Gas or Oil shock & Struts

if its bouncy /saggy or feel all bumps more than likely a shock you can look a the shocks if their is oil showing on shock seals went and you have a blown shock also bent or broken bolts or connection will cause same

Hi Lisa:
Don't know where you are, but............
- Local Automotive parts store (Lordco, Napa)
- Local big box store (Walmart, Canadian Tire)
- Local auto salvage business (last resort)

All cars have shocks and/or struts. Grand am has front struts and either rear struts or shocks. When these are worn, the ride would be rough. If a motor mount was bad, you may feel rocking or visually see the motor wiggle back and forth when you press and release the accelerator pedal. Motor mounts won't affect handling. Either shocks/struts, sway bar, stabalizer bar or links are the common cause

If it has the factory original struts, they probably need replacing. When driving over paved surfaces, the struts only move up and down a few inches. that causes the strut to wear out or become soft in that short travel area. What most people do when they check a strut or shock for wear is to bounce the vehicle up and down as hard as they can. This puts movement into an area of the strut that hasn't seen any wear, so it feels like it is in good shape. 77,000 miles is a lot for a strut or shock. I would have them replaced. Get a quality strut. Don't go for the economy strut. You will be disappointed in the ride quality. It would be a good idea to have the ball joints checked for wear. A little movement in worn ball joints can make for a very rough ride.

HONDA Pilot struts do not require replace at specific mileage intervals or maintenance. Your vehicle’s struts should be checked annually. Struts wear out slowly and you may not notice gradual losses in ride comfort, handling and control. Excessive bouncing, rocking back and forth, drifting or nose- diving while braking, swaying, or cupping wear on the tires are some signs that your vehicle may have worn Struts. If you are purchasing new Struts for your HONDA Pilot consider premium Struts. Upgrading your struts usually improves overall ride quality, control and handling. Warn struts can increase the wear of tires, ball joints, steering linkage, springs and C.V. joints. Some original struts may be getting weak after 40,000 or 50,000 miles.

Failure symptoms: Vehicle continues to bounce after hitting bumps in roadway. Front suspension dives severely during hard braking. Swaying or rolling when at higher speeds. Signs of oil leaking from the shock rod seal. Clunking and banging noises coming from the strut may be signs of internal shock failure or strut mounts.

Service Ride Control means one or some of your shocks or struts are worn and may need replacing. The price for new ones is not cheap,

hey...i have geos...since 1991....maded for econony and high gas mileage mainly
with those miles...shop around and unless you are blessed with the money to go name brand...i would get the lowest cost i can find...geo's are always gonna be in my driveway cause i can work on them interchange parts and get around cheap....jst my thoughts...i have a 94 metro...will not sell...offered much than its worth but when gas starts going up she will be back on the road again.....!

If you're replacing the springs as well, you can put regular shocks/struts in. The springs on that car didn't offer full support as they were designed to work in conjunction with the support from the air struts also. Just make sure the new springs are specified for a car without air ride. You will also need to remove the fuse/relay for the air ride compressor because the veh. goes through a "air pressure replenishment" cycle every time the key is turned to run. The compressor will then run for 7 minutes until it times out when it determines that it isn't doing anything to ride height.

It has shocks and struts. The struts on are the steel tubes that contain a form of hydralic fluid, the shocks are the large springs.