How to tell if rear coil springs need to be replaced on Ford Escape 2004?

Question

Recently replaced rear shocks on 2004 Ford Escape with brand new ones. After replacing them, I took it for a test drive, the rear of the car started to have weird wiggling that didn't have before.

Before replacing the shocks it was really easy for me to bounce the car while parking. After installing the new shocks; I can tell the car look more stable but when driving it and reach 25 m/h the rear section start wiggle.

The car has 200+ K on it and shocks were never been replaced before.

Also, when driving it on bumpy road; it sounds as if new shocks do not absorbs any speed bumps, street holes.

Do you I need to replace rear coil spring?

Answer 1

The springs will rarely if ever go bad, so should last the lifetime of the car. There are only two things which really affect the longevity of springs. First is if the shock goes so bad, there's no dampening on the suspension at all. If this was the case, there would have been severe road vibration and a lot of swaying going on before shock replacement. The second is if the vehicle was overloaded to the point of where the springs become deformed. It doesn't sound like either of these conditions were met, so I doubt your springs need replaced.

Where I'd look if I were you, would be to ensure the shocks are installed correctly (everything is tight). Something to remember when installing any suspension parts is, you should not tighten the parts up all the way until the suspension is loaded (sitting on the ground). If you don't, the rubber bushings will be twisted within their housing and can cause weird feelings when driving as well as it will wear these bushings out much, much faster than you'd normally expect. Also, speaking of looking, ensure you've torqued the wheels on to the hubs correctly. Loose wheels can cause you issues as well (big issues if not taken care of!).