When do good struts/shocks go bad?!?

[speeder]

Bilsteins on PU trucks I've owned gave a fantastic ride. As others have mentioned, it's all about the dampening and sometimes a firm shock can still give a really decent ride if it's matched to the spring rate, weight of vehicle, etc.

[Evans, Marv]

I replaced the shocks & steering damper on my truck at 156K miles. I don't necessarily think I need to let them go until I notice the ride getting worse. I figured mine were overdue then, but I really can't tell any difference.

[aigel]

I would change them at 150+k if I had any doubts about my suspension.

I am a Bilstein man here too and everything but beater cars get stock shocks replaced with Bilstein when the time comes. I had them on my Sequoia after at 155k miles the stockers started leaking. At about 220k, one of them backed out the top adapter. I wanted to return to Autozone but those morons said they had none in stock. One phone call to Bilstein, an email with a copy of my receipt and they express shipped a new shock for free under their lifetime warranty. These shocks are all made in Germany or the US. Way to go. Like speeder says, they are great on big vehicles too, even my Excursion 4x4 Diesel benefited from them greatly!

G

[Arizona_928]

Might be worth it to do ball joints, and tie rods when you're in the front end. While you're in there sorta deal.

+1 to keeping the sachs. I went Koni's on my daily driver, and wish I went sachs/OEM.

[LEAKYSEALS951]

I spent the weekend redoing the front end. It still needs an alignment but is pretty close considering I just winged it. WOW! What a difference. The squirrelly handling is GONE and it drives like the NUMB volvo it was meant to be! The old front struts were noticeably weaker than the replacements. Even without the alignment, it drives significantly better than before.

Obligatory Magnus Walker suspension picture- GET OUT AND SOCCER MOM!

[RF5BPilot]

Not the same, but at 70k on my Ford Ranger, although it felt firm on fairly smooth pavement, it tended to "crash" into some pavement flaws and the tires didn't stay planted when hitting a flaw in a curve. I wasn't sure if the linkage was worn or shocks. Just pushing on a corner, couldn't get much movement.

But then, going slowly over a speed bump, the truck bounced too many times on the other side.

Rented some time on a garage lift and put new Monroe's on. What a difference. Felt stupid for waiting so long, but the wear creeps up on you.

I bet you can feel the difference! Don't skimp on the choice of alignment shop. They're not equal.

[sugarwood]

Originally Posted by island911

These things do not wear with mileage. Typical failure mode is a blown seal. Which could come from rust on the shaft or old cheap rubber seal.

Porsche uses (used) some pretty tough durable dampers with tough materials throughout. Other makes ~ not so much.

Dampers/shocks are very simple devices. They push and pull oil thru little holes. The holes don't change. But if the seals go, they lose the thick oil and start pumping air. Engineering term for that situation is Under-damped.

I wish more people would say this, instead of "Oh, xxx miles? You probably need new ones." with no real evidence or fact.
I think there is a lot of placebo effect going on when people replace perfectly fine shocks.

I decided not to replace my shocks b/c there is no oil or crud on them whatsoever.
The car does not fail the classic bumper bounce test, either.

I'm no expert, but is money better spent on actual wear items like ball joints, bushings, and alignment before randomly replacing shocks that are dry as a bone? Does that seem reasonable?

[wdfifteen]

I think there is a scam aspect to the shock absorber replacement industry. On most cars they are relatively easy to do and the job has a profitable parts-to-labor ratio. As the OP implied, it’s hard to tell if shocks are bad (unless they’re REALLY bad), so it’s an easy sell to an uninformed car owner. A lot of serviceable shock absorbers have been replaced because it was profitable for the shop, not because the car had a safety or handling issue. The way most cars are driven a shock absorber has to be really, really bad before it affects the performance of the car. A marginal shock that would be obvious in a P-car at a DE would never be noticed by most drivers.