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So I just bought the car, it's very clean inside and out. When I did the test drive the highway was not near by so I didn't get a chance to get it past about 50 MPH. When I go 60+, the rear of the car feels very greasy, like it's shimmying or something, especially when I go over bumps. I pushed down on both rear quarter panels with my body weight, and the rear end does bounce up and down a couple times, and if I push harder, I hear a "click" sound, on either side. What is wrong? Also - is it dangerous to drive it like that (i.e., will I find my rear tires rubbing up against the wheel well while going 70 MPH down the highway, tire blows, I lose control, etc. etc.)?

I would replace the rear shocks and mounts first, then go from there.

00Beast wrote:I would replace the rear shocks and mounts first, then go from there.

Beast, does that account for the slippery, greasy feeling when I'm going over bumps and what not? It's a difficult thing to describe in text, but I'll hit a bump or go over a sharp hill in the road, and it feels like I hit a patch of ice or something, sort of a shimmy kinda thing, hard to explain...feels like it's coming from the back of the car. I'm wondering how much of that is just different handling than the pre 00's, too. This being my first post '00, and having had three Bonnies prior to that, I would "expect" that they would handle the same, but I'm now guessing that's not the case at all.

Idk. Your best bet will be too get it in the air and inspect it all very well.

Your suspension should just go down and back up if you push on it. I would think about getting the rear shocks replaced, like Ed said, along with the upper shock mounts.

But yes, get it inspected prior to doing any work so you dont have any surprises.

Ludichris wrote:When I go 60+, the rear of the car feels very greasy, like it's shimmying or something, especially when I go over bumps. I pushed down on both rear quarter panels with my body weight, and the rear end does bounce up and down a couple times, and if I push harder, I hear a "click" sound, on either side. What is wrong? Also - is it dangerous to drive it like that (i.e., will I find my rear tires rubbing up against the wheel well while going 70 MPH down the highway, tire blows, I lose control, etc. etc.)?

I have this same problem on my 2000 SSEi, and have seen 3-4 other members have it as well. Personally I think it is close to earning a spot on the Common Problems list, but maybe not quite yet.

The solution, however, remains unknown. Only me and one other guy have truly gone after this thing (that I know of). The other guy's car got wrecked right after he replaced a bunch of rear suspension parts (accident was unrelated to this issue). As for me, I've replaced most of my rear-end parts and still have the issue.

If you are interested in details you can read my open thread here: viewtopic.php?f=18&t=30989

I am still working this issue, and have a couple more leads to pursue. If somebody comes up with the answer beforehand, I wouldn't mind that at all!

As for whether it's safe to drive; I've been driving with it for about five months now. It has put my wheels out of alignment three times now, and could be increasing tire wear on the rear tires. My wife says she keeps two hands on the wheel when she drives it, because on the freeway it can sometimes seem hard to handle if you're not paying attention. Otherwise there has not been any obvious reason for me to stop driving it.

Ken_W

Ken_W wrote:

Ludichris wrote:When I go 60+, the rear of the car feels very greasy, like it's shimmying or something, especially when I go over bumps. I pushed down on both rear quarter panels with my body weight, and the rear end does bounce up and down a couple times, and if I push harder, I hear a "click" sound, on either side. What is wrong? Also - is it dangerous to drive it like that (i.e., will I find my rear tires rubbing up against the wheel well while going 70 MPH down the highway, tire blows, I lose control, etc. etc.)?

I have this same problem on my 2000 SSEi, and have seen 3-4 other members have it as well. Personally I think it is close to earning a spot on the Common Problems list, but maybe not quite yet.

The solution, however, remains unknown. Only me and one other guy have truly gone after this thing (that I know of). The other guy's car got wrecked right after he replaced a bunch of rear suspension parts (accident was unrelated to this issue). As for me, I've replaced most of my rear-end parts and still have the issue.

If you are interested in details you can read my open thread here: viewtopic.php?f=18&t=30989

I am still working this issue, and have a couple more leads to pursue. If somebody comes up with the answer beforehand, I wouldn't mind that at all!

As for whether it's safe to drive; I've been driving with it for about five months now. It has put my wheels out of alignment three times now, and could be increasing tire wear on the rear tires. My wife says she keeps two hands on the wheel when she drives it, because on the freeway it can sometimes seem hard to handle if you're not paying attention. Otherwise there has not been any obvious reason for me to stop driving it.

Ken_W

Ken, yes - THAT is what mine is doing, I just couldn't figure out how to verbalize it - the rear end is "skipping sideways a few inches", and you can certainly feel that in the steering wheel too. And likewise, just like you said, you don't really notice it below 50MPH (you said 45, I'll say 50). But yeah, it definitely sounds like we share the same issue. Mine came with a 6 month warranty, but it does NOT cover rear suspension (but it covers the front suspension)...but I wonder if I could get them to do something on a safety issue??? I would hate to go through replacing parts, or "throwing parts at the problem", only to find out that the problem still exists. I'll definitely have mine looked at, and if the shocks NEED replaced, I'll definitely do that, but I'm glad I'm not alone, or "crazy" with these symptoms, glad I found a few people that know precisely what I'm talking about. Thanks for posting, and please keep me up to speed with what you find out. I should throw a comment on that other thread just so I get notified when there are updates to it.

Well, I had my first real road trip in my new Bonnie today - logged about 425 miles. I'm sad to say that it was the first road trip in any Bonnie that I've ever had that wasn't really all that enjoyable, instead it was rather stressful. I found that I had to pay extra attention the whole time and sort of anticipate what the car was going to do on bumps and such, rather than just leaning back with the cruise control on and enjoying the ride. It was HIGHLY annoying. I'm getting that up on a rack and looked a ASAP. I shined a flashlight between the spokes on the wheels - shocks look to be stock from the factory, with 147K on them. It was just a quick visual inspection, nothing scientific or anything like that, but other than the badly corroded shocks, I didn't see anything else out of place. Up on the rack it goes, as soon as I possibly can. I want to ENJOY driving my Bonnie as quickly as possible, and I can't with it riding like that. :-/

Def replace the shocks and upper mount.

there isnt much to the rear setup, if its anything like my 00, is it not just the 2 arms, and shock setup with springs? have you checked all bushings and mounts to make sure there in place? i had this clicky side-to-side motion your talking about, when my bonnie hit 120k, i had to ajust the ride height sensor lower, replaced my shock mounts+shocks, and the bushings in the arms. problem went away but clunking suspension sound is back when i go over bumps, no other symptoms and im at 156k,

i would think this is an easy fix, it has to be SOMETHING out of the few things that make up the rear end.

at 130k my rear spring snapped and the car kept jerking left, maybe the springs are out of thier seats?

Around 70k miles my 02 was doing this (felt like the rear or the car was swaying left to right when i hit a bump) about 5k miles later i hit a lager hole and snapped the right rear shock in 1/2. upon inspecting them after removal i discovered they had been blown out for some time. Once replaced she rides real nice.

My Grandpa's PA was being really floaty/jerky with bad rear shocks. I would definitely replace them. It's time, and it's the first step in the process of elimination.

It's going up on the rack at a mechanic at 7am tomorrow morning. SEVEN AM!!!! That's WAY too early for me to be doing something before work, but it's driving me crazy enough to go do it that early. I'll post what they find out. Thanks for the input, I appreciate it.

Everything looked pretty good under there. To my non-mechanic's eye, the underside looked REALLY good...no corrosion or anything. The suspension seemed fine. They are doing a 4-wheel alignment Saturday morning. They believe it needs one, they didn't connect the car to the equipment that would tell them for sure, but since the shocks seemed okay, they're going to do an alignment. For $60. If that doesn't improve it, I'll move on to the shocks.

Ditto the shocks. I didn't realize it at the time, but one day I noticed some sort of fluid on the garage floor near where the rear wheel would be. Nothing noticeable driving it. Then few months later the car started jumping in the rear over bumps like you describe. On larger bumps like railroad tracks, it felt like it jumped over at least a couple inches. With winter coming in a few months I figured that could be dangerous. I pushed on the rear, and it bounced, but like you said, only once or twice. A few days later I happened to notice fluid on the floor again, on the driver's side. I put 2 and 2 together and figured it must be the shocks. I don't think there was any evidence on the shocks, other than what I saw on the floor. Replaced the shocks, and the problem was gone.

So who among you thinks I'm wasting my time with getting an alignment? Granted, I'd hate to waste $60 if it was in fact the shocks, but if they connect it to the machine and it shows that it's out of alignment, then it seems that would need to be done to solve part of the issue anyway. The boots on the shocks looked fine, no deterioration, no moisture leaking out, no spots collecting dirt from a previous leak, etc. I want to solve the problem, for sure, but I'm just average working Joe here and don't want to replace parts that don't yet need it.

I hear what all of you are saying - original shocks that have 147K on them, yes, they probably need replaced, if nothing else than to smooth out the ride, but this jumping sideways thing....if it's just the alignment, then I'm only out $60 instead of about $300. Opinions? Bottom line is, they'll check to see if it even NEEDS an alignment first, and if it shows that the alignment is true or very close to being true, then I would opt to just have them do the shocks right then and there.

Where do you see $300? The shocks are $60, mounts are another $50, and you can install them with a jack, ratchet and 13 and 15 mm deep sockets.

00Beast wrote:Where do you see $300? The shocks are $60, mounts are another $50, and you can install them with a jack, ratchet and 13 and 15 mm deep sockets.

I've never done them, never had to. I'm not afraid to wrench if it's fairly straight forward and simple. Is it really that easy?? I've only done my own spark plugs/wires, brake pads/rotors, radiator hoses, car stereo/speakers, that kinda thing. If I've done those things, could I handle the shock replacement?? I just worry that I would start it, run into a problem, and be STUCK with nobody to help me on a weekend. Aren't they compressed?? Do you have to somehow squeeze them down to fit them in? Sorry for the possibly stupid questions (Yes, there IS such a thing as a stupid question), but I've never done 'em before.

Also, several people have mentioned upper shock mounts too, what level of difficulty are those to replace? I have the tools, just not the experience, and I'm not afraid to try. Hm.......

The shocks are super easy. 2 bolts on the bottom, 1 nut on top and the air connection remove the shock, and 2 more nuts on top remove the mount, then reverse. You will want to connect the air to the shock and get it loosely bolted in on bottom, then turn the car on and let them pump up, it makes them much easier to get in, along with jacking on the control arm. The shock isn't like a strut, it doesn't affect the alignment, so that's not an issue to screw up.

I found the thread from when I did my shocks 2 summers ago. Here was the complete process:

-Jacked up the back with the car jack.
-Jacked up the control arm a little bit with a floor jack.
-Take off wheel.
-Loosen the two bolts at the control arm holding the shock (to make sure they can be easily done without busting out some help).
-Remove the black plastic nut on the inside of the trunk holding on the carpet (on the side). Pull back carpet.
-Remove the rubber cover on the nut at the top of the shock (inside the trunk)
-Remove the nut (this is why you don't remove the bottom bolts, otherwise the shock twists when you do the top nut)
-Remove the air line to the shock.
-Remove the bottom bolts.
-Remove shock.
-Take new shock and pull the one end out some.
-Insert the top end of shock (don't forget that concave washer at the top that you remove from the old one).
-Start the bottom bolts into the shock.
-Jack up the control arm until the bolt on the top of the shock sticks through the fender well.
-Put the top bolt back on.
-Finish the bottom bolts.
-Reinstall air line.
-Put wheel back on.
-Not sure if necessary, but I then started the car and waited until I heard the ELC kick in. Then I lowered the car and made sure the top bolt was sufficiently tight on the shock.

Took about and hour and fifteen minutes including the time to get out the jacks, tools, etc.