG when going over bumps: Sway bar end link

Vehicle gets sucked into dips/cracks/holes in the road/studdering driveline/floaty shock rebound/heavy body roll/bottoming out/rapid tread wear: Struts and some of the same symptoms could indicate a bad lower ball joint

Random creaking/clunking: C/A ball joints/bushings

Of course visually inspect bushings and make sure your tires are inflated correctly before doing anything drastic. Struts are a good place to start.

 

I noticed the ride in my 96 with 200K is not as good as my 08.


Seriously, when I go over bumps, it sounds like something is loose in the trunk from the back end. Is that just the shocks/struts or something else?

 

struts are most likely GONE if they are OEM. 3 of mine had ZERO rebound. (the rod didn't come back up when pushed in!!)

springs should be alright, but I'd recommend a mild drop spring with quality struts. A good comfort setup might be Tokico HPs or KYB GR2s with Tein H-tech springs. Eibachs are kick *** springs with a good drop, but they may not be as comfy as you want.

like others have said, replace bushings! Control arm and sway bar bushings can make a big difference! especially at 200k.

 

you might want to check the caliper brackets. I had to replace mine for the same reason .
if you can fit under your car enough with out jacking it up then just reach up and grab the caliper and move it around.if its it ,you will recognize the noise! remember to do this when the car has been sitting as to not burn your hand.

 

Sparky--

Also check to make sure your jack is firmly wedged in.

 

i also hav the same problem as sparky... i keep tryin to figure out wat it is... it sounds like something bouncing in the trunk but i emptied out my whole trunk and it was still makin the noise... then i thought that maybe the muffler is too loose and its wiggling around too much but that wasnt it either... i did juss hav my rotors and calipers replaced so i will check that...

 

check the oem floor jack on the side of trunk

 

A mysterious rattle I had from the rear end turned out to be the rear caliper piston was not seated on the brake pad correctly which caused the claliper to not "hug" the rotor properly. Dont ask me how, but this caused the caliper and rotor to make noise. There are notches on the outside of the pad that seat into resessed holes on the rear caliper piston. The other rear end noise I had was the jack not being securley wedged.

 

Funny! Not in the last 15 years!

I am going to check all this this week end. Thanks guys.

 

yeh ,actually I know what you mean.

well anyway I hope everyone figured out that its ok to jack the car up...LOL
but seriously,this noise is kind of common and its sooo very annoying,but its easy to fix,although it does cost about 70 bucks,but WELL worth it.
please keep us posted if thats it.

 

Check your rear suspension. The Lateral Link (runs from passenger side of rear axle to underside of middle of car) the bushing on the outside end and the Control link (metal rod) in the lateral link. Mine are pretty worn out and thats whats making mine make noise.

 

juss checked today and it was the caliper that was making the noise... i went under the car and wiggled it a bit and i recognized the noise immediately... i'll try to fix it tomorrow when i have the car jacked up...

 

well you.ll proabaly find that there is a lot of play where the slide pins go into the caliper bracket, the bracket holes wear out and let the caliper move around.unfortunately the fix is just replacing the brackets, they are about 35 bucks at autozone.(each)
but like I said befor...it is money well spent,if nothing else but the noise factor!

 

yea i checked the caliper yday wit the car jacked up and it was wiggling round quite a bit... i tried tightening the two bolts on the brackets but i could only tighten so much (not even an 1/8th of a turn)... the calipers were replaced about 2 months back but im not sure if the brackets were or not...

 

Remember this?

 

the brackets aren't usaully changed so after time the holes in the bracket where the pin slides gets "wollard"( < is that a word????) hence the noise. if they are cleaned and re-greased each time the caliper comes off they last a long time,but if not,well...