SHOCKS OVERLOOKED

Shock absorbers are often the most overlooked component of a vehicle, despite their importance. At Broadway Tyres, we put your safety first by providing quality shocks from trusted brands.

Unlike brakes or tyres, it is not always easy to know when your shocks are worn or in need of replacement until something goes wrong. We recommend that you visit us, and our experts will gladly assess your shock absorbers.

Your shocks are crucial to the stability of your vehicle, allowing you to have complete control while driving. If you find that your car is swaying, bouncing, or over-reacting, then your shocks may need replacing.

Worn shocks will also affect your braking ability, and contribute to wearing down your tyres.

CONSTANT CONTACT

Shocks allow your tyres to make constant contact with the road whether you are driving straight, cornering, going over hills, or driving on a bumpy road. All the vibrations and shakiness from driving on such a road get absorbed by a vehicle’s springs and shock absorbers, hence the name.

Do not confuse shock absorbers with struts because they have differences. The strut is built into the structure of the suspension system while the shock absorber connects two parts of the suspension together. Essentially, all the vehicle’s weight is placed on top of the strut and not the shock absorber.

KNOCKING NOISE

• When going over various bumps, speed bumps, or potholes and you hear a knocking sound, you likely have worn shock absorbers. The noise may be the metal coil springs actually hitting your car’s chassis.
• The points on each end of the shock absorber contain rubber bushings. All it would take is for a crack to form in the rubber bushing and it will result in a tapping or knocking sound that you can hear each time you hit a bump while driving.

VIBRATIONS

• Steering wheel shakes
• The shock absorber has valves and piston seals inside of it. If either one of them gets too worn, the flow of fluid won’t be controlled, and it will move through the piston seal and/or valve.
• Once that happens, the steering wheel will vibrate each time you drive over a bump, regardless of how big or small the bump is.

FLUID LEAK

• Puddle of brake fluid under the car.
• The shock absorber’s body has seals to protect it from leaking. After a while, these seals will start to leak fluid along the side of the shock absorber’s body until it falls on the ground.
• If the shock loses too much fluid, then it won’t be able to function properly.

SWERVING

• The car jerks when accelerating
• If you step on the brake pedal while turning, you may experience swerving or nose diving. When the shock absorber is faulty, the weight of your car will move in the opposite direction while you’re turning.
• This will cause you to swerve and it will take more work just to correct the turn in the direction you want to go.

BRAKES REACT SLOWLY

• Brake pedal to floor
• If you step on the brake pedal and your car takes a while to slow down and stop, then there’s a possibility your shock absorber might be faulty.
• This could arise from the length of the piston rod not being taken up fast enough by the vehicle. So, the vehicle needs more time to complete this task.

UNEVEN TYRE WEAR

• Uneven tyre wear
• Since a bad shock absorber will cause your tyres to be unevenly placed on the road, your car will begin to bounce as you drive on it.
• Only certain areas of your tyre will actually be touching the road, which will result in these areas becoming more worn than the areas which are not touching the road.