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I just changed the front struts and strut mounts on my 98 Mazda 626. The old ones were completely shot. While I noticed an improvement in the ride, it wasn't nearly as much as I expected, and quite frankly the ride is still quite bouncy. While I assume a little of that is probably the rear struts being worn out also, it still just seems really quite excessively bouncy. The tires are properly inflated.

Edit

After replacing the two struts, I push down on the corner, I can barely get it to move ( I'm only 70kg / 155 pounds ) and it comes straight back to the starting position without even one bounce. This may be just because I'm only able to depress it an inch or two.

Any ideas?

Robert S. Barnes
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2 Answers2

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OK, so if you've got four worn out struts / shocks, and you only replace the front two your car's gonna ride like a camel with a python latched onto it's nuts.

That's pretty much how my 626 rode after replacing just the front struts. I just changed the rear struts and it's like a whole new car. I can't believe the difference.

Robert S. Barnes
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McPherson Strut presumably? What condition is the rest of the suspension in? Bushes etc? How stiff is it supposed to be? Bear in mind that a family car like that will be more wallowy and bouncy than a small sports car or something...

Ideal would be to compare it to a known-good 626, but I suspect that you don't have another car to compare with!

Nick C
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