Testing shocks
Safety Car
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 3,567
Likes: 0
From: Aurora IL
Re: Testing shocks (vectorz)
Put on tennis shoes, jump up and down on the fender, if the rebound shoots you off, you need new shocks. The alternative is just to push down hard on the corner of the car, let the pressure release quickly and note the rebound. If the shock stops the motion up and down gently and quickly OK if not shock bad. If shock is pumping oil out of shock body, shock bad, if shock is sucking air, shock bad, if shock is in two pieces, shock bad.
Tech Contributor
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 32,910
Likes: 2,402
From: Anthony TX
CI 6,7,8,9,11 Vet
St. Jude Donor '08
Re: Testing shocks (vectorz)
vectorz
There are a few ways that you can check out your shocks. First of all, what kind do you have? F45 (electronically adjustable), or regular hydraulic?
You can bounce each fender up and down with your hand 4 or 5 strokes and on the last stroke, let go and watch the fender to see if it continues to bounce more than once. (This test does not work well on Corvetts because they are very stiff and difficult to get bouncing a lot.) If the fender bounces up and down 2 or 3 times after you stop bouncing it, the shock is shot!
TEST #2 Let (SOMEONE THAT YOU TRUST) drive your Vette on a road that has a lot of dips and irregular road surfaces as you follow behind in another car. See if the car bounces a lot after it hits a bump or dip. Speed bumps work good. If you hit a bump at a higher speed, a bad shock will allow the wheel/tire to bounce up and down off the road surface 3-4 times before it settles out.
Shocks are nothing more than dampeners that absorb and disapate the springs energy and the inertia of the weight of the wheel assembly when are set in motion by a road irregularity.
If the shock does not dampen properly the wheel/s can not stay in contact with the road.
The third way that you can see if your shocks are working properly is to disconnect one end of each shock and move the shock in and out. You should be able to feel resistance to the movement (more resistance in compression "in" than in rebound "out") Each shock should feel about the same as the others and there should be NO oil leaking from the seals around the rod that goes in and out.
The only problem with this test is, all four shocks could feel about the same but if you compared them to a NEW shock of the same brand the old shocks might not dampen as well. They could still be "good" but WEAK!
Weak shocks are dificult to feel (on the car) because they loose their dampening ability so gradually that you dont know that they were bad until you install a new set and see how much BETTER the vehicle handles!
If you have more than 30-40,000 miles on the old shocks, up-grading to new ones would probably be VERY noticeable. :thumbs:
Bill Curlee
[Modified by Bill Curlee, 8:13 PM 10/23/2003]
[Modified by Bill Curlee, 8:15 PM 10/23/2003]
There are a few ways that you can check out your shocks. First of all, what kind do you have? F45 (electronically adjustable), or regular hydraulic?
You can bounce each fender up and down with your hand 4 or 5 strokes and on the last stroke, let go and watch the fender to see if it continues to bounce more than once. (This test does not work well on Corvetts because they are very stiff and difficult to get bouncing a lot.) If the fender bounces up and down 2 or 3 times after you stop bouncing it, the shock is shot!
TEST #2 Let (SOMEONE THAT YOU TRUST) drive your Vette on a road that has a lot of dips and irregular road surfaces as you follow behind in another car. See if the car bounces a lot after it hits a bump or dip. Speed bumps work good. If you hit a bump at a higher speed, a bad shock will allow the wheel/tire to bounce up and down off the road surface 3-4 times before it settles out.
Shocks are nothing more than dampeners that absorb and disapate the springs energy and the inertia of the weight of the wheel assembly when are set in motion by a road irregularity.
If the shock does not dampen properly the wheel/s can not stay in contact with the road.
The third way that you can see if your shocks are working properly is to disconnect one end of each shock and move the shock in and out. You should be able to feel resistance to the movement (more resistance in compression "in" than in rebound "out") Each shock should feel about the same as the others and there should be NO oil leaking from the seals around the rod that goes in and out.
The only problem with this test is, all four shocks could feel about the same but if you compared them to a NEW shock of the same brand the old shocks might not dampen as well. They could still be "good" but WEAK!
Weak shocks are dificult to feel (on the car) because they loose their dampening ability so gradually that you dont know that they were bad until you install a new set and see how much BETTER the vehicle handles!
If you have more than 30-40,000 miles on the old shocks, up-grading to new ones would probably be VERY noticeable. :thumbs:
Bill Curlee
[Modified by Bill Curlee, 8:13 PM 10/23/2003]
[Modified by Bill Curlee, 8:15 PM 10/23/2003]
Tech Contributor
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 32,910
Likes: 2,402
From: Anthony TX
CI 6,7,8,9,11 Vet
St. Jude Donor '08
Re: Testing shocks (CAPN17)
CAPN17
After I made that comment and pushed the send button, I went back and removed it. You were right and I am wrong for making that comment. Sorry, :leaving:
Wont happen again.
BC
After I made that comment and pushed the send button, I went back and removed it. You were right and I am wrong for making that comment. Sorry, :leaving:
Wont happen again.
BC
