Front End, Suspension and Chassis Repair
Your vehicle's front end, chassis and suspension components include springs, shock absorbers, struts, anti-roll bars, control arms, idler arms, ball joints-just to name a few. They take a pounding daily from Utah potholes, railroad tracks, rain, snow, road salt, gravel, all manner of dirt and grime, and the occasional piece of scrap metal or other debris that you see-and too late to avoid.
Over time, and under these conditions, just about any front end, chassis or suspension component can be damaged or worn out from years of abuse.
Call us at 801-776-4330, if you notice any of these vehicle and driving symptoms:
Over time, and under these conditions, just about any front end, chassis or suspension component can be damaged or worn out from years of abuse.
Call us at 801-776-4330, if you notice any of these vehicle and driving symptoms:
- Your steering won’t be centered when you’re going straight-when you let go of the steering wheel, your vehicle veers to one side or the other.
- Accelerated or uneven tire wear.
- You notice more bouncing after a bump, and a whole lot of shaking going on over rough roads.
- When you can hear squeaking, creaking noises, clunks or rattles from the front of your car or below, especially when turning.
- Clunking noises over bumps.
- Your vehicle does not make turns or corner with stability.
- When your car is on level ground, one corner is lower than the others.
Call For Appointment Today!
801-776-4330
Roy 66 Auto Repair 1930 West 6000 South Roy, UT 84067 HOURS: MON-FRI:8 AM - 5:30 PM 
Directions To Our Auto Repair Shop:
How do you know when it's time for suspension repair? Your vehicle will usually tell you. Here are six things to watch for:
1. Car rides roughly Most people can tell their shocks or struts are wearing out when they begin to feel every bump in the road, or when every bump causes the vehicle body to "bounce." A rough ride is an obvious sign that your vehicle's suspension needs work. 2. Drifting or pulling during turns With a failing suspension system, you'll often feel the vehicle "drift" or "pull" when you're turning. This basically means the shocks are no longer keeping the vehicle body stable against the centrifugal force of a turn, increasing your risk of a rollover. If you feel this sensation while turning, it's time to take the car to a trusted auto repair shop for servicing. 3. Dips or "nose dives" when stopping When the shocks are worn out, you're likely to feel the vehicle body lurching forward and downward nose-first when you apply the brakes firmly. This can actually affect your ability to stop the car quickly (a bad suspension can increase stop time by up to 20 percent). 4. Uneven tire treads Take a look at your tires. If you notice the tread is wearing down unevenly on your tires, or if you notice balding spots, this is often a symptom that the suspension isn't holding the car evenly, and therefore putting uneven amounts of pressure on the tires. 5. Damaged, "oily" shocks If you can look under the vehicle, take a look directly at the shocks or struts. If they look greasy or oily, there's a good chance that they are leaking fluid and therefore aren't working properly. It's probably time to get those shocks replaced. 6. Try the "bounce test" If you suspect your suspension is going bad (perhaps due to one or more of the symptoms we mentioned above), try this simple test. With the car in "park," press down on the front of the vehicle with all your weight, "bounce" it a few times, then release. Do it again on the rear of the vehicle. If the car continues to rock or bounce more than 2-3 times after you release it, the suspension is wearing out. |
Tire Maintenance
If Your Tire Is Worn It’s a good idea to check your tires once a month for visible damage and excess wear. Here are two ways to tell if your tires are worn out: 1. Look for wear bars Narrow bands may appear in the grooves across the tire’s tread. See the wear bars? When the wear bars are even with the tread depth, only 2/32” of tread remains,1 replace the tire. 2. The penny test Place a penny in the most shallow tread groove with Lincoln’s head down. See the top of his head? The tire should be replaced. If the tread is worn below 2/32 of an inch, water can’t be channeled away from the tread. This can cause hydroplaning at high speeds. Snow traction is also reduced as well. TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System) Direct Direct TPMS delivers real time tire pressure information to the driver of the vehicle - either via a gauge or a simple low pressure warning light. These systems employ physical pressure sensors inside each tire and a means of sending that information from inside the tire to the vehicle instrument cluster. Indirect Indirect TPMS measures the air pressure indirectly by monitoring individual wheel speeds and other signals available in the vehicle. Most indirect TPMS uses the fact that an under-inflated tire has a slightly smaller diameter than a correctly inflated tire and therefore has to rotate more times to cover a specific distance to detect under-inflation. Such TPMS can detect under-inflation in up to three tires simultaneously but not in all four since the operating principle of these systems is to compare the different wheel speeds and if all four tires lose the same amount of air the relative change will be zero. Newer developments of indirect TPMS can also detect simultaneous under-inflation in all four tires thanks to vibration analysis of individual wheels or analysis of load shift effects during acceleration and/or cornering. Indirect TPMS is cheap and easy to implement since most modern vehicles already have wheel speed sensors for anti-lock braking systems and electronic stability control systems. The disadvantage is that they rely on the user resetting the system by pushing a "Calibration Button" when the tires are changed or re-inflated - forgetting to perform this initialization leads to potentially dangerous false or missing alerts. Another disadvantage of indirect TPMS is that if the Calibration Reset Button is pressed when one or more tires are under-inflated then the system accepts this under-inflation as normal and the driver will be unaware of potentially dangerous tire pressures. Proper Repair There is a good chance that your tire can be repaired if: 1. The tire has not been driven on when flat 2. The damage is only on the tread section of your tire 3. The puncture is less than ¼". However, you need to have an authorized tire retailer or technician remove the tire from the wheel and inspect the tire from the inside. This inspection is absolutely necessary because internal damage is not visible while the tire is mounted. The proper way to have a tire repaired is to patch the tire from the inside and fill the puncture hole. If someone offers you a plug repair, refuse! Plug repairs do not involve taking the tire off the wheel for a proper inspection. A plug is simply inserted into the punctured area. Plug repairs are not reliable and can lead to tire failure. Insist on a full inspection and patch and fill repair on the inside of the tire. |
