How to know if car springs are bad on just shocks?

DanB93

15 Year Member
Apr 1, 2007
65
1
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Hi i took my garage queen out yesterday after replacing the starter. I live on some country back roads and I felt to car was like riding a hobby horse , lots on back and forth motion and even scarped the front air deflector under the car on one short hill bottom. Once on a straighter level road the ride was OK at speed and It felt OK in a moving turn onto another road. The tires are pretty new but the car hasn't been driven much in the past 2 years. I am thinking about replacing the Shocks and Struts which seem easy enough but don't want to replace Springs unless needed because it seems a little more involved and not interested in lowering. Thanks in advance for the information.

93 LX Convertible 5.0
 
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Does the car bounce a lot when you hit a bump or especially if you cross on or off a bridge? The shocks and struts slow down the motion of the springs. If they are worn out they stop working as well and will let the car bounce.
 
if the car is bouncy, it's likely the shocks.

Bad springs will usually either be broken, or sag. If the ride height it still ok, then likely changing the shocks will fix the bounce
 
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While you're in there changing the shocks and struts be sure to check out the rest of the suspension. A-arm bushings, rear upper and lower control arm bushings, all that stuff. If you are running original equipment chances are they are worn out as well. IMO worn out bushings will allow your car to have side to side motion and it wont handle as well. Be careful though! If your like me you'll get all into to it and will be working on all this stuff for the next year! LOL
 
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While you're in there changing the shocks and struts be sure to check out the rest of the suspension. A-arm bushings, rear upper and lower control arm bushings, all that stuff. If you are running original equipment chances are they are worn out as well. IMO worn out bushings will allow your car to have side to side motion and it wont handle as well. Be careful though! If your like me you'll get all into to it and will be working on all this stuff for the next year! LOL
That’s why it’s a garage queen always working on it. Have a water pump standing by. I am looking KYB shocks at the should I order anything extra for doing the shocks and struts or just what comes with them as far as bushings?
 
When I did my shocks and struts I found that these were cracked and needed to be replaced.


If it's a garage queen you could go ahead and take the struts off to inspect everything else. That way you can just order all the stuff that will need to be replaced all at once.
 
When I did my shocks and struts I found that these were cracked and needed to be replaced.


If it's a garage queen you could go ahead and take the struts off to inspect everything else. That way you can just order all the stuff that will need to be replaced all at once.
Thats 2 logical. I worked like that on my house I wouldn't be return tripping to Home Depot in a week. LOL