Rear Shock failure issue and TSB & Warranty Repair

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Woodie
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Location: Laurel, MD

Ronzuki wrote:I honestly don't think the 'new' bumstops are a permanent remedy, simply a bit of a life extender. The real problem is the bumpstop being incorporated ON the shock's piston rod in the first place. Great idea in concep...t in a perfect, crudless world.
I don't think this is a fix (and didn't when I installed them) but I don't understand what the problem is. This is THE normal configuration for a bumpstop, the vast majority of cars do it this way. Kizashi front suspension is done the exact same way and has no problem. I've got 800K miles experience with Suzuki Swift/Metro/Firefly and have never seen anything like this, done the same way except no fender liner.
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Ronzuki
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Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2010 5:33 pm
Location: Lancaster County, PA

The wheel well inner liners trap an enormous amount of crud. An unbelievable amount actually here where I reside and drive. Amish farm roads (constantly loaded w/ horse crap and field dirt), and, TONS of salt residue. Couple that with the likelihood the shaft seals are not of the utmost best quality along w/ the same for the hard chrome finish (if it is even a hard chrome plating at all), and you get what we have with the rear shocks. Trapped moisture and corrosive dirt eats away at metal, plain and simple. Once the shaft starts to pit, even a little, the seal can't do its job , fails and leaks.

The back ends of all my vehicles are, and were always, far filthier than the front halves...laws of nature I suppose. Probably the same phenom explaining why the front 1/2 of my 91 Samurai's body/tub is rock solid and 100% rot free while the back half was essentially gone, rotted away from the inside out.
Ron

2010 Kizashi GTS, CVT, iAWD (3/10 build date)
2011 SX4 Premium Hatch, CVT, iAWD (12/10 build date)
2018 Mazda CX-5 iAWD Touring
2014 Wrangler JKUW (GONE, traded :D :D )
1991 Samurai, 5-Speed, EFI, Soft-Top ( :| sold)
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Woodie
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Location: Laurel, MD

My right rear is creaking a bit, but I suspect it's the RRM sway bar needing some grease. I'll verify when the weather gets a little warmer.
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delusional29
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Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 4:22 am

Here's an updated video with the full installation of the rear shocks:
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KuroNekko
Posts: 5170
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2012 5:08 pm
Location: California, USA

delusional29 wrote:Here's an updated video with the full installation of the rear shocks:
He didn't replace the rear bump stopper... which is the cause of the premature rear shock failure... and the reason why this guy keeps replacing his rear shocks every few years. I've even told him in his previous video about the issue but I see he's still just reusing his old bump stoppers.
:facepalm:
2011 Suzuki Kizashi Sport GTS 6MT (Black)
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Ronzuki
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Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2010 5:33 pm
Location: Lancaster County, PA

I wonder what the effects not installing the bump stops at all would have on the longevity of the shocks? Usually you don't design the suspension's geometry to allow a shock to fully compress. As long as one didn't hammer over speed bumps or curbs at speed, the suspension shouldn't fully compress to cause damage to other components, but I don't have a detailed view in my head of the entire rear suspension. Might be worth a look see should I ever have to change them out again.
Ron

2010 Kizashi GTS, CVT, iAWD (3/10 build date)
2011 SX4 Premium Hatch, CVT, iAWD (12/10 build date)
2018 Mazda CX-5 iAWD Touring
2014 Wrangler JKUW (GONE, traded :D :D )
1991 Samurai, 5-Speed, EFI, Soft-Top ( :| sold)
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KuroNekko
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Location: California, USA

Ronzuki wrote:I wonder what the effects not installing the bump stops at all would have on the longevity of the shocks? Usually you don't design the suspension's geometry to allow a shock to fully compress. As long as one didn't hammer over speed bumps or curbs at speed, the suspension shouldn't fully compress to cause damage to other components, but I don't have a detailed view in my head of the entire rear suspension. Might be worth a look see should I ever have to change them out again.
I agree that in most driving conditions, the shocks don't bottom out to require the bump stoppers. However, in the case that one does bottom out the shock, a bump stopper would really be desired for both comfort and durability. Given that many experience unexpected or unavoidable potholes, I think it's a good idea to keep them on. I also wonder how the rod would do fully exposed, especially to abrasive matter like dirt, mud, and salt.
2011 Suzuki Kizashi Sport GTS 6MT (Black)
Marcov71
Posts: 126
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 9:32 pm
Location: Orange County NY

So after replacing my shocks and stop bumpers for the second time, I continued to have a rattling noise coming from rear drivers side. It turned out to that the top strut mount was not staying in place. Possibly damaged when shock went bad? I ended up ordering parts 5,9, and 10. Hopefully this will take care of the rattling issue until my shocks go bad again... :roll:
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2012 Kizashi CVT AWD/ w paint chips :shock:
Orange County/Brooklyn NY
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Ronzuki
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Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2010 5:33 pm
Location: Lancaster County, PA

KuroNekko wrote:
Ronzuki wrote:I wonder what the effects not installing the bump stops at all would have on the longevity of the shocks? Usually you don't design the suspension's geometry to allow a shock to fully compress. As long as one didn't hammer over speed bumps or curbs at speed, the suspension shouldn't fully compress to cause damage to other components, but I don't have a detailed view in my head of the entire rear suspension. Might be worth a look see should I ever have to change them out again.
I agree that in most driving conditions, the shocks don't bottom out to require the bump stoppers. However, in the case that one does bottom out the shock, a bump stopper would really be desired for both comfort and durability. Given that many experience unexpected or unavoidable potholes, I think it's a good idea to keep them on. I also wonder how the rod would do fully exposed, especially to abrasive matter like dirt, mud, and salt.
No doubt on the bottoming out issue, it would just be interesting to definitively confirm that the bump stop itself is the root cause of the failure by trapping the grime and moisture. I've extensively discussed the exposed rod issue in an earlier post somewhere...general consensus in the off-road world is exposed shafts allow the dirt and grime to be flushed away as opposed to trapping it where it can be forced in to the seal causing pressure failure.
Ron

2010 Kizashi GTS, CVT, iAWD (3/10 build date)
2011 SX4 Premium Hatch, CVT, iAWD (12/10 build date)
2018 Mazda CX-5 iAWD Touring
2014 Wrangler JKUW (GONE, traded :D :D )
1991 Samurai, 5-Speed, EFI, Soft-Top ( :| sold)
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KuroNekko
Posts: 5170
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2012 5:08 pm
Location: California, USA

Ronzuki wrote:
No doubt on the bottoming out issue, it would just be interesting to definitively confirm that the bump stop itself is the root cause of the failure by trapping the grime and moisture. I've extensively discussed the exposed rod issue in an earlier post somewhere...general consensus in the off-road world is exposed shafts allow the dirt and grime to be flushed away as opposed to trapping it where it can be forced in to the seal causing pressure failure.
I see the arguments for the exposed shafts, but it may be beneficial in limited scenarios. For a slow offroader (like a modded Wrangler for rock-crawling) then it makes sense. The wheel articulation will cause the shock shaft to get cleaned by movement in addition to open exposure to water for cleaning. Another factor is that debris isn't likely to hit the shaft directly during high speed driving for those kinds of vehicles as they aren't commonly running at very high speeds, let alone driven daily.

However, for vehicles that run regularly at higher speeds for long distances like a sedan, I can imagine that debris kicked up by the tires may damage the shaft over time if it's fully exposed. Dirt and road debris getting kicked up at freeway speeds may pit the shaft over time and cause sealing issues in the shock. Also consider that sedan shocks are much smaller and less robust than larger, beefier offroad truck shocks.

While Suzuki's revised bumper stopper design may not be a silver bullet fix for all Kizashis everywhere, it does seem to reduce premature shock failure for some. It certainly did for me. My rear shocks gave out about a year after I bought the car. If I recall correctly, it didn't even have 20,000 miles on it then. Since the replacement with new shocks and the revised bump stoppers, my Kizashi's rear shocks have held up just fine even to this day with 75,000 miles on the odometer. 70,000 of those miles were out in the East Coast too.
2011 Suzuki Kizashi Sport GTS 6MT (Black)
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