Rear shocks just failed..??

[beaudeen]

Evening all...just put 4 new tires on the girl,,,was good for a couple of days...turned really cold last night..-30 celcius here in belleville...just outside of Toronto...thought that may have had something to do with it, but seems like both rear shocks have failed..bouncing like a bronco in the rear end..now,,, I've been involved in the Aircraft industry for more than 25 years, and just can;t understand how both rear shocks failed at the exact same time...well maybe I can...it happens..anyhoo...just want to squeek another 2 years outta the girl...she's sittin kinda low in the rear end...about 2 inches bellow the top of the tire in the wheel well..now question is...can I just get away with shocks, or am I looking at springs and shocks..??used would be my way to go, but she's been good to me...other than a few rusted window channels,,the body is perfect and engine runnin kinda smooth,,,anyone looking to upgrade their rear suspension, I'd be really interested in purchsing your slighty used rear suspension parts...pm me if you like....your thoughts also would be greatly appreciated..!!!!:wave:

 

[LOUDSHO92]

You can very cheaply just buy some Monroes or something along those lines but I would sway about the springs as well as it would raise your back end back to stock height. You can get some Monroe Quick Struts which have the struts and springs. You should also replace the strut mount as well.

 

[AREA 91]

I had a strut fail on the driver's side rear on my daily driver. It was very cold out at the time. I went over a good bump and then the strut mount gave up. The sidewall on the left rear tire was rubbing on the fender well. I replaced the strut and mount. That was 3 years ago.
FWIW they we're Koni inserts that completely rusted away to nothing! I wish I had the reciept to warrenty those baby's.

 

[Brett]

Really cold weather will do that to struts. I don't know why. I just know that everytime i break a strut or something strut related its on a bitter cold day. my neon, my 323, not just one particular car, always been the rear for me, but thats probably coincidence

 

[beaudeen]

The weather has warmed up and now the rear suspension is working fine..last week when I pushed down on the rear, it would bounce freely..like the struts were missing..and now it rebounds once..the ride height is also back to normal..about 1 inch above the tire to wheel well lip..for the life of me I can;t figure it out, but hey...can't complain...thanks for the info though:woohoo:

 

[Eric VerValin]

Yep.. been there done that... the seal has let moisture inside there or something, and when its really cold it'll freeze it. Had that issue when I had my 91. When it got really really cold, the rear end drove like a dump truck. Little bit of warmth and it was fine.

 

[jthod]

Another negative side of living in a -30 climate.