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Is my suspension going bad:shrug:

L

LilCe98

Hard-core CEG'er
Joined
Jul 14, 2006
Messages
2,030
Location
Richmond, VA
I know this is a newbie question but I've been hearing a lot of squeaking and clunking going on with my SVTC. This usually happens more around this time of year because of the cold weather. I know I probably have to tighten some bolts, check bushings, and grease springs, but how do I know when it IS going bad. Are there any other symptoms that I should be looking out for? I've been reading alot lately about struts going out at around 100k and I'm pushing 120k on stock suspension. Can someone shed some light on this subject?
Thanks
{J}
 
i bought my csvt with 90000 on the clock. Since going over 100,000 the suspension has gone downhill quickly. Its probably about that time unfortunatly
 
codypka said:
i bought my csvt with 90000 on the clock. Since going over 100,000 the suspension has gone downhill quickly. Its probably about that time unfortunatly
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I hope you changed those already!!!!

I will be down in NB parked by Lippincott/Nicholas on the Douglass Campus on Jan 20-21st if you want to see the car!!!

Call me if you wanna set up something!!!

- amyn
 
qbcsvt said:
I hope you changed those already!!!!

I will be down in NB parked by Lippincott/Nicholas on the Douglass Campus on Jan 20-21st if you want to see the car!!!

Call me if you wanna set up something!!!

- amyn
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Hey quit trying to hijack my thread and answer my question:laugh:
 
I had a vibration at 55 to 65 mph which refused to go away even with new tires, balancing and new front struts and springs, and an alignment. After changing the rear struts and springs, it was as smooth as can be. I think that was at 110K miles.

Edit. I went to different places for the tires (2Merchants, 2Sears), balancing (Sears, Midas), and alignment (Midas). Installed the rear struts at the local Midas.
 
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the stock svt struts start to significantly lose compression and wear out at about 100k miles. and that clunking noise you hear while driving is your rear tires bouncing around because the struts dont have enough rebound compression left to keep them on the road. mine did the same thing around 95k miles. i put bilsteins and h&rs on it and now its smooth as glass (well not really, it made it a significantly stiffer ride and more harsh), but it does handle beautifully.
 
Ok the clunking is getting worst. I'm not sure if its because its been crazy cold here lately, but it was definitly worst this morning. So how long do i have before I have to replace things? Is it one of those the longer I wait the worst its going to get situations, or is it an as long as I can stand the noise I can drive it situations. I'm not sure if i can afford to fix it right now
 
LilCe98 said:
Ok the clunking is getting worst. I'm not sure if its because its been crazy cold here lately, but it was definitly worst this morning. So how long do i have before I have to replace things? Is it one of those the longer I wait the worst its going to get situations, or is it an as long as I can stand the noise I can drive it situations. I'm not sure if i can afford to fix it right now
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Are you sure it's your springs/struts that are giving you the clunking? I know a bad sway bar link or two will give you some nice hollow clunking over any sort of bumps.

Unless one of your springs is broken/jarred out of place or one of your struts leaks and is letting the wheel bounce a lot I don't see them causing a clunk.
 
Redlineracer12 said:
Are you sure it's your springs/struts that are giving you the clunking? I know a bad sway bar link or two will give you some nice hollow clunking over any sort of bumps.

Unless one of your springs is broken/jarred out of place or one of your struts leaks and is letting the wheel bounce a lot I don't see them causing a clunk.
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No I'm not sure its the springs/struts. I've been meaning to get to a shop so they could look it over, but I haven't had the time. It's seems to clunk and sway when I go over bumps, and squeak everytime the car bounces even a little. I just replaced the LCA's about 3-4 years ago ([rant] well actually the passenger side was replaced again about a month ago after a stupid tire shop jacked up the car on it to change the rear tire and bent it all to crap. Even after I removed the jack point cover for them [/rant] )
 
I just had the same problem, "clanking". Turned out the problem was the sway bar links. The rubber bushings were shot/gone. Job cost approx 125.00. Could have save some money by buying from BAT who has a pair for $54. Rock Auto has the link and bushing kit for $34. I believe that if that is your problem, it should be very easy to spot. HTH.
 
your suspension is probably pretty worn out, however I have seen/ridden in plenty of contours with that many miles on stock struts and springs and had minimal bangs and klunks.

90% of the time the sounds you are hearing are from the sway bars, what happens over time is the sway bar end links (the little bars that connect the front and rear sway bars to major suspension components start to wear out, its really easy to tell they are worn out just by wiggleing them a little bit, if there is little to no force feedback in the end link, its toast get new end links.

at 120K miles, you definately are due for all 4 endlinks replaced, dont worry its an easy task and parts are cheap too. check Rockauto.com for parts

the front endlinks should be like $15 each, and the good news about the rears is that the end link bushing (the part that prevents klunking and whatnot) is actually replaceable, those bushings are like $5 for a pair.

$40 later you should have a virtually klunk free suspension again :)
 
Like a lot of the parts in our cars, the end links have a finite life. Noises at the rr of the cars ALMOST ALWAYS ORIGINATE FROM THE SWAY BAR or the various components which attach to it.

I've repaired/replaced broken & bent sway bar brackets, broken sway bar bracket sockets/subframes, end link bushings at the main control arm and the end links themselves where they connect to the sway bar. The stock end links are junk and fail especially quickly if a larger aftermarket sway bar is used. They use a steel body with rubber molded around steel sleeves. The rubber dries up and leads to metal to metal contact. There's a reason the parts are cheap to buy.

I didn't mention the sway bars I found installed backwards or lowering springs which adversely affect the end link/sway bar geometry but those usually lead to the dreaded "clunk"...
 
Bradness said:
Like a lot of the parts in our cars, the end links have a finite life. Noises at the rr of the cars ALMOST ALWAYS ORIGINATE FROM THE SWAY BAR or the various components which attach to it.

I've repaired/replaced broken & bent sway bar brackets, broken sway bar bracket sockets/subframes, end link bushings at the main control arm and the end links themselves where they connect to the sway bar. The stock end links are junk and fail especially quickly if a larger aftermarket sway bar is used. They use a steel body with rubber molded around steel sleeves. The rubber dries up and leads to metal to metal contact. There's a reason the parts are cheap to buy.

I didn't mention the sway bars I found installed backwards or lowering springs which adversely affect the end link/sway bar geometry but those usually lead to the dreaded "clunk"...
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So are you suggesting I go with aftermarket parts or stick with OEM?
 
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