The Mechanics Insight 586 Poplar St. Clio, Michigan 48420
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Typical Repairs
In this page you will find some of the most typical repairs in the auto industry, as with any repair front suspension/steering and brakes can also be misdiagnosed or lied about to the unknowing customer.
Front/Suspension and Steering
The average automotive chain repair center sells tires usually with no or little pay to the technician save for the weekly/monthly percentage pay for installing the tires. The money comes all from the upselling of parts and service, for the technician to make any money they must sell. One of the most common repairs associated with tire sales is the front end alignment. The alignment is sold to you with the prospect of not prematurely wearing out those brand new tires. Once the vehicle is on the alignment rack you must be warey. Many vehicles need the alignment so do not be surprised to find an adjustment needed. There can be times when no adjustment has been made although you have been told one was. Along with the adjustment there can be parts that are worn out such as tie rod ends, idler arms and balljoints. These parts are very often worn or faulty so you again should not be surprised if a repair needs to be replaced, keeping in mind that these parts can be replaced needlessly to the unknowing customer.
You do not have to be a trained technician in every facet but a few simple techniques to help you to trust your technician, tell your technician, service writer, or manager that you want to see the before and after specs from your alignment, a good technician will be happy and willing to show you what was done, when a repair is needed such as tie rod ends, idler arms and balljoints there are specification tolerances from the automotive manufacture that tells the technician what amount of wear is allowable, ask the technician to see the specs. and perform the inspection, again a good technician will be happy to perform these steps, to keep his customers returning.
Listed below are some of the front suspension/steering repairs that you may see:
Shocks and Struts
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The easiest test to perform is the bounce test.Go to a corner of the vehicle ie; right front, left front and place your knee on the bumper/fascia and bounce the vehicle using your weight at least 2 - 3 times, at the last bounce stop and count how many bounces it took for the vehicle to stop oscillating, a good shock will stop at least 1˝ to 2 but no more 3 bounces, immediately go to the opposite corner just tested and perform the same procedure until all corners are checked. Replace the shocks that fail the test. It is ok to replace one shock at a time, keep in mind that the other shocks are just as old and may need to be replaced in the near future. A common practice is to replace in axle sets, this is ok but not always necessary. Stay away from places that want to replace all 4 shocks for finding 1 or 2 bad ones. Another symptom is the sticking shock or strut that seemingly passes the bounce test but may give a harsh ride or cause steering conditions like jerking wheel when hitting a bump in the road or excessive steering when passing over a dip in the road. The other ways of testing are simply looking at the shock for leaking oil and loose or worn/cracked shock bushings.
Note: A common but misconstrued notion is that people think that shocks and struts hold the weight of the vehicle this is wrong the shocks and struts control the ride quality of the vehicle. The coil or leaf springs are what hold up the vehicle, if you have a vehicle that seems to lean to one side or another, barring low tire pressure the problem is
