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I recently took my car to my mechanic for a mandatory inspection for registration. The car is a 2000 Hyundai Elantra.

It needed a bit of work to pass and they did the following:

  • replaced one wheel with spare (the one on the car was running out of tread)

  • replaced driveshaft seal

  • replaced driveshaft boot

  • replaced two brake cylinders

  • replaced cracked engine mounting

  • replaced centre and rear exhaust

  • rear brake shoes replaced

as well as other things like new wiper blades etc

After getting the car back it seemed fine until I went on a faster road 70-80kph (45-50mph) at which time I noticed that after each small bump this could cause the car to bounce quite a bit. To the point at which I would nearly hit my head on the roof of the car.

From my understanding of cars, this seems firstly like a suspension problem, specifically the dampers (struts) failing. I've read about there being issues with Hyundais of around this era where the struts fail when fully extended after being lifted in the shop.

So I took it back for them to look at here is what they've done

  • Firstly we confirmed the tyre pressure was correct, and we also made sure that the mechanic on duty didn't increase tyre pressure at all during the service

  • They suspected the spare tyre so they put the original back on and tested, no difference

  • They then suspected the struts as I did, and although they said it felt fine from pushing on it, they replaced both front first and tested, still no difference

  • They then tried replacing the rear struts.. still no difference

  • They replace all wheels... just in case still no difference

They seem to be running out of ideas, and I'm considering taking the car elsewhere, but I'm curious to know what others might think of this scenario.

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  • Seems like they covered all of the usual suspects. I'm interested to find out what others think, as I'm not drawing any conclusions off the top of my head.
    – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 ♦
    Apr 23, 2014 at 12:42
  • Did they checked upper spring mount? I just didn´t understood what they changed, spring struts or spring coils, because also coil mounts could be damaged, but no other idea. Maybe to check suspension arms, rods etc.
    – Mustafa105
    Apr 23, 2014 at 14:25
  • I doubt the dampers used for testing were fine to begin with. Could you clarify if the replacements were new or not?
    – Zaid
    Apr 23, 2014 at 19:16
  • @Mustafa105 They just changed the struts
    – chip
    Apr 25, 2014 at 0:56
  • @Zaid The replacements were not new, however they were from a another working car
    – chip
    Apr 25, 2014 at 0:57

1 Answer 1

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Ok for the benefit of the question I will answer this. After much mucking around for quite a bit it seemed both the rear and front shocks had to be replaced, when they did the first test they just replaced the front then put the old ones back in, then swapped out the rear. They decided to swap the front again while the new rear ones were in and the ride went back to normal.

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  • Ah, good one - in the original question, it seemed like they replaced front and then replace rear (leaving you with four new struts).
    – Bob Cross ♦
    May 1, 2014 at 13:46

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