An easy way to find out... Push down on the car hard! If it comes back up and stops at the top... You're good. However, if it bounces up then down, then up again... The shocks need replacing. Plus your mileage... You're about 29,000 miles past due. Most cars need them after about 60,000 to 80,000 miles.

Then why the 700.00? That is alot, don't you think>?

Sounds a little pricey to me. I'd call around to some other places tell them what you need and get an estimate.

A floor jack, tool kit,Haynes manual, and four new shocks and struts will run you around $300. You can change the shocks yourself, its easy will take you 4 hours to do it. Its a great project to get you started into mechanics.

$700.00 are you kidding me???You are getting racked under the coals on that one.Shocks are one of the most unexpensive parts to replace on a car costing as little as $19.00 per shock.You can get a good shock for $30.00 at a auto parts store that will do the same job of most high priced shocks.$150.00 to $200.00 is a good estimate for labor and parts for 4 new shocks.2 new shocks,and 2 news struts would probably run you around $350.00 to $400.00.

Struts are far more expensive and are found on nearly all front wheel drive cars.A new strut varies in price but you are typcially going to spend $90.00 to $125.00 for 1 strut.

The best way to tell if your shocks are bad is to push the car down hard a few times in the front and in the back and see how much it bounces.If it bounces more than two or three times your shocks are bad.You can usually see the rear shocks pretty easy under the car.If there is oil coming out from the shaft seal and running down the shock it is bad.

Springs going bad is a rarity and all the years I have been working on cars I have never replaced a bad spring.Springs may have a clean break in the coil but you will typcially only find this in trucks that carry very heavy loads.


If I was you I would replace one shock at a time starting with the rear ones and seeing if replacing one shock solved your problem which alot of times it does.Front struts are much less to fail the rear ones since they carry the weight of the engine and are much more better built then the rear ones.You will know if your front strut goes bad when you hit any holes in the road as it will respond with a loud thump when you hit it and send a shockwave through your car.Hitting bumps at high speed will feel like you will crack your windshield.You can tell which strut is bad by hitting potholes by just using the left tire or right tire to drive through them.


I would ignor getting parts replaced by mileage and instead replacing them as they go bad.If you take speed bumps easy,don't overload the car,avoid potholes,and a few other things you may never need to replace shocks or struts.My car is a 92 with 168,000 miles on it and it has never had the shocks or struts replaced.

Tires can do wonders for your car.Tires have steel belts inside them which can be dented or herniated by hitting a curb or pothole too hard and cause alot of vibration which can wreck havoc on your car.You can get a good used tire installed in your car for about $25.00 which may solve your problem.

A rough ride could be just tires over inflated.
Get your tires checked first. Also a rim could be bent.

Don't put 700 dollars in something until you are sure that is going to fix it.

You go to a shop and tell them your COMPLAINT, if they put on new shocks/struts as their diagnosis for the problem and it doesn't fix it the problem is theirs, if you request shocks and struts diagnosing your own problem it is to bad.


Edit..Yes that is high..

Go repair shop, shopping. Get 3 -4 opinions.
Been doing this for over 40 years.

Have to disagree with the gentleman that said "do one at a time".
Dealing with shocks/struts, always do them in pairs; frt. & back.
NEVER side to side.

If all shops agree on the work necc., then theu will be biding against eachother. Dealers are usually highest priced.
I doubt you want to do it yourself & the springs onstruts can be dangerous, for the unexperienced.

If you did just get tires, they can make a vechile feel different.
Ck air pressure & tell us more of what typs of tire you bought.

All makes a differance.

If all agree on shocks/struts being replaced.
Do fronts, first. Then rears when you have the money.

Some of the old rules still apply and some don't. Pushing down on the car and seeing if it takes more than one cycle of motion to stop the car from bouncing is the quickest and easiest check for bad struts and shocks, as mentioned by some already. The mileage "rules of thumb" are not so accurate as the were in the recent past because the rubber seals (which are the parts of the shock that wear) aren't the same type of artificial rubber any more and will wear much longer. The amount of dirt that gets on the shock can also have a major effect on the wear of the shock. Don't go by mileage, go by function.

The major cost of replacing shocks is in the front, if the struts do not have replaceable shocks and you have to replace the whole strut, which is often the case. As shocks wear out, the ride will get softer as the springs are allowed to move farther. The motion will continue longer so your steering "feel" will become more sloppy.

An even better check is to have the shop take one of the back shocks off (they come off quick and easy) and move the piston in and out as you watch, and compare it to a new one (which is much more difficult to move in and out). If it is hard to tell the difference between the effort to move the piston between a new and old shock, the old shock is still good; and probably the other ones on the car are good also.