morabors

Recently purchased a 2005 Accord EX with 104,000 for my daughter. Took it to my mechanic due to slight shimmy and asked him to do a once over. He says the struts should be replaced, tires are worn uneven. Trust my mechanic and am looking to replace them myself. The question is, is it prudent to replace the entire assembly including spring even if the spring is intact? Thanks for your help.

slowcivic2k

If the spring shows little deterioration from rust or debris and the vehicle sits close to normal ride height, it can be reused. The mounts will need to be checked on a case by case basis. Struts on this vehicle will not produce a shimmy, as they do not affect steering, only ride control.

Shimmy, or vibration is generally caused by poor tires. Cupping or wiping on the back tires indicates the tire assembly is leaving the road surface in a hop, producing a cupping or wiping pattern, can also be caused by excessive toe out on the back axle, or overloading the tires. Pictures of the tread will be helpful. Tire hop is caused by a poor shock/strut.

Loose suspension parts like tie rods and ball joints can sometimes cause a shimmy, but generally these parts produce poor wear on the tires, which indirectly causes the shimmy.

morabors

Thanks for the response. Both the rear tires and and front right tires were scallopped. I replaced all 4 tires and all 4 shocks. I still have the shimmy in front when accelerating. I am going to have a 4 wheel alignment, I suppose they will tell me if any suspension oparts are worn?

lazlong

It should but, I would mention that they need to check the suspension, steering and balljoints.

BTW: You can do a quick check yourself. Jack up the front, put your hands at 6 and 12 and wiggle the tire. If it's loose it's the balljoint. Now put your hands at 3 and 9 and wiggle the tire. If it wiggles it's the tie-rod(s)s. For the rear, jack it up and wiggle it a while looking for parts that move.

Note: Always replace suspension and steering parts in pairs. It causes even quicker deterioration of the part that wasn't replaced.