My car seems to be riding really rough compared to newer cars. I put new rear shocks on last year and I haven't changed the front yet but it still rides so hard on even reasonably normal roads. Is this normal for all thirdgens or is there something I can do about it? My friend said it might help if I put in a smaller driveshaft but I don't think it would handle the same. Any ideas?

 

welcome to 3rd. gens. . none ride real well unless on a smooth road , fatter tires might help , as would new seat foam . they will never ride like a 4dr. sedan . ( i for one would not want mine to ) just be more aware of dips , potholes , etc. , and have fun driveing .

 

well if it rides hard thenit means the suspension is not compressing very much

either not soft enough springs, or the struts or shocks are not compressing easily, are too resistive to compressing


the springs are there to keep the car from compressing and uncompressing more than about a jounce and a half

the springs are to make the ride

some are stiffer than others

if shocks or struts are too restive to compression then they can make the car bounce over bumps and make for a hard ride

its kinda hard to comprehend, think about


same concept as in a truck, the more leaves in the packs then the harder the ride and less compression there will be over bumps and so forth

the shocks have nothing to do with it

the old 1 ton trucks had so many leaves in the packs commonly that shocks were never even installed and were instead optionally available

had no need for them

i have had many old 1 ton dually trucks that never got any rear shocks the last one was a 67 C-30 r05 dually conversion package

the stiffer parts are on the susension then the harder it is going to ride over bumps and so forth

need to soften it up

good luck

 

I just pulled a set of gabriel red gas charged shocks off the rear and replaced them with KYBs , the difference is unreal , I actually think my car handles high speed off-ramps better now and my cd player doesn't skip on every crack in the road .

 

Get a new friend. Under normal circumstances, the drive shaft would have nothing to do with ride quality.

JamesC

 

LMAO!! Also, a smaller one wouldn't help anything either

What kind of shocks did you put on the back of it? Also, when you say rough, do you mean like, you hit a bump and a tooth falls out or more of a vibration?