rear shock absorbers - do they have a finite life?

[Rita]

My wife has noted that the handling of her 2009 fabia with 66000 miles appears to be deteriorating  - tending to go on in a straight line at corners.  Checked the rear suspension all looks ok, shocks not leaking and equal resistance when pushing and pulling the bottom of the shock. Front suspension all OK too.  

 

I was wondering if the shock internals wear with Time? Not sure how else to check them?

 

Any other ideas?

[sepulchrave]

It's more to do with the age of the rubber suspension components, they will all be very tired after 13 years use irrespective of mileage,  particularly the front wishbone bushes.

[mrgf]

As he said... Also, braking distances will be increased with soggy suspension, to a certain degree.

[Breezy_Pete]

How are the tyres?

[mrgf]

13 minutes ago, Pete_Ex-Wino said:

How are the tyres?

I'm still as fat as ever!  Lol.

[KenONeill]

41 minutes ago, Rita said:

I was wondering if the shock internals wear with Time?

Yes and no. Yes in that they do lose oil/pressure with mileage. No in that they don't reach $miles/$years and become bu99ered every time.

[Rita]

Tyres are in good condition thanks. Which suspension rubbers are the most likely to wear?

[Murdockman]

If replacing rear shocks rember to change the pair and I would syuggest also replacing the top mounts as well, replaced mine with a good quality gas/oil  filled shock as the normal oil filled will dissapoint you, they are gas/oil  filled on your model and they do wear and get weak  over time , if you get 10 years from them that's pretty good going as the internals do fail due to age and use althougth they might not be leaking the internal seals get weak, mostly the shield part on the shocker breaks and allows dirt etc to get into the shock and then you have problems a good set should set you back around £90-£100 but well worth it as they do last longer and perform better than just oil filled shocks

[sepulchrave]

1 hour ago, Rita said:

Tyres are in good condition thanks. Which suspension rubbers are the most likely to wear?

 

The front wishbone rear bushes.

[UrbanPanzer]

Im amazed you have a wife who is even able to tell the car handling has changed !!!

[Rita]

1 hour ago, sepulchrave said:

 

The front wishbone rear bushes.

Yes, noticed that they looked a bit tired when I jacked the car up- black shiny rubber visible on the outer edge.

[sepulchrave]

4 minutes ago, UrbanPanzer said:

Im amazed you have a wife who is even able to tell the car handling has changed !!!

 

O

M

G

 

The 1970's called and asked for you...

[nta16]

Regardless of tread depth left tyres that have been on a vehicle a long time that does little mileage and has lots of periods of inactivity may not handle as well as they look.  Particularly summer tyres now it is cold.  As with looking at the front for the bushes possibly front tyres (possibly in combination with other tired parts like front bushes)

 

ETA: I was typing this as you posted that the front bushes look bad - so possibly not tyres too but I would look at the date on them if you don't know when they were fitted especially if it has been low mileage and a lot of periods of non-use.

 

Edited 30 January, 2022 by nta16

[UrbanPanzer]

58 minutes ago, sepulchrave said:

 

O

M

G

 

The 1970's called and asked for you...

 

Showing your age now.........

 

My point (which was a joke) and seems to be misconstrued (as usual ) is that my wife (and "probably a lot" women) really would not notice the cars handling had changed, unless the tyres were all flat!!

[sepulchrave]

13 minutes ago, UrbanPanzer said:

 

Showing your age now.........

 

My point (which was a joke) and seems to be misconstrued (as usual ) is that my wife (and "probably a lot" women) really would not notice the cars handling had changed, unless the tyres were all flat!!

 

Seriously?

[AnnoyingPentium]

[DieselMonte]

18 hours ago, Rita said:

 Checked the rear suspension all looks ok, shocks not leaking.

My shocks weren't leaking and they were goosed when I changed them.

Big giveaway for me that I needed to change them was that I was bottoming out constantly. 

Granted mines a diesel and it had 104k miles, all that weight is not easy on the front shocks. The rears were almost as bad though.