WHat's wrong?!
 

You guys tell me.

I have a 2002 Honda Civic.
By visual inspection.... (the front of my car uses McPherson setup)... I notice that shock cartridge/housing has greese ALL over it.. on both sides (front left and right).

Furthermore, when I drive.. I can't seem to control my car going around corners. If I hit the slightest crack or bump in the road.. my car steering wheel shakes like a mad motherfricker!

Also, when I travel on the 401.. I'll literally hit a bump on the highway and my steering wheel just shakes violently AND my wheels can't seem to grip the ground. It's as if they're constantly bouncing off the ground and not in sync with the bumps in the road.

When I drive on perfectly flat roads... my car will have a rattling sound coming from the front left and right of the car.. like there's rocks in the wheels or something!

Personally I think my shocks and strut mounts are done. What do you guys think?

if u see fluid your shock/strut is cooked

my moms strut on her 2001 blew and it was on factory springs, had under 40,000 km on it too.. donno if thats just a problem with that one batch

How do I tell if the fluid is cooked?

sounds like someone sent a bearing for a shyt..
or maybe even the outer CV

best thing to do Kent is take it some where and get a pro to check it out..
w/o seeing/hearing/driving it i could tell you 100 things it might be..
quit procrastinating..

http://www.businesstown.com/time/time-5reasons.asp

I'm going for my 48000 km service @ Honda on Thursday. Type D service. It inspects suspension components. I'm gonna tell them to put extra emphasis on inspecting the suspension and tell me what's wrong with it.

The service is the Type D one and is gonna cost me $328.88 + tax in change :(

But hopefully they tell me EXACTLY what's wrong it. I'm gonna be calling up some places for KYB AGX if it's my shocks that are done.

There is a defect with 7th gen shocks, same thing happened to my friends 2002. Thats why part way in the 2002 model year they changed the shocks to the rsx ones 55mm instead of 50mm found in 2k1 and some 2k2. You should be under warranty so take it to the dealer an have them replaced, my friends blew in like 15K km and they were replaced.

They're gonna say something about my Eibach Pro-Kits...

yup, they'll tell you yer SOL..

mine have been fine....never a problem with them..

I was thinking if I put my factory shocks on and tell them it blew.. would it be worth it? :p

exact same thing happened to my 2001. honda replaced it...it wuz still under warrantee. i thought it wuz sooo retarded that that happened...i wuz like WTF?!

I'm just curious...

In my area, there's this road that's littered with miniture bumps.. it's like mogols.. when I take my civic down this road... my car goes up and down both in the head end and @$$ end...
HOWEVER... when I go down it in my dad's car... it's as if I'm driving on flat roads. Is this due to a shock problem or...?

yes if your shocks are blown you'll basically just have springs and shocks are suppose to slow they movement of the springs without them the soprings will continue to oscilate and it'll start to feel like your in a boat in a bad storm at sea

grease and crud on the shock case - yes they are blown, prolly over the winter, get them changed asap.

Kent,

I know exactly what's wrong with your car. The dampers (or shock absorbers...shocks is actually a very misleading term) are leaking. Causing the knocking noise and the bouncy feeling...

What are your options?

1. Put your original springs back, put your steelies on, and go to the dealer and have them replaced under warranty.

2. Replace the dampers yourself and get the KYBs or whatever...

About #1, if you don't put your original springs back, the dealer will tell you, you are SOL. Now, if the dealer does replace the dampers and you use the aftermarket springs and wheels... Your dampers will likely leak again because they were never designed to withstand the loads the aftermarket wheels and springs will put on them.

About aftermarket, I am not sure if they will be any better, especially if you drive in the Winter. If the aftermarket dampers leak, you definitely will be SOL....

Well, the decision is up to you.

Oh, BTW, the rear dampers on your car are KYB designed....