I've got 93k on the odometer and I'm not sure when (if?) the shocks were ever replaced. I've done some searching and saw a couple posts saying that even though I may not be bouncing from bumps (a common symptom of bad shocks) it may be the shocks after all and not the springs that is causing me to bottom out with 2+ people in the car (over relatively minor bumps). It won't do it with just me in the car, but I had 3 passengers the other day and it was bottoming out hard on every little bump so I figure it means shocks or springs, I just want to make sure its the shocks before I go replacing the wrong component. Any way to be sure? Best to replace both?

Thanks

Chris

 

Springs control ride hieght and body travel downward. Shocks control the spring damping (compression under extreme load shock) and body travel upwards. Rebound.

 

so it's probably springs then? How long can you expect stock springs to last?

 

Usually for the life of the car, but this topic seems to be popping up more and more. It would typically show up as sagging/lowered ride height first. The OE springs are a soft rate so it wouldn't take much of a rate loss or settling to cause a problem like this.

 

Thanks for the help, I'll try the shocks first and see if that solves the problem, if they're stock they're probably shot at 93k miles.

 

It's the shocks, I had the same issue in the rear. On mine there were no leaks os obvious signs of failure. LMK if you want to buy some, I have a few sets laying around.

 

somebody else put in new shocks and it didn't help, but it could be part of the problem

I was reluctant to mention shocks because while they do control how fast the suspension rises or compresses they do not have any control over bottoming out other than slamming the bumpstop when it happens