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Are The Shocks Blown On My Wagon?


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i bought this 850 wagon and the dude said he replaced the shocks in the back last year but the way the car sits i'm not sure i believe him anymore. i have a few boxes in the back so i know that'll effect the way it sits but i just find it a lil hard to believe the amount of weight i have back there is going to push it that low. any help would be great.

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The dampers don't affect the ride height. The only ones that do are the Bilstein TC's and only in the front because the spring perch is an inch higher. But in general dampers/shocks don't affect ride height at all, only the springs do.

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The dampers don't affect the ride height. The only ones that do are the Bilstein TC's and only in the front because the spring perch is an inch higher. But in general dampers/shocks don't affect ride height at all, only the springs do.

+1

The springs, if they're still stock, are probably just weaker than they were 15+ years ago.

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Yep. If you took the shocks out and the car would sit just as high. The springs do the ride height work.

Step off your back bumper car should go up/down twice. 2.5x tops

Shocks are not shy about showing their age. If you are comfortable with it you need to get under the car. It's easy to tell if they are "a year old".

But that's not why people are leaving bulletins to a lowrider contest under your wipers.

Jack the car up at the proper lift points (lift the body up, not axle) and check the coil springs and see if they are broken.

Pay special attention to where the spring just exits the cups they sit in, as below, right. (honda)

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Wow, how'd you snap a coil off?

My money is on the PO hauling a lot of crap around and the springs are just fatigued as hell. Steel does have an infinite life fatigue limit, but likely the springs are made to be close to that anyways and that only assumes a perfectly homogeneous material with no imperfections--which is obviously an overstatement.

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Some of the wagons have the self leveling Nivomats. The shocks actually do level the ride by "pumping up" as you drive. If someone was cheap and replaced the nivomats (super expensive..like $400 each) with standard shocks, the car would sag as the springs are weaker due to some of the load being taken by the nivomats.

Not sure how to tell the nivomat springs from the non-nivomats springs though

Thinking more about this...I've seen cars with blown nivomat shocks sit just like that....if that's the case (or he swapped in standard shocks)..your best bet is to get a set of aftermarket springs with regular shocks as the price of new nivomats is high...

Some of the wagons have the self leveling Nivomats. The shocks actually do level the ride by "pumping up" as you drive. If someone was cheap and replaced the nivomats (super expensive..like $400 each) with standard shocks, the car would sag as the springs are weaker due to some of the load being taken by the nivomats.

Not sure how to tell the nivomat springs from the non-nivomats springs though

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If they ARE Nivo's, you can get'em for a lot less these days.

Shop around - even IPD has pretty good prices on'em.

I paid something like 225 when DW was still happy.

For anyone interested, here's some info on Nivomats:

nivomat.pdf

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Some of the wagons have the self leveling Nivomats. The shocks actually do level the ride by "pumping up" as you drive. If someone was cheap and replaced the nivomats (super expensive..like $400 each) with standard shocks, the car would sag as the springs are weaker due to some of the load being taken by the nivomats.

Not sure how to tell the nivomat springs from the non-nivomats springs though

Thinking more about this...I've seen cars with blown nivomat shocks sit just like that....if that's the case (or he swapped in standard shocks)..your best bet is to get a set of aftermarket springs with regular shocks as the price of new nivomats is high...

x2 on this thought. I replaced my Nivos with stock shocks and Bils Touring on my rear 855R and the height looks about right even when loaded. The ride is also about the same as before. I pretty satisfied with this combo...

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