Hello everyone, I'm looking at a 2002, 80,000 miles for my daughter and the rear end bounces at highway speeds. Got out and looked at the rear tires (Coopers) and the center treads of both tires are worn in sections, normal in others. Outside and inside treads look fine.

I've searched you're great forum and found that some of you had similar problems, but nothing definitive. I'd imagine new tires would solve the problem temporarily, but I'm guessing it'* more likely an alignment/suspension problem.

Anyone run into the same problem that came up with a solution? If it'* alignment, no big deal, but if it'* suspension, what do you think it might be/cost?

Thanks in advance,
Bill

bouncy....well sorta depends sounds like the struts might need to be replaced.....tires will probably need to be replaced when you buy a used car...sorta normal thing there...

i doubt the springs are bad but its possible. these cars use ELC so yes struts are expensive if you go OEM..but there are a lot of other options out there, at least for the earlier generations.

I would check for the other issues, such as the common steering problem, broken power windows, leaks in trunk, paint bubbling on hood, trans shifting nice at wot and slow..stuff like that.

All the other stuff was OK, though I didn't check the trunk for leaks.

I did the strut bounce test all the way around and it seemed OK too. Is this a valid way to check for bad struts?

Thx,
Bill

this is not exactly a great way to check, especially on an air-assist ststem. what you describe for tire wear sounds like what is referred to as "chiopping" and is usually caused by a bad suspension component, in this case it sounds like a rear SHOCK

is the tire pressure the same in the rears as in the front? Over inflation will cause that sort of wear...but the bouncing leads me to believe that the problem is more than just tire pressure

he said the center were worn in sections, but not in others, this doesnt sound like its tire pressure related

some good sites

http://www.procarcare.com/includes/c...dtirewear.html

http://www.justtires.com/services/commonWear.html

My car had a bouncing problem ONLY at speeds of 68-72 mph....the problem? Simple fix for me...a tire was out of balance. (Mechanic checked everything and decided to check the tires to make sure they were balanced and the right rear one was outta whack, so he balanced it and the bouncing stopped).....we both assumed it was shocks so it was great to have such a tiny issue that was easily and cheaply fixed.

I'd agree with Toasty'* assessment that it is likely the shock (2000+ have rear shocks, not struts). Also, check the shock mount, which you have to get to through the trunk, pull down the carpeting on the side, and remove the black cover over the mount.

I've never found the bounce method to be effective for me. I can tell by the ride and handling well before it shows up in the bounce test.

I've never run into anything like this before. I hope it'* an out of balance problem, but whoever owned this car would have had to run it for a long time to get the effect to bounce on one side to the extent that it would eventually cause the same wear pattern on the other side.

I just can't feature a rear shock problem causing this, though it could make it worse.

It doesn't seem to pull left or right. No grinding or bearing sound. It just seems like something must be pretty drastically out of whack in the rear, maybe a mount. It also seems like rear end bouncing and hopping is discussed a lot here, but no definite cause.

Anyone know how much the rear shocks cost?

Thanks for all the help and the links,
Bill