Five Signs Your Suspension Is Done (Not Your Tires)
July 24, 2026 · suspension · maintenance · diagnostics
Your tires are a symptom
We replace a lot of tires that were murdered by worn suspension. If you do not fix the cause, the new set wears out the exact same way.
The five signs
1. Cupped or scalloped tread. Evenly spaced dips around the tread mean the tire is bouncing instead of staying planted. That is a dead shock or strut.
2. Nose dive under braking. If the front end dips hard every time you stop, the front struts have given up.
3. Floaty feeling over dips. Take the rise on a county road and if the truck keeps oscillating after, your dampers are not damping.
4. Clunks over speed bumps. Usually sway bar end links or worn bushings. Cheap to fix, annoying to ignore.
5. The car will not hold an alignment. If you aligned it six months ago and it is pulling again, something in the front end has play in it.
What we do about it
A suspension inspection takes about twenty minutes on the rack. We check shocks, struts, ball joints, tie rod ends, bushings, and sway bar links, then show you what we found before anybody touches a wrench.