Though they are not often thought of that way, the steering and suspension on your vehicle are some of its most important safety features.

These components are just as critical, if not more, to the safe operation of your vehicle as its brakes. However, in comparison to braking components, steering and suspension can often go under-maintained and overlooked.

Ignoring your steering and suspension can lead to a world of problems. However, with proper maintenance you can get the very most out of your car. Over time, this will save you loads of money.

Let’s take a look.

How to Spot Steering and Suspension Problems

Even small problems with your car’s suspension can have a ripple effect and create problems for the entire vehicle. The same can be said of its steering.

That’s why it’s very important to spot steering and suspension problems before they get worse.

While most cars feature a suspension warning light, many problems start off too small to be detected. However, there are some tests you can perform yourself to try and catch them early.

The most obvious sign of a bad suspension is that the car is sitting down lower than it should at one or even all of its corners. This means that the current suspension cannot support the weight of the vehicle.

Another telltale sign of a bad suspension is when the car does a “crouch” or “nose dive” when coming to a stop. This means that the suspension is too worn and it is not adequately absorbing the force of the vehicle stopping.

You can also test your vehicle’s suspension by using the “bounce test.” To do this, simply walk to each corner of your vehicle and push down. That corner should spring back up and settle quickly.

If it takes a long time to pop back up, or bounces up and down before settling, you probably have a suspension problem at that corner.

Whether you catch the problem early with one of these methods or see a suspension warning light, it is important to take it in.

Proper Maintenance to Prevent Steering and Suspension Problems

Just like other aspects of your vehicle, proper preventative maintenance will extend the lifetime of your car’s steering and suspension.

The steering and suspension in your car are inextricably linked. Taking care of one will help take care of the other.

In addition, driving on a bad suspension has serious consequences on the rest of your vehicle.

For example, your suspension does much of the work of absorbing the force of stopping your car. If your shocks or struts are bad, that means some part of your car is going to have to pick up the slack.

In most cases, that’s your brakes and your tires. The excess load put on these components means they are doomed to early failure.

Here is a list of services you should perform on your vehicle and when in order to maximize its longevity and effectiveness:

• Rotate tires every 20,000 miles
• Lube Chassis at every oil change, or every 10,000 miles
• Align front end if abnormal tire wear is spotted
• Inspect ball joints every 20,000 miles
• Replace stock shock absorbers at 50,000 miles
• Clean and repack front-end bearings and replace seal every 24,000 miles
• Inspect rear suspension every 20,000 miles
• Check air pressure and tire wear every 7,500 miles. Rotate tires and align if there is increased or abnormal wear.
• Check steering linkage every 20,000 miles
• Check bellows on the rack-and-pinion unit every time the chassis is lubed. Replace any leaking units

StrutDaddy’s Steering and Suspension Services

Our advice to customers is always to keep up with regular maintenance. There is no better use of your automobile budget than preventative care for your vehicle.

While the extra expenditures might seem annoying now, they’re nothing compared to what you would pay if a component breaks.

For example, an alignment might set you back as much as $150 at some places. However, failing to have that done can do lasting damage to all of your steering and suspension components.

Depending on what kind of car you drive, not maintaining your suspension and steering could result in you paying thousands of dollars to replace or repair it.

Even if you’ve already fallen behind on your steering and suspension maintenance, our ASE Certified technicians will use advanced diagnostics to root out any current or potential problems. After determining the issues, they will provide premium care to get you and your vehicle back on the road.

With our StrutDaddy’s Service Guarantee, we stand by the quality of our work. All of our services are guaranteed up to 36 months or 36,000 miles.

It’s never too soon to start taking care of your steering and suspension. Use our handy online service request form or call us at (336) 599-4911 to schedule an appointment.