What is the suspension system?

This system connects a vehicle chassis to its wheels and allows relative motion between the two. The suspension system must support both the vehicle’s roadholding, handling and ride-quality. It is important for the suspension to keep the road wheel in contact with the road surface as much as possible, because all the road or ground forces acting on the vehicle do so through the contact areas of the tyres.

Key components include: tyres; the air in the tyres, suspension springs; shock absorbers; associated linkages.

1. Noises from suspension

There are three key types of noises that can occur from a vehicle’s suspension.

2. Vehicle pulls to one side

If your vehicle pulls to one side it could be down to a couple of key factors such as:

• Tyre diameter sizes are incorrect on one or more wheels or that the tyre pressures are not consistent across all four.
• There is wear or damage in one or more suspension parts such as shock absorbers, struts or strut mounts or the suspension springs.

Top Tip

You can carry out a basic test of the condition of your car’s suspension by carrying out the following steps:

Step 1      Carefully place your hands on the corner of your car where the bonnet meets the front wing and push down hard on the suspension.

Step 2      Let go and allow the car to raise back-up.

Step 3      Repeat on all corners of the car.

If it bounces up and stops, it’s a good indicator the shock absorber and strut is in good condition.

If it bounces several times, it is likely some parts of the suspension are worn and you need to have it

Checked by a trained technician.

How important is this?

The suspension system is vital to your vehicle’s safe handling and comfort for you and your passengers. If anything feels unusual about your vehicle you should get it checked out as soon as possible by a trained technician.

How Haden Birmingham can help

Depending on the type of problem you have with your vehicle’s suspension system, our technicians can carry out a comprehensive inspection to assess where exactly the problem lies.

Following the inspection, our technician will provide a report describing the cause of the issue, along with costs of any parts and labour hours required.