if you can stand all the bouncing going on .... does it really matter that the struts are shot?

 

I suspect you've never driven a car with a) shot struts, or b) good struts. If you knew what the difference in control was you wouldn't ask the question.

 

Ray: Well, Nori, the part most likely to cause that kind of bouncing is a bad shock absorber (on this car, it's called a strut). When you hit a bump, the wheel bounces up and compresses the spring. And when a spring is compressed, what it wants to do is un-compress. Then the weight of the car makes it compress again, and it wants to keep going like that....boinga boinga boinga boinga.

Tom: But if the car's springs were allowed to bounce like that, the wheels would also bounce off the ground, like yours did. The strut (or shock) is supposed to stop that from happening. It's supposed to let the springs compress and decompress once, and then keep the wheels firmly planted on the ground.

Ray: And the reason it's dangerous to drive with a bad strut is because if your wheel is bouncing, and is off the ground half of the time, how are you going to steer or stop?

 

Yes it's bad. My dad made me drive around on four bad struts for 6 months and now my springs are shot, especially in the back. Also it killed my front strut mount on the passenger side. I'm getting Eibachs for Christmas though so i should get that done within two months.