The car currently has Maxspeed spring and HR2 struts for five years and now the is really harsh, seem like there is no suspension travel at all. I did tried to push the front end of the car and it barely move. Anyone know what's wrong? could bad struts do that? Or bad struts = soft ride?

 

Your struts provide dampening in both compression and in rebound. Bad struts could very well cause your issue. It's probably combined with several bushings needing to be replaced as well.

 

+1

first things first, take apart your suspension and run a quick diagnostic on what the problem(s) could be. like checking shocks (rebound/compression), control arms, bushings, springs, strut mount etc. all your suspension components. it's all about troubleshooting.

 

Maxspeed springs = Cheap, horrable riding spring
GR2 Struts = Firm, border line harsh strut.

Combine the two and you have your harsh ride.

Consider upgrading your suspension to H&R springs and Tokico struts.
That's the smoothest combo out there.

 

Thanks for the replies guys..

Turned out it's worst than I thought, check out the pictures below, that's the inside of the two front tires (happened to the rear too but not as bad). Is that something more than just suspension? I'm going to put back the stock springs and get some cheap struts from autozone or something (anything else cheaper?).

I'll also replace the strut mounts, is there anything else I should replace? (car has 170k miles on original suspension parts). Anyone know where to order these parts for cheap? Thanks again guys.

 

what the hell was that rubbing on? the lower spring perch??? cuz damn thats BAD.

 

that is probably the worst tire wear in one portion of the tire that I've ever see, I've seen tires down to steel belts but what? How did you not realize that there is something rubbing on your tire? It looks like its been that way for some extended period of time.

 

bought used tires? maybe wow thats bad..

oh..and if your seriously looking for cheap struts.. post a WTB in the 5g class. section... or PM me.. let me know because i have a set(4)of a 2k2 se strutswith 25k orig. miles on them willing to let them go for 100 plus shipping shipping is the only crappy part.. unless of corse you are close to CT

 

WTF!!! how'd that happen, never seen a wear like that

 

i wouldn't blame that on springs/struts (i ran the maxspeed/gr2 combo and was happy with it). that's either tire failure or an extreme suspension problem. i can't even begin to guess what's wrong from the pics. you need to have your entire front end thoroughly inspected.

 

It looks like the Spring perch was hitting. hence the main reason why your car can't go down when you push the front end down. BECAUSE it is hitting your tire. What shocks(lol get it?) me the most is that you could not hear or smell the rubbing of the tire against the perch is pretty odd. Take it to an alighnment shop and have them tell you what you need fixed. You prob never got an alignment I assume after this suspension upgrade right?

 

My wife is driving the Max now and she's working out of state so I can't really check on her car that often.

Yes I did get it aligned when I lowered it 5 yrs ago and for these 2nd set of tires also (got them new not used). There wasn't any rubbing or alignment issue and I rotated them couple times. I didn't see or notice it the last time I changed the oil (maybe it wasn't bad enough for me to notice?).

Anyway, I got some stock wheels and new tires, put back the stock springs, some new struts from Autozone and got an alignment so it should be good. Whatever it was.. hope it won't come back.

 

Seen alot of strange wear and that's a good one. Any chance we'll ever hear the answer abot the cause?

 

right, I'm curious to know what was causing that wear.