Suspension help!!

[blackhawk2k7]

First off thanks for always being there for me dsmtuners!


Now, here is my predicament, 5 months ago, for $700 I had Les Schwab put on all new shocks, which included a lifetime warranty. At the time my shocks were shot, so anything else WAS better. Later that day my friend pointed out that my shocks were horrible, he didn't know I bent over and smiled for Schwabby.

My shocks DO SUCK!!

It had never made me realize this more than when doing freeway (legal) speeds, around an over-pass; and the metal concrete joists used to join the concrete overpass, which everyone else who went over those barely noticed them. However, for me when my dsm went over them, it threw me around like my suspension was loose and sloppy and bouncing around the corner. It also wont go in excess of 100mph (track) without it felling like its going to slide out with any bumps at all.

Before I go and give Les Schwab a piece of my mind, what should i check that may be mistaken for bad shocks? Because when i press down on my car to check its response with the shocks, its bounces the whole G-D vehicle

thanks!

 

[nuclearr]

Sounds like bad shocks. If they are good when you push (either front or rear both need to be tested) down on your car it should rise up above the position before the push then drop below and settle to the start point, if it keep bouncing you have bad shocks.

 

[Dsmj89]

That sucks, i never liked that company myself. I would say get a refund and put your old suspension back on if possible and order a set of tokico shocks with some ground control coilovers. It'll run you about the same you paid for that bad suspension and it's a nice streetable stiff ride.

 

[kahl23]

It could be bad shocks, it could also be that they have no idea what the **** they're doing and installed shocks with not nearly enough dampening. Think of it this way, if you have a car with no (or blown) shocks, every time you go over a bump the car will bounce up and down on the springs until friction and inertia stop the movement. It sounds like this is what you're describing, but please correct me if I'm wrong. Now, if the shocks you have installed don't provide enough dampening force, the same thing happens, they are overpowered by the springs and your car bounces around on the suspension until, again, friction, inertia, and whatever force the dampers exert bring the body back to rest. Is it now worse than before or better? I would see if you can get anything out of them, but I would call that unlikely, however you never know until you try.

As far as what you do now, I would say it depends on what you want. If you want a cheap fix fast, go to a junkyard with a jack and some stands and rip out the stock suspension from a DSM there and use that. It's cheap and gets the job done. If you have the money now, or can live with it until you do, now is a great time to upgrade. A very popular choice of shock is the Koni Yellow, very reliable, fairly inexpensive (compared to coilovers at least), and gives great performance. I know a member here DG-FNR used them with success competitively auto-xing his car. They can be found here:
EXTREME PSI : Your #1 Source for In Stock Performance Parts - KONI Sport

I'm unsure of what spring rates you should use, but I'm sure a search on this site would give you some good ideas. Sorry to hear you got screwed, hopefully this helps.

 

[blackhawk2k7]

on any other car i 'bounced,' they went down with my downforce (Way stiffer than mine BTW) and came up and stopped, mine bounced bounced stopped....but not just the front like the 'other car' went down and stopped, my whole car responded when i pushed down aah..... i like les schwab, they have excellent warranties and such, but their product is so SH**TY sometimes. A similar thing happened with my z32 300zx, they messed up my brakes...

But, ill take it back to les schwab and have them repair it because of my lifetime warranty... (assuming they comply) and if they ask what is wrong, ill walk the fresh faced kid behind the counter out to my car, and give it one good push down, ill smile when he says i have bad shocks and hand him a not 5 but 4! month old transaction for all four of those worthless bastards... one possible cause could be that the shocks they put on my car are not rated for it...i hope

thanks

 

[kahl23]

What good is a warrantied part if you have to use the warranty all the time? I would say steer clear of them in the future. Good luck dealing with them, hopefully they stand by their work and do a better job this time.

 

[blackhawk2k7]

What good is a warrantied part if you have to use the warranty all the time? I would say steer clear of them in the future. Good luck dealing with them, hopefully they stand by their work and do a better job this time.

That's also the beauty of a warranty!


I really don't see how a company could stay in business selling crappy stuff
same was said about Wal-Mart

...Also I have a set of lowering springs for a 1ga N/A, would those fit my 1ga TSi? I procured them for free, if they work then great. I'm not sure how the color coding system works for springs, but the springs themselves are orange... ill check and see if there is any other colors on them.

thanks

 

[ranger87]

Les Schwab uses Gabriel shocks and struts all of wich are valved exactly as factory only with the addition of VST (velocity sensitive technology) much the same as Monroe Sensa-Trac, if they seem to ride mushy take it in and let them know and they will more than likely swap you for a set of KYB which is also a suppier they use. The guys there are paid hourly not on commision so they dont care if its warranty or not just as long as you end up happy with your puchase. If they wont take care of it PM me I got connections there.

 

[blackhawk2k7]

Les Schwab uses Gabriel shocks and struts all of wich are valved exactly as factory only with the addition of VST (velocity sensitive technology) much the same as Monroe Sensa-Trac, if they seem to ride mushy take it in and let them know and they will more than likely swap you for a set of KYB which is also a suppier they use. The guys there are paid hourly not on commision so they dont care if its warranty or not just as long as you end up happy with your puchase. If they wont take care of it PM me I got connections there.

thank you so much, and I will go in tomorrow!

(on a side note, it took me 15 minutes to come up with a phrase to praise you but I came to a loss of words...)