So I was at the Honda dealership for a check up and the representative said that my rear driver shock was blown. How can you tell? I bought my car in september 07 with 37K miles. It currently has 48K. The car was lowered on tein S-techs with stock shocks. I thought that the ride was rough. The ride is a little stiff when I hit little bumps. Doesnt feel like theres much shock travel. Honeslty I just thought that it was because it's an AP1 S2000 so it rides rough. I do not know what stock ride feels like. If the shock is indeed blown, is there that i can find out?

 

take off the rear driver wheel, take a look to see if there's any damage or if its leaking any fluid. i'm not quite sure, but i think that would be the best bet. maybe the dalers just trying to jip you for your money. i mean it doesnt feel different from the passenger rear does it? GL with everything though

 

Both side feels the same to me, I just didnt know how the guy knew it was blown. I'll try your method out. Thanks

 

Remove the shock and compress the rod all the way down. If it sticks (and by that I mean if the rod doesn't come back up or doesn't go all the way back up) or comes up extremely slow then it needs to be replaced.

Leaking fluid is the easiest way to check, however just because it's not leaking fluid doesn't mean it hasn't gone bad.

 

let us know

 

thanks everyone i'll try it today

 

Just my luck too that it's the rear driver side

 

lol what do you mean?
what happend?'
im local in west covina and i got a set of coilovers for sale if u wanna replace ur shocks

 

To check for a completely blown shock, push down on the corner of the car and release. Car should rebound to normal ride heigh immediately (or maybe slightly past then back to correct height). There should be no bounce. Of course like the others said, leaking fluid is a dead give-away. But the shocks can be bad even if no fluid is found.

Stock shocks with lowering springs can cause shocks to wear out faster. But that depends on the amount of drop, the spring rate, and how the car is driven.

A stiff ride is not a symptom of bad shocks. Its a symptom of higher rate springs, overly agressive shock valving, and/or short/stiff tire sidewalls. Also, as you say, the AP1 stock suspension is pretty firm.