Your car’s suspension was designed to provide a smoother and more comfortable ride. The suspension system absorbs the shocks and vibrations that are inflicted on the wheels – by bumps, humps, potholes and general deficiencies in the road, your suspension helps absorbs all of these uncomfortable ride along issues and was designed to give you safe and pleasant ride – without passing any further reverberations onto the frame of the car and in turn, its passengers.
If you no longer have a smooth ride you here are a few things that you can look for to see if your suspension needs to be replaced because it is now gone:
Rough Ride
Obviously, the easiest sign is if your car is riding really rough. If you feel like you are on a carnival ride when you are driving down a smooth road, this is a huge sign that you might need to have your suspension (also known as shocks or struts) looked at or repaired.
Takes a Dive
This sign can be the most worry some for most drivers, this is when your shocks are totally worn out and when you are coming to a total stop you feel the vehicle staggering forward and then jolts to a stop “nose” first. Quite shocking to experience but a heavy indicator that you need to drive straight to the auto shop to get your suspension inspected.
Uneven Tire Wear
A more frustrating sign for many drivers, if you are quite diligent with your tire rotations (especially in a front wheel drive car) with your oil changes and yet you are still seeing that your tires are wearing out at inconsistent rates. This is a good/bad sign for you as a driver. If you see balding spots or that your tires are wearing out in unusual locations this is a sign that your suspension isn’t holding the car’s weight evenly and so it is putting incorrect pressure on the tires.
If that doesn’t work?
If greasing the ball joints and suspension bushings will often start to squeak when they’re on the verge of failure, which is a far more serious issue. Bad ball joints will usually display more weighty symptoms, like thumping over bumps and vibration in the steering. Some have grease fittings, but grease alone won’t save what’s been torn to shreds by time and use. Because of this, you’ll have constant squeaks, like when you rub two damp pieces of rubber together.