Hey guys. My car has been sitting for a few days. When I pulled out the right rear suspension felt very very very stiff and annoying. When I hit even a small bump the whole rear becomes very jumpy. But it doesn't feel like a worn out suspension... I don't get a soft bounce. I get really hard thumps. Thump, thump, thump is all I get even from the smallest lump on the ground. Stiff like a brick. The suspension doesn't seem to move. The tires actually feel like their jumping off the ground and Im bouncing along while I drive. This happened before. First time I felt this problem was when the freezing weather started a few weeks ago. The only part of the car that gets wind is the right rear of the car. Im guessing the right rear suspension completly froze up. Thing is it was never this bad. It was stiff and bouncy but never annoying. Felt like a sports suspension because the car looked like it had those sports car setups from the side everytime I hit a bump. Car was stiff as a board. And it was only on the side that recieved the ice cold wind. It felt so frozen that I had minimal body roll when I took a sharp turn. After a few hours of driving it would go away and the car drove like always. The problem now is, it's very annoying. Suspension feels like it isn't working in the rear at all, and Im bouncing up and down like crazy and it feels like the tires are gonna fall of any minute and suspension is about to snap in two.. And worst thing is, it doesn't go away like it did before. My guess is it's frozen since the problem started on the side where the wind was blowing, but then when you think about it, Im the only one thats driving around like that. Im sure other people get winds from all directions. Thanks alot for any help. I still feel the bumping in my head 2 hours later. Very annoying. Can't even drive the car that way. Feels unstable. What could the problem be? Thanks again.

 

I'm not 100% sure, but it sounds like you have leaky rear struts with water in them. In cold weather the water freezes and makes those struts feel super stiff. They would need to be replaced in this case.

 

does the rear end sag now?

 

sag.. like hangy? Hm.. Not really. When I push down on the trunk to test the struts it doesn't budge. Maybe it's me but the rear looks a drop lower after todays ordeal of bouncing for a few hours.

 

Hm.. Your probably right. I just remembered.. Do you know those rubber boot looking covers around the strut essembly? Well they're all cracked! Water or something had to have gotten in. And it started especially after it snowed. Cool, water probably did get in a bit. Wind chill blew.. Froze it up nice and hard, and Im enjoying. Im a little broke right now, and can't afford anything on the car. Not even gas sometimes, so Im not in a hurry to replace the strut. Do you think taking the car to a warmer temperature area and spraying it down with some nice hot water and patching up the rubber boot somehow should help? Thanks.

 

Oil shocks are very tight when cold weather, frozen feelin from cold start, drive carefully not to break 'em before they warm up. Otherwise I like them more than gas shocks.

The shocks warm up quite fast and any water evaporates off. If u have water in, then u have more than 100k on them - scrap. If u thus have no shocks, tires and all part will wear down soon, car handling is dangerously erratic and braking distance 30% longer. Do not drive maxima if u have no money to keep basic things working...

Tst: After 10mile drive, test the basic minimum: the car should not continue up/down jumping after corner power press down. If shocks are non existent, the up/down will cont some 3x after u release the corner, repair asap.

 

Hm, I see. I probably need to replace. Do you think that once the weather gets warmer it will be better? Thanks.

 

Update - It wasn't that cold today so I took the car for a few hour drive.. After about 2 hours or so the problem nearly went away and the more I drove it got better and better. I really do think it has to do with the freezing weather. Im gonna put some rags or something in the rear wheel wells to keep the suspension nice and cozy.

Thanks again.

 

Shielding from direct wind surely helps some.

The shocks do work a lot and thus get warm themselves, evaporate the possible water/ice. If u have the std oil shocks, stiffness is no problim but a feature - few first miles their seals might break on speedbumps etc, so drive carefully. If u do not like the feature, buy gas shocks next time - and do dislike the humptyjumpty 'all the time' (first 8k)...

Also some tire rubber compositions are awesome freezers: the freeze in that mold u leave u car, its like driving on triangles first few miles...

 

Update - So there was actually freezing going on. Once I shielded the rear suspension from the cold wind, the suspension felt normal and not a problem since. Has anyone experienced suspension freeze, where the car felt like it had a "brick" suspension?