Failing Suspension Parts: Signs Your Truck Needs a New Suspension

What Does Your Truck’s Suspension Do?

Your suspension plays the critical role of limiting the friction between the road and your truck’s tires. As your truck drives, the suspension absorbs impact from the road, and in turn keeps that impact from being felt too strongly in both the tires and the body of your truck. This is what allows your truck to drive smoothly and stably over the road, even when there are imperfections, potholes, and objects that you’re driving over. That’s especially important for trucks, which often drive over unfinished terrain. The suspension also helps keep your truck in constant, firm, and balanced contact with the road, increasing the performance of the accelerating, braking, and handling.

Signs That Your Truck Needs a New Suspension

When your truck’s suspension starts to wear down, it will stop working as well as it once did. Your truck will still be drivable during that time, but you’ll start to notice a few warning signs. Once you spot these signs, it’s time to take your truck to a mechanic. Here’s what to look out for.

A Very Bumpy Ride

The most obvious sign of a truck with a struggling suspension is a bumpy and uncomfortable ride. Since the suspension is responsible for stabilizing your truck on the road, when the suspension starts to fail, you’ll notice that your truck is no longer driving smoothly. At first, you’ll likely only notice this when driving over bumps and holes in the road, but with time it will get worse, and even driving over relatively smooth tarmac might feel a little uncomfortable.

Uneven and Excessive Wear and Tear on Your Tires

There are a lot of different things that can cause uneven and excessive wear on your truck’s tires, but a failing suspension is one of the main culprits. Because the suspension isn’t absorbing as much impact from the road, your tires will be more susceptible to have serious damage from driving over objects and potholes, so keep an eye open for uncommon wear on the tires. Since the truck won’t be properly balanced, this wear will likely be uneven, with more damage to certain tires than to others.

A Shaky Steering Wheel

A lot of times you can feel a failing suspension right in your hands. When you drive any vehicle, the steering wheel should feel calm and smooth, even when the road is not. If you notice that the steering wheel is vibrating or shaking while you drive, it can be a sign that the suspension is starting to go.

Strange Noises

It probably goes without saying that it’s never a good sign when your truck is making strange noises. Regardless of the cause, it’s a good idea to bring your vehicle to a mechanic if it’s making sounds that you’re not familiar with. Those sounds could mean that the suspension is failing. The most common sounds from a failing suspension are knocking and rattling. You’ll especially hear these noises when driving over bumps or potholes.

Leaks

Just like with noises, leaks are always something that warrant a trip to the mechanic. If you notice liquid pooling near your truck’s wheels, that’s usually a sign of the shocks or struts leaking.

Your Truck is Drifting

When your suspension starts to falter, you might notice that your truck is less inclined to drive in a straight line. The suspension is supposed to keep your vehicle balanced and consistently attached to the road, so as it fails, your truck might begin to drift to the right or to the left. This is especially apparent when taking turns. You might also notice that your truck doesn’t look level even when parked.

A failing suspension is nothing to mess with. If you notice any of these warning signs, then it might be time to replace your truck’s suspension before it fails completely. And we’re here to help you with any suspension parts, tools, or advice that you might need.