How To Buy A Used Car - Checking For Suspension Problems - Lesson 2 - Part 2
Before you head to the used car lot, learn how to spot potential problems that could result in huge repair bills. Learn how to buy a used car from Ken Groves -
Video Transcript:
One way you can check to see if your frontend is OK, see if there's anything that's not good, you get in the car with the key. Put the key in the ignition. Yeah, it's going to make a little noise and just turn it on until you can turn the steering wheel.
Now without the car running or anything, hard left, hard right, hard left, hard right. Do you hear any clunking? Do you hear anything like clunk, clunk, clunk? OK. What that's doing, that is checking from your steering wheel down to your tires all those moving parts. If you hear any clunking, you got a steering joint that's bad. You might have a tie rod end that's bad. You might have a steering knuckle in there that's a little bit bad.
There's drag links in there, Pitman arms, stuff like that, can all bad and if they're bad, when you go like that back and forth -- and you got to make sure it's unlocked or it doesn't work. Yeah, stick that key in. Turn it on and when you go like this, if it's bad, you will hear a clunk, clunk. No clunk, clunk on this one at all. This one is a good tight suspension as far as the point.
Let's look at one other thing. Another way you can check this and see if there's anything kind of shady or you wonder what's wrong with the front end of the car, come out to the front like this. Right here on the fender on the hood. What you want to do is you start pushing down. Now don't bend the fender. Don't jump up and down on it with all your body weight. OK? The trick is just to get it to rock. Get it going. Get it going harder.
OK. Did you hear the squeaking? Sway bar. The rubber is on a sway bar are squeaking and you need lubrication. But I didn't hear any clunking. I didn't hear any banging, anything like that. It's very important. Now when I got it going, see the bounce? Watch the bounce. When I'm pushing down on it, see how many times it bounced. OK? About one and a half, maybe two after I quit. That means the shocks are good. Sometimes they will just keep bouncing. Shocks are no good. You're going to need shocks or struts depending on what's in the front of the car.
This one is shock. Yes. So there's two ways you can check and see if your suspension is any good. Sometimes you can actually put a foot up on the bump and this one is a plastic bumper. I don't recommend that unless you're in the right area and you can feel when it's solid and then you can use your foot on the bumper. Shocks are pretty good on that. Maybe a little bit loose. You might want to think about a set of shocks on this vehicle if you buy it or negotiate it into the price. Let them put it on for you.
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