Repair of shock absorber as a way to ensure safety and comfort

Repair of shock absorber as a way to ensure safety and comfort
25.12.2023
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Shock absorbers play a key role in ensuring comfort and safety when driving a vehicle. During use, they are subjected to intensive stresses, which leads to wear and tear and reduces their effectiveness. A pothole in the road or a speed bump unnoticed by the driver can take a shock absorber out of action. Even a change in the characteristics of one shock absorber leads to deterioration of the car's behaviour on the road, trips become less comfortable and more dangerous.

Ways to check your car's shock absorbers.

1. Visual inspection. The shock absorber is carefully inspected for oil stains or signs of leakage, condition of bushings and mountings. A defective shock absorber can be easily identified in this way.

2. Push and release test. If you push the front or rear of the car sharply and then release, a car with serviceable shock absorbers will simply return to its original position. If the car continues to rock several times after you apply – then there is a shock absorber fault.

3. Road Test. An experienced and qualified workshop mechanic can accurately determine the condition of the shock absorbers and other suspension components within a short mileage.

4. Bench testing. It is possible to resort to checking the shock absorbers on a special bench. However, to do this, you'll need to remove each shock absorber from the car and install it on the stand. This method is the most accurate, but will cost an impressive amount of money and a long time waiting for the result, compared to other methods. So if you have any doubts, it is better to put new shock absorbers on straight away and drive comfortably and safely.

It should be remembered that shock absorbers are replaced in pairs. And such a change will not be acceptable for everyone. For example, air suspension is becoming more and more common in cars, providing unrivalled levels of comfort and controllability. In case of failure of a shock absorber in such a suspension you will have to change the whole rack, which is very expensive. Here you remember a favourable alternative – shock absorber repair. While shock absorber repair seems very doubtful for a conventional suspension, in the case of an air suspension, shock absorber repair is more than reasonable.

How to repair a shock absorber?

The first step in successfully repairing a shock absorber – is to accurately diagnose its condition. This diagnosis can be carried out on the Shock Absorber Diagnostic Stand MS1000+. The MS1000+ stand allows to perform the following operations in diagnostics of car shock absorbers:

  •  Determination of rod shear force and smoothness of moving parts movement.
  •  Determination of the rod shear force and smoothness of moving parts movement.
  •  Testing of shock absorber operation noise.
  •  Recording of operating diagrams in valve and throttle modes.

The MS1000+ can store diagnostic results for later evaluation of the repair result. Thanks to the large touch screen display it is convenient to control the bench functions, view and analyse the measurement results.

The next step, if the diagnostics reveal the presence of abnormalities – the shock absorber repair is performed. This step involves disassembling the shock absorber and replacing the faulty elements. The most common culprit of malfunction is the oil seal. Despite the fact that all modern shock absorbers are non-disassembling, such repair is simple. The oil seal is replaced with a new one, new oil is poured in and the shock absorber is filled with gas. All other failures can also be repaired, but it will cost much more and such repair is more labour-intensive. The quality of repair depends on the professionalism of the master and the quality of spare parts used. And to be sure of the quality of the repair, it is necessary to check it on a test bench.