Kizashi Club

What type of suspension system does the 2011 kizashi SE have? shocks or struts?

MacPherson struts on the front.
Multi-link suspension (shocks) on the rear.

Thank you! Found out today the rear shocks are done.

EDIT: This is wrong, don't listen to this guy. LOL


The rears are struts too. You normally think of struts as having the spring mounted on them, but that's not the criteria used to determine the name.

A strut carries lateral and longitudinal loads, as opposed to only vertical loads in the case of a shock. If you remove a shock from the suspension, it would work perfectly fine except for the bouncing after a bump. If you remove the strut and try to drive the car, the wheel will not be located properly and would wobble around wildly. In order for ours to be shocks they'd have to have upper control arms and we don't. The upper mounting of the strut and the fact that it doesn't flex ensures that the wheel/hub only moves straight up and down.

Very minor point that doesn't really matter in this context, but I'm a little bit anal when it comes to words. Feel free to throw it back in my face the next time I use the word tonne.

OK, let's start the friendly debate. From the Suzuki service manual:

2010 SUSPENSION
Rear Suspension - Kizashi
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
REAR SUSPENSION SYSTEM DESCRIPTION
Rear suspension system is of a multi-link suspension type consisting of a rear suspension-frame (1), upper arms (2), lower arms (3), control rods (4), trailing arms (5), suspension knuckles (6), frame front bars (7), shock absorber assemblies (8), coil springs (9) and rear stabilizer bars (10).

I could include the graphic showing the suspension. However, I don't see how the shock is a structural part of the suspension. The geometry would not change if it was removed. At least not as far as I can see.

dmitche wrote:Thank you! Found out today the rear shocks are done.

It's a quite common issue with the Kizashi due to the rear bump stopper design that promotes corrosion therefore premature rear shock failure. Make sure to get the rear shocks replaced with the proper "countermeasure" bump stoppers.

Ooops, looks as if you may have been right KuroNekko. Stuck my nose in there for no reason. Just looked at the parts diagram and it does kinda look as if it's a shock, but it's a bad diagram for this purpose. It also makes it look as if the spring is on the shock and I'm certain that's not the case.

LPSISRL, I'd like to see that graphic you're referring to.

LPSISRL wrote:OK, let's start the friendly debate. suspension.

Nope, not going to be any debate, more of a capitulation. I was just stone wrong. Looked at the TSB for the rear bump stops and it had a better drawing. Hasn't been that long ago that I changed those shocks myself, you'd think I would remember the setup better.

Woodie wrote: LPSISRL, I'd like to see that graphic you're referring to.

Thanks everyone for replying! I found a forum post on this site where somebody changed out their shocks on a 2012 SLS model and just need to order in shocks and bump stoppers.