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how do you know when ur shocks are "blown"?

 
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they will either be very weak or leaking oil. if you push on them and they bounce up and down a few times, then they are blown. You will know when they are weak...if you already think they are blown, then they probably are or getting there.

 
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^^^ yea...what he said.(I replaced my blown stock shocks with Tokico blues)
try to push your car down from every each angles, if you car bounces up and down 2~3inches and bounces more than like 2 times, then itz pretty much blown. mine bounced up=and=down like 4inches and wouldn't stop boucing ..lol

 
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What if you have very high spring rates ? Wouldn't it resist you from pushing down on the car ?

 
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^^ it would a bit.

You arnt really looking for how far it bounces, but how many oscillations it takes before the car settles. When pushing down on a given corner, the car should compress (initial push) Extend (Highest point), Compress again (Less then the initial push) and then settle back to normal ride height. If it bounces more then twice (Up, Down, then Settle) then the shocks are probably blown.

 
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Zzyzx, You will be suprised by the dent marks left on your carbody when you push down on it. Especially when you have very high spring rates. I have Neuspeeds with konis and I can hardly push down on the front side fenders. Does this mean my konis are still good to go ?

 
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Does the car seem to bounce when going over bumps, or is it more of a roughness?

also, what do you have your konis set to?

 
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if you have high spring rates, check for oil leaking.

 
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Zzyzx/ Robbclark1, I have the front about a half turn from full firm and the rears on full firm. The thing is the konis seem to behave unusually. At times the damping is fanatastic especially after I parked the car for 2 days and drive it out. On other occasions, the konis seem to be under damping the springs over uneven or hilly road surfaces. I have physically run my fingers over the koni pistons and there are no signs of oil. Could it be because I am dropped too low at 2.25"f/2.0r . Is there such a thing as a weakened shock without signs of oil leaks ?

 
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.....For street use, you shouldnt be running them Near or at Full firm!!! The only time my konis ever get adjusted any where near Full firm is when I autocross, and thats only on the rears.... By running them so stiff you can be causing all sorts of wierd handling issues. So its entirly likely that your "Underdampering" Issue may be because the shocks arnt letting the springs to their jobs.

Heres a little "Tuning your handling with Shocks" 101..

Little Known Fact: Your shocks, aside from thier influence on Ride quality, Primarily influence your Corner Entry and exit handling characteristics. SO you can tune your Konis to give you the best corner entry and exits. Heres How.

1st thing to do is Put both the front and rear shocks to Full soft. Then drive the car. (If you want a bit more responsiveness from the car, put both the front and rear at 1/4 to 1/2 turn from full soft.) As you drive the car, Observe where its overstering or Understeering.

If the car is understeering, Increase the rebound on the Rear shocks, by 1/4 turn. and Drive again. Incerease rebound by 1/4 turns untill desired handling characteristics are acheaved. If the car is oversteering, then Increase the Front Rebound by 1/4 turns. Simple Idea, Increase the rebound on the sid of the car you want to have stick less.

Just to get my point, Set the fronts at Full stiff and the rears at full soft, and drive the car. Then Set the rears at full stiff and the rears at full soft and drive. You should notice a big difference in how the car handles corners.

Hers My Konis settings.
Street. Front: Full soft Rear: 3/4 turn up form Full soft. (I like the rear end a bit loose).
Autocross. Front: 1/4 Up from full soft Rear 1/2 Turn down from full stiff (Then adjusted as needed for the track)

 
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There are bushings that go in the front dampers. What if we put solid bearings instead of rubber bushings? Is the rubber needed to absorb some of the shock that the damper gives to car?

 
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hm... how bad is it to run on blown shocks? ...

I think mine have been blown for a loong time now ... maybe a few months ... ... but I have a swap coming in a little over a month ... so I don't think it's worth buying some shocks only to replace in them in a month?

 
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I guess its probably really dangerous does your car rock a whole lot now?

 
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hell yes.

well, not rock ... but it bounces like a million times after every speed bump. I can feel every bump in the road

 
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oh yeah ... and everytime I shift, there's a "klunk" sound .. more pronounced in the lower gears ... and sometimes when I make a hard left turn

 
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I'm thinking of getting Tokico Hps, maybe you should consider them as well. I'm wondeirng if they could be revalved....

 
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Are you talking about a solid Upper mount like a Spherical Bearing??? Sure you could run them, but same thing with the Roll bar bushings.... You'd feel EFERY THING on the road. it would be good for handling though, by removing deflection in the suspension.... But do you really want to rattle your fillings out from just Driving around town?

 
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Blown shocks can be danerous, as they can make the car unstable during turns, and Hitting bumps. Its not fun to hit bumps mid corner with blown or weak shocks... The car tends to Skitter across the pavement....

nindoo, Tokico Hp's would be good for more performance minded Street car. If you plan on ever running on a track, Your Much better off with Konis. And I dont believe Tokico revalves ANY of their Dampers.

 
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nevermind ;P

 
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Some Helpful tips on finding out if your shocks are Weak or blown.

http://www.tokicogasshocks.com/evaluating.html

 
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Yeah a solid upper mount.

Good point roads in Montreal are pretty bad. I don't want to rattle so much. Why could we live in a world with no road imperfections!

I guess it comes down to whole dating thing again. Do you want dates or do you want solid suspension. Something must be wrong in my head cause the choice should be very clear

 
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I would say 6 of those symptoms apply to me

 
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I've thought of the same thing on many occations.... Even with my relitivly soft setup (progressive springs and all) I still feel obligated to appologise for the rough ride.. But then again, I am known to say to my passenger "you may want to hold on to something" just before a really nice corner

So I guess you can be comfortable in my car, but you better know where the Oh-**** handle is.

 
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Pick up some Tokico Hp's. They would be perfect for General to performance street use. and I understand they are pretty cheep too.

 
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^^ getting a swap soon ... whole suspension will be replaced in ~2 months

still replace?

 
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LOL

Might shift you in the wrong gear.

LOL

I use to do this all the time with computer jokes now I'm doing with cars. It never ends I'm such a nerd

 
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i got my car lowerd about 3 days ago...the guy said wait about 3-4 weeks before getting an alignment cuz they said just let my springs sag down a little bit...they said my car will be another half an inch lower. should i get an alignment now or wait 3-4 weeks?

 
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wait

 
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nice one

 
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ewww....hey gotrice. that picture of that mest up man is makin me puke!