WARNING! Shock absorbers

[Skodaecman]

A salutary tale,or wise in hindsight.Recently l have been experiencing skittish handling at the back,in addition to a sporadic noise emanating from there .On visiting my brother in law in Melton Mowbray we went on a test drive after a very short while we stopped got out and proceeded to look at the rear shock absorbers and the protective plastic sleeves had dropped and we're making the noise just like his did.Left with his drilling 2 holes ,threading some copper wire through and turning away and looping higher up ,fix for later.Driving to Thurmaston along Humberstone lane to my stepson's garage to get my airbag warning light extinguished l drove over some speed bumps carefully then negotiated a raised pedestrian crossing then on exiting the handling went berserk bouncing like hell at the back.l drove on very slowly with all sorts of strange noises to the garage.On quick inspection my stepson directed me to the garage where they have their work done.On arrival the pre-warned boss came out and diagnosed that both rear shockers had gone! On lifting on a 2 leg lift, one had lost fluid and the other looked in a equally sorry state.We were all dismayed that they their poor condition had not been spotted earlier on an Mot especially as one of the springs was replaced on the 2015 test .£160 and 2 hours later sorted ?144000 miles on the clock ,big thanks to the guys at Nas- tech , Highmeres Road Thurmaston .Check yours out guys if any concerns.Cheers Vince

[octyal]

MOT is only a visual check, and if there is no sign of fluid loss, then they will pass - plus of course the MOT is technically only a certificate to show it was ok at the time of inspection as well. Essentially your car can pass the MOT at 10 am, drive away at 10:30, then by 10:45 it could be in a state to actually fail an MOT if re tested, crazy stuff really.

I was told years ago (when shock technology was still gas or oil - none of this adaptive stuff) that shocks should be replaced with every other set of tyres, so roughly every 60k miles or so. Obviously materials and technology has moved on, and so I would imagine that reliability has improved considerably with them. I remember when I had my Sierra 4x4 with just over 100k on the clock, the suspension would bottom out on certain bumps in the road (bit like my vRS does now - I do have new shocks waiting in the shed for that), changed all 4 for decent make gas ones, and the handling was transformed instantly, so it does make sense to consider budgeting for them every 50-100k miles, depending of course on what condition the roads are in where you live.

[cheshire_cat]

I recon after 70K they're done---was it all those pies in the back the last straw? :sun:

[STSKODA]

mine were shot at around 100k, kept bottoming out on bumps when cornering hard, didn't help that springs were done too

[Skodaecman]

Heh cheshire cat you been stalking me ? He he !