Shocks and Struts
Short & Sweet Purpose: Struts and shocks have 3 main purposes: They absorb bumps in the road, keep your tire on the ground as much as possible and give you a better quality ride. The main difference between struts and shocks: The main difference is when you replace a strut, it will affect your alignment. When you replace a shock, it usually won’t.
Symptoms of Failure:
1. They will leak hydraulic fluid
2. Decrease in ride quality.
- When you stop your car, it may lean
- Rear end drops down when accelerating
- Car dips down in the front when braking
- Vehicle bottoms out if you hit a pothole
- Vehicle bounces excessively, especially on a rough road
3. Uneven tire wear.
Care & Repair: These days, struts and shocks don’t need to be replaced very often. For the most part, they just don’t wear out that much. Don’t replace your struts and shocks just because of high mileage. If a trained technician or service consultant you trust gives you a viable reason to replace them, then go ahead and do it.
Cost:
1. Struts – $400- $1200 per pair of struts
2. Shocks – $150 – $600 per pair of shocks
Purpose Struts and shocks have 3 main purposes: They absorb bumps in the road, keep your tire on the ground as much as possible and give you a better quality ride. The main difference between struts and shocks: The main difference is when you replace a strut, it will affect your alignment. When you replace a shock, it usually won’t. Usually, you will find struts on the front and shocks on the rear. Most modern vehicles have both struts and shocks, although some vehicles, usually the more expensive cars, only have struts.
Shocks vs. Struts Shocks:
1. Less expensive
2. Easier to change
3. Keeps tires on the road
4. Absorbs bumps in the road
Struts:
1. More expensive
2. Controls up & down tire movement
3. Provides structural support
Symptoms Since shocks and struts usually wear out gradually, it’s not always easy to tell if they need to be replaced. By the time you would notice symptoms of worn struts and shocks, they are probably way past needing replacement. You could also cause damage to shocks or struts if you hit a pothole going too fast or hit a curb. Hey, it happens!
Leading indicators that your struts and shocks need to be replaced:
1. They will leak hydraulic fluid. You won’t see it on your driveway; you have to look at the shock or strut and see if fluid is running down. Hydraulic fluid is somewhat clear, but it will be dirty because of the dust and dirt from the road. A small amount of moisture is okay.
2. Decrease in ride quality.
- When you stop your car, it may lean
- Rear end drops down when accelerating
- Car dips down in the front when braking
- Vehicle bottoms out if you hit a pothole
- Vehicle bounces excessively, especially on a rough road
NOTE: All of these things can be a normal part of driving; when they get excessive, you may have a problem with your struts or shocks.
3. Uneven tire wear.
The Bounce Test Some people believe in performing a bounce test to see if struts and shocks need to be replaced. FYI, you have to be a pretty solid weight for this to work. The average person performing this test would not get accurate results. If you do push down on your bumper as far as you can and it bounces more than 3 times, you REALLY need to replace your struts or shocks. Most people would never be able to push down hard enough or put enough weight on them. If you perform this test and your car does not bounce 3 times, you could very well still have an issue with your struts and shocks. The bottom line is this test doesn’t really work!
Care & Repair These days, struts and shocks don’t need to be replaced very often. For the most part, they just don’t wear out that much. Don’t replace your struts and shocks just because of high mileage. If a trained technician or service consultant you trust gives you a viable reason to replace them, then go ahead and do it. Bad struts and/or shocks can cause premature failure of different parts of your vehicle, such as the tires or other parts of the suspension system. This will end up costing you more money in the long run if you don’t replace them when you first determine they are bad. Struts are usually recommended to be replaced in pairs. This may not always be necessary. For example, if you have a strut or shock that is leaking, your vehicle has under 100,000 miles, and you have no other symptoms, it’s probably okay to just replace the one with the problem. If you replace your struts, you will need to get an alignment done. Changing your struts will cause your car to go out of alignment.
NOTE: Shocks and struts all rust. If someone tries to sell you shocks and struts because they are rusty, this is not reason enough to get them replaced.
Cost
1. Struts – $400- $1200 per pair of struts
2. Shocks – $150 – $600 per pair of shocks Struts themselves cost anywhere from $50 – $300 each and could easily take 2 – 4 hours for a mechanic to replace. Shocks are anywhere from $20 – $200 a piece and would probably take only about 45 minutes to replace. Your front struts may cost more than your back struts, since front struts are connected to the steering. To get a good estimate on strut and shock replacement, go towww.repairpal.com.
