What you need to know about car shock absorber maintenance?

Car shock absorbers service

Maintenance of automobile shock absorbers. Shock absorbers and springs not only increase comfort, but also ensure driving safety. Shock absorbers and springs absorb vertical loads acting on the tires of the car. And provide a constant and reliable traction. Shock absorbers and springs prevent vibration, rolling and rocking the body. As well as lifting and crouching during braking and acceleration in the rear. Shock absorbers are an integral part of the car's suspension. Springs are one of the main structural elements of the chassis and suspension of the car. Important functions of a car shock absorber. Prevents excessive vibrations of the body. Reduces vibration, rolling and rocking of the body.

Damper and shock absorber maintenance

Promotes smooth handling and braking. Helps maintain fork angle. Helps reduce tire and suspension wear. A working suspension system, and in particular shock absorbers, affect not only comfort, but, above all, traffic safety - it seems that obvious things are far from all. There can be a lot of chassis faults - you can't say everything at once. Therefore, today we will focus on one topic and deepen the work of shock absorbers. Reasons for wear. Damage to shock absorbers, as a rule, is directly related to their increased wear. Oil stains resulting from the destruction of seals and corrosion of elements, cracked or deformed mounting sleeves. All these external signs of a broken shock absorber indicate that their inherent safety factor has dried up.

Shock Absorber Maintenance Recommendations

Monroe specialists strongly recommend not to wait for such symptoms and change the car suspension parts in advance. For example, the recommended period for shock absorbers is about 80 thousand kilometers. What you need to know about shock absorbers. While there may be other reasons for premature shock shock failure - there are many examples where the shock has not even made half the top run. The first reason is a fake or a banal low-quality part. And you shouldn't be surprised if a penny-bought replacement part doesn't last six months. Producing a high quality automotive component requires significant production costs. Including mandatory factory tests, expensive equipment that requires constant checks and improvements. Finally, the use of high quality materials from which the shock absorber is actually made.

Operation and maintenance of shock absorbers

Another equally likely cause is increased workloads, which can be quite different in nature. Exceeding the maximum load of the transported cargo, driving fast on rough roads, a lot of dust and dirt on the roads. All this, you guessed it, does not affect the durability of the car suspension. This has been proven by numerous tests - worn shock absorbers can not only worsen the stability of the car, but also seriously increase the braking distance. In addition, as the speed at which you need to stop increases, the stopping distance will increase in arithmetic progression compared to the standard one. During braking, as you know, most of the car's load is redistributed to the front axle, and the rear axle is unloaded.

What you need to know about servicing automobile shock absorbers

But with worn shock absorbers, the unloading of the rear of the car becomes excessive, which makes the work of the rear brakes practically useless! What you need to know about the maintenance of shock absorbers? The same applies to the side rollers of the body, which appear during maneuvering. The more the shock absorbers wear out, the larger the rollers become. Therefore, the greater the likelihood of uncontrolled rolling, leaning, the less wheel contact with the pavement and the less directional stability. If performance shock absorbers are designed on every road surface to keep the wheels in constant contact with the road, then a worn one can no longer do the job. How to make a diagnosis? Visually. The easiest way to identify a faulty shock absorber is to simply look at it.

Symptoms of Worn Shock Absorbers

If already known symptoms are noticeable, oil stains, deformation of elements, corrosion and others. Then there is nothing to think about - the installation must be urgently replaced. Also, it's best to do it comprehensively and replace all shock absorbers at once. If in an honest cycle one shock absorber was waiting, others would not keep themselves waiting long. Another thing is if the shock absorber is damaged as a result of an accident and with a low mileage of the car. Here you can try to find a part similar to the one installed on the other, undamaged side of the car. But in this case it is better to replace at least two elements. Shock absorbers on the same axle must have exactly the same characteristics. Abrasive wear on the rod that occurs when installing an old protection kit on a new shock absorber.

Shock Absorber Maintenance and Side Effects

Further work leads to rapid wear of the stuffing box and oil leakage. Empirically. Here you have to listen to all the senses and mainly to the vestibular apparatus. The aforementioned consequences of a delayed chassis repair can play a trick on you at the most inopportune moment. Side squeaks and noises appeared in the work of the suspension? Is your car bigger than before? At the slightest suspicion of a malfunction, immediately contact the service center. Where they will definitely check the operation of the suspension, experimentally. Only a qualified technician from a qualified technical center can accurately assess the condition of your vehicle's chassis. And it is better if the service is equipped with a special stand for vibration. This diagnostic device can detect whether the vehicle's suspension is working or not with high accuracy.

Inspection and maintenance of the shock absorber

After the test, you will receive technical data about the suspension in general, and not specifically about the shock absorbers. Many factors indirectly affect the results of vehicle diagnostics here. The condition of springs, silent blocks, stabilizers, etc. Therefore, it is best to carry out vibration tests in combination with a complete classical diagnostics of the elevator chassis in order to immediately replace all worn parts. What shock absorbers to choose? It's definitely hard to say. It all depends on which suspension features you want to improve. A wide range of components with different orientations are commonly found in the Suspension product group. Let's take three lines of Monroe shock absorbers as an example. Monroe Original is the main and most popular model of a well-known manufacturer. These shock absorbers are as close as possible in terms of characteristics to the original elements.

Shock absorber service

This measure is designed to even out wear and fatigue of other suspension components. Which, for example, are still suitable for work. Monroe Adventure is a series of monotube gas shock absorbers designed to improve off-road performance. The original version is also available for 4×4 vehicles. The off-road shocks are harder and thicker, have better heat dissipation and wall thickness. All this is designed to improve the behavior of the car on bad roads. Monroe Reflex is the flagship model of the range, which is a gas-mass shock absorber. The main feature of the series is a more accurate and faster response to changes in the position of the car body. The main innovation is the Twin Disc technology with a twin-piston valve package, thanks to which the shock absorber is activated even with the smallest suspension movements. The ingeniously designed valve here responds to ultra-low piston speeds. That increases the accuracy of maneuvers in any situation.