Mk3 Cavalier Owners Club | Vauxhall Cavalier Dot Com

Right, the car felt terrible on the motorway yesterday and lets say above the speed limit it felt dangerous as was pulling and steering wheel shaking at speed..

Replaced the front shocks towards end of last year with Kyb Excel G gas shocks and matched with Gmax -40mm springs, have had all lower arms etc done also and have had car recently laser tracked and balanced but feels wrong and is not handling well at all currently.

Struck a sunk drain about 2 months back and have had car inspected and tracking re done but still not right, all I will add is there was a metallic sounding bang after pulling up from hitting drain.

Everything straight so could it be a dead shock? Car sits level but just does not feel right at all, no fun to drive and making me want rid of it..

Need some advice on this as not competant to change shock myself and do not need another big bill to do the work again.....Any one local fancy giving me a hand would be appreciated...

If you bounce that corner what happens, it carries on bouncing, or bounces once then stops?

Barely moves mate, springs etc are stiff as feck....

Can hardly bounce the car which throws the testing of it out the window, only thing is these Excel G shocks are standard length not shortened shocks and the top cap on the suspension turret sits higher than it should, sits about 8-10mm clear of top of turret..

Car was fine until hit sunk drain but apparently its straight, wondering if its worth doing the lower arm again before new shock(s)

Even if the springs are solid it should still move, if it doesn't it does sound like its bent.

Gaz wrote:Even if the springs are solid it should still move, if it doesn't it does sound like its bent.

What the shock??? Feck.....

Been reading a few forum things on google and seems running standard length shocks is not a good idea anyway, considering the maxton kit as can do a full swap on it for matched maker....Can't afford billys at the moment....

Any idea if Pi are any good as do some deals on the bay of E..

Plenty of talk of not running standard shocks its not ideal but they will still be fine, it tends to wear them out more than they run out of travel.

Gaz wrote:Plenty of talk of not running standard shocks its not ideal but they will still be fine, it tends to wear them out more than they run out of travel.

Cheers Gaz, think I am going to run her into a local mod shop "Mike Stokes" and get him to have a look...

Atleast they deal with modded cars everyday unlike commercial garages etc, if it needs new shocks again will just do it as driving it is horrible at the moment and 90 on the m3 yesterday was scary but like to chase audis when on the motorway..

Mikebmth wrote:Barely moves mate, springs etc are stiff as feck....

Can hardly bounce the car which throws the testing of it out the window, only thing is these Excel G shocks are standard length not shortened shocks and the top cap on the suspension turret sits higher than it should, sits about 8-10mm clear of top of turret..

Car was fine until hit sunk drain but apparently its straight, wondering if its worth doing the lower arm again before new shock(s)

Have you heard any reviews of the maxton kits? Was considering them meself.
Would like to know if they are very stiff 1st.

Amazing what you learn when you drop into get some new tyres, the lad who works on the tyre bay in the place I go in aldershot crawled under it whilst up on the jacks for a look for me...

Track rod ends are screwed and bushes on them are non existant near enough, also drop links not the best and can not remember if these were done when I had the suspension done, will get the bits as they are both cheap ish and get them done then see what its like.

Pretty sure drop links are easy but what about Track Rod ends? Easy to do or off to my mechanic?

I did mention the track rod ends could be a possibility as they were pretty much the only bits that weren't changed..

They can be a pain in the ass to remove if they've been on there for so long.

Cavalier342 wrote:I did mention the track rod ends could be a possibility as they were pretty much the only bits that weren't changed..

They can be a pain in the ass to remove if they've been on there for so long.

Shouldn't be too bad as tracking only recently done so should shift easily, just seems moronic that 2 garages tracked it and didn't recommend getting them changed..

Mikebmth wrote: Need some advice on this as not competant to change shock myself and do not need another big bill to do the work again.....Any one local fancy giving me a hand would be appreciated...

If dan richards can manage to change a shock on his own then trust me anyone can do it!

TurboDan wrote: If dan richards can manage to change a shock on his own then trust me anyone can do it!

Ooooo you bitch...

Its seperating the ball joint or what ever that worries me, used to do ones on fords etc easy years ago but they didnt have inserts...

Don't forget the spring clamps Oh and good luck dude

Cavalier342 wrote:Don't forget the spring clamps Oh and good luck dude

Thats the easy bit, I have a much easier way though.................Now what did I do with Johns number...

You mean your upstairs neighbour? What's he gonna do?

TurboDan wrote:

Mikebmth wrote: Need some advice on this as not competant to change shock myself and do not need another big bill to do the work again.....Any one local fancy giving me a hand would be appreciated...

If dan richards can manage to change a shock on his own then trust me anyone can do it!

this is true

Cavalier342 wrote:You mean your upstairs neighbour? What's he gonna do?

Not that mullet...

You know John the mechanic or Ben the bearded wonder!!