BieriAutomotiveCall

Colorado Springs, CO

Suspension & Shocks

Suspension wears out gradually enough that most people never notice it happening. The car just becomes floatier, noisier and less settled, one week at a time, until something finally rattles. It is also the system with the most direct effect on how quickly you can stop - a shock that has stopped controlling the wheel lets the tyre skip rather than grip.

(719) 630-8377
A Bieri Automotive mechanic working on the underside of a Jeep Wrangler on the lift, inspecting suspension components
Under a Wrangler on the lift at Grandview Street - suspension work is done where you can see it.

What you might be noticing

  • A clunk or knock over bumps, speed humps or expansion joints
  • The nose dives hard under braking, or the body keeps floating after a dip
  • Tyres wearing unevenly - cupped, feathered, or worn on one edge
  • The steering wanders and needs constant small corrections
  • The car leans more than it used to through a corner or an on-ramp
  • Visible fluid weeping down the body of a shock or strut

How we do the job

  1. 01

    Drive it, then put it on the lift

    Noises are easier to place from the driver's seat than from underneath. We drive the car first so we are looking in the right area rather than shotgunning parts.

  2. 02

    Find the actual loose joint

    A clunk can be a sway-bar link, a control-arm bushing, a ball joint, a strut mount or a worn top bearing. They feel similar from the seat and are very different in cost. Levering each joint under load is how you tell them apart.

  3. 03

    Show you the play

    Worn suspension is one of the easiest faults to actually see. If a ball joint has movement in it, we would rather you come out and watch it move than take our word for it.

  4. 04

    Replace in pairs where it matters

    Shocks and struts go in axle pairs. A new one on one side and a tired one on the other makes the car handle asymmetrically, which is worse than two evenly worn units.

  5. 05

    Alignment afterwards

    Anything that changes suspension geometry - control arms, struts, tie rods - needs an alignment after. Skipping it is how a suspension repair turns into a set of ruined tyres.

What it costs

A sway-bar link is one of the cheapest repairs on a car. A pair of front struts is a considerably bigger job. Because the symptoms overlap so much, we quote after we have found which joint is actually worn, and the quote separates parts from labor. Call and describe the noise and when it happens.

Common questions

Are Colorado roads actually harder on suspension?
The freeze-thaw cycle here is genuinely rough on pavement, and that is rough on suspension - repeated impacts are what wear bushings, mounts and shock seals. Add unpaved roads or regular mountain trips and it adds up faster than highway commuting would.
How long do shocks and struts last?
There is no single number, which is why mileage-based advice is unreliable. Some sets are tired well before 60,000 miles and some are fine past 100,000. The honest test is how the car behaves and what the units look like, not the odometer.
Do I need an alignment after suspension work?
If we touched anything that sets geometry, yes. If we only replaced shocks on a design where that does not disturb alignment, not necessarily - and we will tell you which of those applies rather than adding it automatically.
My tyres are wearing unevenly. Is that suspension or alignment?
Either, and often both - worn suspension components let alignment drift out even after it has been set. Aligning a car with a worn ball joint is money spent twice, so we check the joints first.