Hey guys,

So I had two guys in my car and the fourth seat (the back seat behind me) had a large bass amp on it....now I went over a pothole at a slow speed, however after removing the amp and parking on my driveway, I noticed that the clearance on my back suspension, especially my back left tire had about two-finger clearance while the front had a bit more than three-finger clearance.

How tough is our suspension and do you think it could have got damaged?

Thanks,

Ben.

 

How do you want this answered Ben?

If you want the truth, you'll have to provide pothole depth, speed at which you were travelling, total weight of car, and then I can draw a force diagram for you, and calculate dynamic forces at the moment of impact. Then compare it to engineering and manufacturing tolerances for your control arms.

That is for the truth...


Now, if you want the "COMFORTING ANSWER" so you can rest easy, then your suspension is fine. It is very tough. If your car doesn't drive funny, or makes weird wobbling/swirling sounds from the wheels rotating, and your alignment isn't messed up and there are no holes in your tires or bent rims, and there are no obvious signs of damage from inspecting the links, then you are fine.

 

Thanks Footman, you know a scientific calculation would definitely be interesting....but I'll take your comforting answer as it's not wobbling or making any noises....I was just concerned cuz the back wheels had less clearance than the front....maybe that's by design I dunno?

 

The car appears to sit lower in the back than the front due to exterior fender design.

 

Inspect your rims for bends and cracks. If the rims weren't damaged then your suspension is likely fine.
Get an alignment done (should be an annual event)

You can buy new springs to lower and even out the apparent fender clearance difference but this is cosmetic.

 

Footman are you getting old and grumpy like me? lol