Struts

Ok.. I have a question about struts.. I had the oil changed in my 96 SL2 and
the tech told that the struts where shot and needed to be replaced.. He said
that the rear ones were so bad that they were "Shredding my tires".. I
looked at the tires when I got home and I didn't see any signs of the tires
shredding... I am going to replace the struts.. But I am going to do them
myself... I wasn't going to pay someone $600 to replace them...

Thanks for the help..

Ben

 

Lol, I wouldnt go back there again. How do you know the advice was true?

You need to goto the front of your car and push down on the bumper
repeatedly until the car gets bobbing real good. Then jump back and
count how many times it continues to bounce afterwords. If it doesnt,
then they are good, if it bounces more than 3 times then they are
certainly bad. Do the same to the rear.

 

Ok.. I did what you said... Car bounced about 1 to 1 1/2 times and stopped
bouncing cold... I guess I am ok then.. But what is thing about "Shredding
tires".. I have owned alot of cars and trucks and have never heard of a bad
suspention "Shredding" tires before.. I know they they can make the tire
wear funny and get poor mileage of them... Oh well.. Thanks for the info..

Ben

 

make sure you look at all sides of the tires, including the inside tire wall
which would not normally be viewable unless you get under the car. I have
seen tires that were shredded on the sidewalls before, but these were low
profile tires that had a puncture so had been run at too low a pressure.
make sure that you have good clearance all the way around as well even when
turning.

Bob

 

The guy is giving you BS. Sounds like something you'd hear from a Midas or
from other muffler/suspension/whatever places. If you were shredding your
tires you'd know it, probably bobbing up and down like a cork. Because you
haven't experienced that and see no signs of "shredding" pretty much tells
the story.

Reminds me of the last time I was at a Midas sometime in the late 80s. I
went for exhaust work but the guy told me I needed new shocks. I remembered
I'd heard clunking sounds from the rear end of my shit '85 Escort. "Yeah!
Yeah! That's it!" the guy said. Well, I don't allow myself to be succumb to
sales pitches and I didn't get the shocks. And I discovered later the
clunking was a golf ball in the hatch wheel well.

 

Yep... I agree with you about tires.. I have had tires come apart on me
before.. Bad batch of tires... I did inspect the tires.. I crawled under
the car and looked at them all... Nothing.. I couldn't see a thing... Oh
well.. I am not going to worry about... I do need new tires pretty soon
though..

Thanks for all the help..
Ben

 

I bought an '89 Mazda 323 SE in 10/03. My first car and only necessary
lesson in buying a car cheap and as-is from a stranger. After buying it I
had the car looked at (yeah, I know I did it backwards) and one thing the
guy pointed out was that the springs in the back that surround the strut
were collapsing. They were actually breaking at the top. He said it wasn't
worth fixing on an old car with as many problems as this one was turning out
to have as many problems as it did and it would just make the ride bumpy.

About a month or so later I went over a small bump and heard a loud clunk
from the rear driver's side. After that every little pebble or crack in the
road made a loud clattering. I called a trusted mechanic (co-worker's
nephew) and asked him about it, mentioning about the springs. << He said
that the spring might have completely broken. I asked if it was something to
worry about and he said he had seen where a broken spring had hung down and
punctured the tire. >>

It turned out when I brought the car in that the top end of the strut had
rusted so bad that it broke free from the body and was just clanging around
in there. Only the spring was still holding it.

In any case, I suppose this is what your guy was alledging. That the spring
might be hanging down and cutting the tires. Seems a stupid lie since it is
something you can easily look at yourself. Just not very creative, I guess.