demian

Will driving with worn shocks ruin my Eibach springs?

mzmtg

iTrader: (11)

Nope. But all that pogoing up and down will put more wear on the rest of your suspension, and wear you tires and make you seasick, etc etc

demian

The guys at is300.net have said they believe that driving with worn shocks do ruin springs. I'd like to get some more feedback from the guys on this forum, considering the wealth of knowledge that exists here. Thanks.

Shingles

Nah, it won't effect springs that much except to say that worn shocks sit lower and if youlet it sit lower for a long time, it *could*, not that it would, sag the springs. But otherwise, it's kinda unsafe because the car will bounce around and that could potentially cause some problems.

-Shing

pmar

Nah. Do you know how many people drive around inadvertently with shocks that have leaking seals? You would be a great salesperson for Midas. The purpose of the shocks is to dampen the springs. Sagging springs would cause the car to sit lower, not shocks. As for bouncing, bingo. That's the dampening effect and the only purpose to having shocks.

Shingles

I don't quit understand the position you are taking with your reply.

I know perfectly well what the damper does. Infact we don't have shocks in the maxima, we have struts. If you are trying to say that it is safe to drive around with worn shocks... try again. Ever try to drive the car 9/10th with a pair of worn sturts? Just because many people do it does not infact make it any safer or more correct.

Ramius83

Also, to add into this, it is a little unsafe because the shocks take some of the force when cornering and maneuvering. You would want a "functioning" shock, not one leaking or worn out. Just use common sense, when something goes bad, REPLACE IT. Don't risk the possibility of hurting your car or yourself.

pmar

Wrong. The question will worn shocks ruin the Eibach springs. The answer is NO.

There were responses like the car will sit lower, which is wrong. Now you say the shocks take the force when cornering, and that is wrong.

The shock prevents the spring from bouncing forever. You have different shocks to achieve different results. Nobody ever said that worn parts shouldn't be replaced. But the question was whether or not the Eibach springs would be ruined or not. It's quite amazing how many people don't know what basic parts of the car do.

Mike S.

WRONG. Worn shocks, most commonly on the front will cause the car to look like its in a nose dive. Ever seen a beat to hell 80's car. It aint lower in the front for the hell of it

brubenstein

Worn struts will cause accelerated wear of springs. All metal will fatigue from flexing. Worn struts (dampers) do not absorb energy (convert kenetic energy into heat energy) that they otherwise would. A car with worn struts will bounce for several cycles as the springs dissapate the kenetic energy into heat (there is internal friction in the metal). The suspension will also move a greater distance with bad struts and this also increases the fatigue of the springs.
Ride height, with anything other than high pressure nitrogen struts, is determined by spring rate only. Older cars sit lower on their suspension because the springs are worn.

LoveSick

You gotta understand that in a suspension system, the shocks and certain bushings are the things that wear out extremely quick. Although most people thinks that springs are the ones that worn out faster, that is not true.


In rally racing, teams always reuse the springs, but change or rebuild the shocks. Springs are tend to last a life time.

I had a 4th gen 96 maxima and in 3 years, the strut is basically leaking like heck making handling worst than ever. Maybe you might want to get some Koni or tokicos that last longer because many people complained aobut 4th gen suspension not lasting very long/

Eric L.

Sounds reasonable to me. Also, I'm not sure, but could it be possible that ruined shocks can cause depression of the spring to a point where the coils crash into other when the suspension bottoms out? If that is the case, then that can't be good for the springs.