Regardless of type of the shock absorber, the damping force of the shock absorber will be attenuated once it is installed in the automobile for use. But the degree of attenuation cannot be judged according to a certain unit such as mileage and service time. The different degree of attenuation is mainly caused by factors such as driving habit, road conditions, climatic environment, bearing capacity, hours of use and number of full load and overload, and the attenuation is an extremely slow process. It is very difficult for even an experienced driver to rightly judge the degree of attenuation of the shock absorber.
Normally, you can make a preliminary judgment about the degree of attenuation by the following conditions (you had better compare your automobile with a new one):
Poorer road adherence and longer braking distance;
Bigger head rise in sudden acceleration;
Bigger head fall in sudden braking;
Bigger side tilt in sudden turn;
When the automobile runs on a bumpy road, the automobile body is greatly vibrated, and people in the automobile are easily got car sickness;
Faster wear of tires or occurrence of side wear
When the automobile runs at a high speed, particularly runs in crosswind, the automobile is unstable or difficultly operated;
When the automobile is stationary, forcibly press down the head or rear part of the automobile, the suddenly release it, the vibration of the automobile cannot stop quickly;
When the automobile normally runs, big noise occurs, particularly, when the automobile runs on a bumpy road, the noise sounding like “tong, tong” is obvious;
The phenomena mentioned above occurs are possibly caused by the excessive attenuation of the shock absorber, but it is not absolute, you should also check other parts such as springs in order to make a right judgment.
Good shock absorber Bad shock absorber
The road mileage and the life span of the shock absorber are not specially regulated in some regulations, but in order to make sure users can enjoy safer driving fun, besides routine inspections conducted by users, it is quite important to check the shock absorber when the automobile is inspected in the service stations or undergoes yearly inspection. If the following phenomena occur, you are strongly advised to replace the shock absorber as soon as possible::
Confirm by driving the automobile
1. Bigger head rise in sudden acceleration;
2. Bigger front tilt in sudden braking;
3. Cold outer cylinder after continuous operation;
Forcibly press down the automobile
4. The vertical vibration of the automobile cannot stop quickly;
Confirm by checking the appearance of the shock absorber
5. Oil leakage-many oil stains on the outer cylinder;
6. Unsmooth stretching (clipping)-bending of the piston rod;
7. Ineffectiveness-when the shock absorber is at the right straight state, pull the shock absorber for several times, you cannot sense obvious resistance;
8. Obvious bumping damage to the outer cylinder.