Just purchased a vehicle for a friend of mine last night.. drives like new except that when I drive over small bumps, I hear noise from the driver front suspension, kinda sounds like the shocks are bottoming out. Also it is not evident going up to 45 mph but on highway speeds, the car slightly bounces around like I have a baby kangaroo jumping in the car. I suspect the shocks are gone but do you think the springs are bad also? I also need to check again for tire cupping (see below) but cupped tires won't cause the car to bounce that bad.. and I would have heard the symptoms of the cupped tires on the highway. While the car is in the shop, what else do you recommend to be replaced? Stock ride is preferred.

The car has 150k miles and has had a history of tire cupping issues. Luckily the previous owner took care of the vehicle immaculately, and I was able to access the vehicle service history before making the purchase. Aside from the deal the dealer gave us, this was one of the main reasons we felt comfortable with the purchase despite the high mileage. According to the vehicle history report from the dealer, at 35K miles tire cupping was reported and received an alignment.. then again at 52K. This makes me suspect that either a) Possibily the camber is malfunctioning causing frequent bad alignment issues b)The suspension always had issues although not mentioned in the reports.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

 

Cupping usually comes down to bad shocks, but it could be other suspension components as well. At 150K I'm quite sure the shocks are gone. Springs should last a while, but while you're replacing the shocks, you might as well go ahead and replace the springs anyway, at least the fronts since they're concentric with the shocks. You can find a good low mileage used OEM set of springs in the classifieds, or just buy new if you want the peace of mind.

As for other suspension components, check compression rod bushings, lower control arm bushings, ball joints and wheel bearings and yes, definitely get an alignment to see how close it is to spec.