My Chevy Suburban with 51,000 miles doesn’t take bumps very well. We get a loud noise in the mid to the back if we go over a bump or over a rut in the road. I took it to a mechanic who road tested it and after putting it up on the lift, said the rear shocks should be replaced…(For $1500 plus $150 labor!)
I took it to Firestone for a second opinion. Road test, lift…he said there is NOTHING WRONG WITH IT. Don’t need to do a thing! Didn’t even charge me for his look! He did say there is a lot of rust on the bottom of the car.
Yes a 3rd opinion would be good. If they are leaking replacement could be advised, from your description my first guess would be stabalizer links, exhaust clamps or heat shield, just an internet guess of course.
Even if you have the electronic shocks, $1500 is too high. Replacement electronic shocks with air-lift springs are $500 for the pair.
Noises mean something is not attached too firmly. Not taking bumps very well could be shocks. But you haven’t told me enough about the Subby to render an opinion. Year? Electronic shocks or regular? Did the first mechanic tell you the shocks were leaking? Did either find something loose?
Neither said anything was loose. 2016 suburban. The mechanic said the car was ‘bottoming out’ when he did the test drive. My shocks came with the car when we bought it new. So I have no idea if they were regular or electronic. I still have the original paper work. I’ll look on the list of options and see if anything about shocks shows up. No one said anything about leaking. Firestone on the phone, without even seeing the car said two shocks would cost around $400 for the pair!
I’d be REAL curious how that first shop came up with $1500.
Finding out where noise is coming from in the rear of a Suburban shouldn’t be too hard. It would be surprising that a 2016 would need shocks. Not impossible, but surprising. What kind of roads do you drive on? How bumpy?
If there is nothing fancy about the shocks, I’d say the original shocks and the Subby have both worn in enough to give you a too loose ride. I found the same on my Chevy Avalanche with factory shocks. I replaced them at 60k miles or so with Bilstein Shocks. Much better ride and they have 80k miles on them and still work well. Not cheap, but not $1500 for all 4 either. About $5-600 for the set of 4.
Well you have a noise so something is not quite up to snuff. On my Acura at about 25,000 it had a noise in the rear that sounded just like a loose spare or gas tank. It was the rear shocks replaced under warranty. No charge but I think the invoice was about $800. So guess it happens.