How do you know when the suspension is shot in your VT?

[cds]

I've owned this VT for about 5 years now, I get the feeling maybe the suspension is gone in it due to the way I get strange sounds when turning and going over speed bumps slowly.

The silver car on the engine bay has EF2 as the factory suspension, what would it averagely cost to have it all replaced? (inc labor)

[dynoryder]

take it to pedders suspension $14 and they will guote you and you can go to your own mechanic and show him and he can fix it for you but pedders does a lot of good work

o yea btw the creek i asume it's a creek it'll probaly be struttops and bearings

[S.T.K.E]

If the car floats like a boat when it is driving then your suspension is shot and you will have to replace the shocks. Generally if it's just the shocks it shouldn't cost more the $800 in parts and labor to have it all replaced and re installed.

[edals]

Push down on your car, if it keeps bouncing after you push it you need new shocks. It should just spring back up, not up and down a few times after.

[jazza15]

For new Fe2 struts, dust boots and a couple of nuts i paid around $300 from holden, genuine with a 3 year 50,000km warranty. I replaced the front struts myself (and rears previously - I got them in 'as new' condition from somehwre else) I found that the strut mounts didn't look worn at all (after 230,000k's+) but still put the 'new' ones in. I didn't do the strut mounting bolts and nuts as they look fine and are very strong.
It is the Strut mount bearings that will definetely be gone and are causing that clicking. Holden have bought out a revised bearing that looks the same, but is meant to be different. The old one was made in germany, the new one does not have the word 'Germany' on it so may not be made in Germany.
Natuarally a front wheel alignment will be needed for this job, so add about $50 to your labour cost.
So Front stuts with the bearing (not new mount) and those bits and pieces that may need replacing inside the sturt, as well as rear shocks while you are at it will be around $350 to $400 in parts, less if you shop around and get a really good deal. Check eBay, but i'd go Monroe shocks as they manufacture the genuine Holden ones, cheap aftermarket ones won't be worth it in the long run.
Rears are easy to do, so labour would be around $50, fronts need to be taken apart with a spring compressor, so would be like $150 in labour.
All up you are looking at a ballpark figure of $600 fitted. Someone said about $800 which isn't inncaurate at all, depends where you go, what you buy etc.
I hope this was a wealth of information for you

[Tsunamix]

Simple suspension checks.

Push down on each corner of the car. If pushing down is easy, the springs may have lost tension. When you release the car from the push down, the car should bounce up, then center itself. 1 movement up, 1 movement down to middle. ANy more movement and the strut/shock is worn.

Have a mate sit beside your driveway. Idle the car forward, stomp the brakes and release. If the front wheels 'spring' forward, then your front tie rod bushes are worn. The movement of the wheels should be almost invisible, if you can see a definite 'spring' forward, change the tie rod bushes.

Check tyre wear on each end. the wear patterns should be similair. Front tyres should wear similarly - if one side of the front wears different to the other, the front end geometry could be out, or the wheels may not be balanced correctly. Exactly the same thing applies to brake pad wear. Should be even. If wear is uneven, your suspension geometry is probably cactus, or maybe a rotor is warped.

Check wheel to guard vertical clearance at each corner. Should be relatively consistent side to side. Don't be surprised if you get some drivers side sag, but lots of sag means tired springs.

Horizontal wheel to guard clearnace should be identical end to end. If he clearance differs by more than a millimetre you have some accident damage somewhere, and your wheel tracking is out.

Look at all your suspension rubbers and mounts. Cracked black rubber mounts are worn and need replacing. Cracked polyurethane mounts suggest impact damage - look for other damage. Some of the larger black rubber mounts like engine and tie rod bushes are 'hydraulic' bushes - fluid filled to achieve specific rebound rates (fluids arent compressible). If these are cracked, replace them. if they have bellied out or look sagged, replace them.

Polyurethane bushes provide greater levels of feedback to steering and a greater amount of 'feel' to the suspension. you will feel like you know more about what is going on at the car / road interface. On longer drives, this will feel 'noisy' and 'harsher'. there is always a trade off.