Used Coilovers

[tjandriesen]

Outside of the obvious like are they leaking, is there any ways to tell if a used set of coilovers are still in good condition?

[Ronin 09]

pull off the springs.

push in the shock shaft into the body and see if it rebounds back out - will tell you if there is still gas in em.

or take them to a suspension place and tell them to stick them on a shock dyno

[salad]

I get asked quite often how to tell if second hand shocks are OK. While it is not 100% perfect, you can do some easy checks, if any of these show a problem then its rebuild time.

1. The first job is to check for oil leaks around the top seals, on the shock body where the shaft goes through. Any oil (even a tiny bit) is bad news.

2. Next make sure that the shocks have equal gas pressure, take the springs off and compare the front pair with each other. Push them down equally and make sure that it takes the same amount of force to push them down. Any difference (even a tiny bit) is bad news.

3. Then make sure that they come up together at the same speed. Any difference (even a tiny bit) is bad news.

4. Do the same for the rear pair.

5. Lastly look at the shock shafts, if they are not perfectly shiny, the same all the length and all the way around, then that is real bad news. They must have no rust, no scratches and no visible wear marks. New shafts cost more than whole shocks.

That's about it, if the shocks pass those tests then chances are they are OK, for now.

cheers

[sloutch]

I did all the above steps stated when i bought some used coilovers a while ago but turned out that the pillow ball mounts were all worn out and knocking it's head off.

What i feel is that, you have no way to tell whether used coilovers are good or not until you actually fix them onto your car and drive them.

[Sydneykid]

I did all the above steps stated when i bought some used coilovers a while ago but turned out that the pillow ball mounts were all worn out and knocking it's head off.

What i feel is that, you have no way to tell whether used coilovers are good or not until you actually fix them onto your car and drive them.

I wrote the above in the ShockAbsorber 101 thread in answer to a question on how to tell if used SHOCKS are OK, the additional test for strut tops are;

1. If they have spherical bearings then there is a 99% chance that the bearings are stuffed, so check them carefully.

2. Remove the strut tops from the shock/spring unit and rotate the spherical bearing, check for scuff marks and wear through the hardening. This shows up as discolouration and sometimes even surface rust.

3. Bolt the strut tops back on the shaft shaft (without the spring), then check for play by rocking the strut top while holding the shock solidly (in a vice is best).

4. Any free play, visible wear or knocking means that the spherical bearings are stuffed, this usually means buying new strut tops as most Jap coil over kits use unique sizes of sphericals.

If the guy selling them won't let you do the above tests (plus the shock testing) then WALK AWAY, they are most likely useless.

cheers