Hello, I'm fairly new to this forum and I have a few questions about my 2013 Honda Fit suspension. I have less than 60,000 miles on my fit and the ride is a little rough. I recently took it to the dealership to get a battery and an oil change and asked about my suspension. The tech said it didn't have any leaks and that my suspension should be fine for another 40,000 miles. My question here is, should I get a second opinion, wait 40k and fix it, or just fix it now and be done with it? Any advice would be helpful.

 

Have you had the car long? Fits generally don’t ride as smoothly as something with comfort as the number one priority.

I replaced my stock suspension on my 2012 Fit at 120,000 miles a couple years ago and I don’t remember any obvious signs that the suspension was in need of replacement. I just wanted to lower the car when I changed mine out.

 

TLDR: Replacing suspension at the first sign of trouble will prevent worsening ride problems/more costly repairs down the road but it is not urgent and you can wait.

storytime:My rear shocks failed by just 40k miles. An align tech at Evans tire caught it for me. It was pretty minor, just the valving for really short travel, and they didn't leak. I kept factory springs, got a spring compressor off amazon and did KYB excel G shocks and struts front and rear. It's all fairly stiff but I wouldn't call it rough I'd say it ride's nice, and the dogs seem to think so too when they're in the back seat!

Unblown suspension is a luxury If it can be dealt with preemptively you can prevent other suspension/steering components from wearing prematurely and also keep your ride quality as intended. But so long as steering is relatively true and parts aren't worn to the point of being loose, OH and tires aren't getting irregular wear like cupping, you can run trash suspension for a long time. I finally got to tend to the blown front end bushings on my girlfriend's car (still no shocks/struts). She'd been driving it thrashed for so long that the inner and outer tie rods were loose enough to knock when turning, and the lack of shock absorption saw the wheel bearings take such a beating that they had about 1/8" of play at the outer edge of the front rotors.. The play in the rotors caused braking issues. When the brake calipers squeezed the rotors, they'd actually slant towards the calipers. I believe this contributed to the rotors warping as well as some lingering brake problems that will see me rebuilding the calipers when my chores list shortens.
When applying the brakes in her car it sounds like a horse galloping on a cobblestone road. As charming as that is, it's bad for hard braking 😂

Personally, I love replacing shocks and struts, suspension. People are always stoked and say "it feels like a new car." I'm all about that. It's just too costly and non-essential for people to pay for the service I think.

I've been relating suspension to footwear in hopes of more successful communication of the concept. You can run around in beat up old converse for a long time. I kept a pair as dailys for 8 years. Between those and the boots I got issued in the USMC (with the exception of Danners, the boots had soles that sloped outward encouraging a bowlegged stance, presumably to offset excess wear on the inboard side from carrying a heavy pack everywhere) I was a wreck. My back was effed up, I got nerve pain in my right shoulder that sent a shock to my face, my hips clicked, and my right heel is to my knowledge permanently damaged. 😂 Thought I was freakin dying! And then I had to figure out why!