Bouncy Front End

**MWright936** · 05-23-2008, 02:04 PM

When I'm driving (usually at highway speeds) and I hit a bump in the road, my front end has kind of a bounce to it. Sometimes it's not very bad, but if I hit several bumps in a row it bounces enough to make me jiggle a little, haha. It is pretty annoying and I don't know what could be causing it. My truck has a little over 60K miles. I just replaced all 4 shocks maybe a month ago. It helped a little, but it still does it. Could it be my economy-priced shocks aren't doing a good enough job? Could it be worn out bushings? What would be the best place to start looking for problems? Any advice would help. Thanks in advance!

**tbplus10** · 05-23-2008, 07:59 PM

Start with the shocks. Sounds like they're not controlling rebound very well. Also check the sway bar and connection. And take a look at the front coils, make sure none are collapsing.

**Pete95Sierra** · 05-23-2008, 11:32 PM

couldnt hurt to get a new bushing kit they make a huge difference. i would suggest finding an energy suspension bushing kit. they arent that cheap but are really worth it. and the economy shocks may have a part of it as well but i wouldnt blame them just yet

**MWright936** · 05-28-2008, 01:59 PM

I just jacked up the front end and checked all suspension components. Everything was solid and in good shape. The bushings looked a little dry/cracked, but they're still in good shape.

Could it be caused by unbalanced wheels? Someone I mentioned my problem to said that may be the cause. It does almost feel like a vibration (like what happens when the wheels are unbalanced), but it doesn't do it all the time. What do yall think??

**MWright936** · 05-30-2008, 06:43 AM

BUMP

Another thing I thought of is maybe my tires are just rough riding...they are Cooper Discoverer ATRs. Anybody have any ideas??

**MrShorty** · 05-30-2008, 03:06 PM

I could envision a slightly out of balance tire needing some kind of jolt to get it to start vibrating. It wouldn't hurt to have the balance checked. I've seen out of alignment cause similar symptoms as well.

You could try moving the front tires to the back (and the back to the front). If it's a tire/wheel issue, the problem should change or go away.

I've run Cooper made tires for several years and not had any problems like that (unless they were out of balance or alignment was off or something like that).

**John W** · 05-30-2008, 03:30 PM

I wouldn't think the original shocks would be bad at 60,000 miles. I have over 100,000 miles on my 2000 Silverado and have the original shocks on. Still no bounce and only on my second set of tires. I had an 85 Blazer I sold with 200,000 km and it had the same shocks and I had just installed the third set of tires. I would have the front end checked by a good alignment shop. If you had done that first you may have saved the price of those shocks.

**MWright936** · 05-30-2008, 04:15 PM

Thanks for the tips guys! I don't regret spending the money on the shocks. It was just under $100 and even though it didn't really help the bounce, it noticeably helped my handling. I think some time next week I will go by the local tire shop and get them to check my front end and wheel balance. I'll post an update after I get it all checked out.