So, I have an Elantra. At some point in the past, I struck a curb on the median of a road I didn’t see, because it was night, going about 20-25 mph through a turn on the left front tire, and blew the sidewall of the tire out. The alignment is a little off since that impact, but I replaced the tire, and have had tires rotated since then. I want to get an alignment done, but don’t want to do it until I fix whatever is wrong with the suspension.
I have a problem with the ride though. When driving at highway speeds, 60-70 range, if I go over a bump, it really feels like the ride is very harsh, and the whole rear end of the car shimmies/wobbles back and forth about twice. Also, I was giving a ride to three passengers who were all in the back seat, and we went over a dip in the road, and the whole car roller coaster flopped, so that they were flung up from their seats.
I had a mechanic friend look at it, and he said the struts and shocks looked fine. Dry. No leak. Pushed on the corners and it bounces once and settles fairly quickly. It does seem to me like maybe the rear doesn’t take all that much force to move the shock on that side.
Could also be tires or the rim from the impact? I have four tires which aren’t all matching new tires. One of them is a used tire.
I actually just asked a shop if they could do an alignment for $89 and tell me if anything was wrong with the suspension, and they said they’d have to charge me a diagnostic fee (up to $100 I don’t have to spare) to check the suspension… -sigh-
Until you get this vehicle repaired do not have any passengers . If you crash and injure your passengers you may find yourself on the wrong end of a Lawsuit .
Do you not have a credit card to use to at least find out what is wrong with this thing .
The tire damage was to the front, but the suspension system problems you are experiencing seem more like at the rear. I’m guessing it’s a coincidence and you just need the rear suspension components repaired/replaced as required. Your idea to get that done before doing an alignment is a good one. This sort of problem is not that unusual for a 9 year old vehicle. Tends to be more of a problem if the car is driven with a lot of fast accelerations, hard cornering, fast stops etc. There’s at last a dozen possibilities what’s at fault, no way to tell without a shop’s inspection. Shocks/struts, control arm bushings, suspension links, they all wear with miles driven and bumps bumped. These parts are designed to wear out and be replaced. A good shop can easily test each one and decide what parts need to be replaced. Suggest to avoid trying to finagle to get this assessment for free. You’ll pay one way or another, no free lunches in car repair. Try to keep on the shop’s good side, will pay off for you in the long run.
Hasn’t been a lot of fast accelerations, hard cornering, fast stops from me. I drive real slow and steady, and I think the issues are all new since I got the car, only about 7,000 miles ago.
Is it possible that it’s the rim being bent from the impact, when the tire was rotated to the back, causing the lack of balance?
I have a shop that will inspect it for free, and will see where it goes from there.
It’s possible. Ask your shop to remove the tire from the rim and access the situation. If there’s any question about the soundness/trueness of the rim, probably makes sense to just purchase a replacement rim. Rims have to be true, no side to side or up/down deviations from a perfect circle or they won’t work correctly.
Your rear shock or both shocks are bad based on your description. This is not related to tbe curb hit.
The curb hit could, and probably did, damage front suspension parts. And maybe bent the mounting points as well. That could make it hard to get a good alignment. The money you are saving on the diagnostic fee you will pay for in new tires. A bad alignment can destroy a $100 tire in short order. This is false economy.
There is a lot of info on youtube but this is the kind of thing a $100 inspection would provide. People don’t work for free. I suspect you rear shocks are shot.
