[xj] role of shock absorbers (A different question)

What kind of affect will worn out shocks all around have on the car. I’ve
noticed the ride in my car has gotten worse and worse over the past few
months. (Tires will squeal around turns that didn’t use to, and the cracks
in the highway are very noticable now.)
Will bad shocks cause this? Or am i looking at different problems. Anyone
have a spair set laying around, that aren’t $50 a piece? :)]
Normally i wouldn’t have complained but sometimes my cd changer will skip on
a nice sized bump, i know it’s not the subwoofers causing this…
Irving (1984 XJ6 162,000)_________________________________________________________________
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What kind of affect will worn out shocks all around have on
the car. I’ve
noticed the ride in my car has gotten worse and worse over
the past few
months. (Tires will squeal around turns that didn’t use to,
and the cracks
in the highway are very noticable now.)
Will bad shocks cause this? Or am i looking at different
problems. Anyone
have a spair set laying around, that aren’t $50 a piece? :)]

Well, bad shocks can certainly contribute. As for tire squeal, have you
checked your pressures recently?

If you’re getting clunking sounds over bumps, a likely culprit is the
bushings at the top of the shocks. These tend to shrink up and harden over
time, causing the top mount to be loose.

Take a look in Kirby’s book for good info on the suspension and checking the
shocks. The big problem is that the old test of bouncing a corner of the
car and seeing if it keeps bouncing doesn’t work with gas shocks…they can
have modes of failure which cause problems while driving, but don’t show up
in the bounce test…===================================================
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Irving, yes, shocks that don’t dampen will let you feel more of the little
irregularities, as well as the sloshing across longer ones. You can usually
tell by how the car behaves when changing lanes quickly. If it feels a bit
scarey back behind you and squirrelly up front, the shocks are tired. You can
also push down hard at each corner of the car, then see what happens after
release. If it comes up and stops, that’s good, critical damping. If it pops
up and goes back down a bit, that’s underdamped. Lot’s of up & down may mean
to PO left the shocks off. :]

Check with folks like Coventry West for new ones (maybe $50/axle up front and
$100 per in rear). Our SIII is in need of them. Our SII has new ones up
front and is great.–
Alex
79xj6L SII (BRG + wires)
86xj6 SIII (Black)
61 Sprite MkII (Red)
Menlo Park, Calif.

Irving Seligman wrote:

What kind of affect will worn out shocks all around have on the car. I’ve
noticed the ride in my car has gotten worse and worse over the past few
months. (Tires will squeal around turns that didn’t use to, and the cracks
in the highway are very noticable now.)
Will bad shocks cause this? Or am i looking at different problems. Anyone
have a spair set laying around, that aren’t $50 a piece? :)]
Normally i wouldn’t have complained but sometimes my cd changer will skip on
a nice sized bump, i know it’s not the subwoofers causing this…
Irving (1984 XJ6 162,000)

===================================================
The archives and FAQ will answer many queries on the XJ series…
FAQs: http://www.jag-lovers.org/xjlovers/xjfaq/index.html
Archives: Jag-lovers Forums - Jag-lovers

To remove yourself from this list, go to Jag-lovers Forums - Jag-lovers.