GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I have 175K on my base 06 and still have the original shocks all around. The ride still feels fine, but I've started hearing an odd gaseous noise coming from the front driver side when I slowly hit bumps that I've just recently started noticing. Only noticed them when going at an angle as I don't recall going over any bumps straight. Like I said though, my ride still feels fine. Money is kinda tight right now so Idon't want to do anything unless absolutely needed.

I've wondered this, too. My ride still feels as normal as ever at nearly 75k. 175k is impressive!

Generally, if you bounce the corner of the car, and it rebounds/bounces more than 1 time or so, the struts/shocks need replacement. There are some videos on YouTube I'm sure of it. But even if they "need" replacement, they would be OK for a while if need be. It will just put extra wear on your other components, but if you needed to wait a few months, they would be OK unless they are really leaking oil or something. The shocks in my Mustang have been leaking for a year or so, I just haven't had a chance to replace them, and it works fine.

Yep definitely do the bounce test. And keep an eye out under the wheels for fluid. A some point, the gassy sound will be gone, and the only thing keeping the car off the tires is the spring itself

You have Struts up front and shocks in the back. The purpose of each is to keep the wheels planted on the road while providing some cushion to the pavements imperfections.

When they grow older/weaker, they lose their dampening power and will start compressing easier and easier. This is why you'll see older cars bouncing down the highway, their struts are not providing the dampening needed so the car is just riding on the bouncy springs.

Keep that in mind when trying to determine how your shocks/struts are performing. They should be stiff enough to stop the bouncing and compress just enough to cushion the road.

Also the thing that wears them out are bumpy roads and pot holes. You can expect long life out of them if you're spending all your time cruising on smooth highways. But jacked up roads will wear them out a lot quicker.

Hope this helps.

sideshowalan wrote: Also the thing that wears them out are bumpy roads and pot holes. You can expect long life out of them if you're spending all your time cruising on smooth highways. But jacked up roads will wear them out a lot quicker.

And being in Michigan, I'm surprised that my Vibe still rides well. I know these cars are built to last, but I expected more maintenance at nearly 75k miles! Knock on wood. I consider myself fairly good at seeing trouble up ahead of me, and I've been able to avoid some of it, but I can probably count on my two hands how many hard-hard bumps I've hit, so maybe that's why I have not had anything replaced yet.

sideshowalan wrote:Hope this helps.

Very helpful, indeed.

All of that does help!! The majority of my drive time is on highways so I imagine that has helped the longevity of them. I'll be doing the bounce test tonight. So far no fluids have been appearing on the ground, that I do know at this time. Thanks for all of the help everyone! I will update tonight or tomorrow after I do the bounce test and hopefully I'm just being paranoid lol.

Def don't look like they need replaced. They bounced back to resting state almost immediately with just a tiny bit of excess body bounce. My guess is I can easily push it for another 25K unless (knock on wood) something catastrophic happens!

Midas Muffler never met a shock (or pvc valve) that didn't need to be replaced.

jake75 wrote:Midas Muffler never met a shock (or pvc valve) that didn't need to be replaced.

You got that right!!! Way back in the '80s I took my then-wife's car to them to have the brakes looked over. They came up with a price of $400 plus and told me it needed a new PCV valve. I had replaced it myself only a couple weeks earlier and knew better. I told them no thanks and had them close everything up. Then I went to Jiffy-lube and they fixed the brake problem for something like 60 bucks. I don't recommend anybody go to Midas for anything.

Houston wrote:

jake75 wrote:Midas Muffler never met a shock (or pvc valve) that didn't need to be replaced.

You got that right!!! Way back in the '80s I took my then-wife's car to them to have the brakes looked over. They came up with a price of $400 plus and told me it needed a new PCV valve. I had replaced it myself only a couple weeks earlier and knew better. I told them no thanks and had them close everything up. Then I went to Jiffy-lube and they fixed the brake problem for something like 60 bucks. I don't recommend anybody go to Midas for anything.

$400 in the 80's - that would be maybe $800+ in today's dollars. It is now 2012 - just had new front pads and rotors put on a 1999 Caravan that I bought for my son. $225 at an independent shop.