[Beckyrose]

Hi! First post! I have a 2008 fortwo with over 100k miles, she has always been a bit jarring to go over potholes and road bumps in and I try my best to avoid them but yesterday I started noticing an extra shake, maybe lower pitched than usual, when I hit a bump, it was noticable even when going over a smaller thing like a crack in the road (I'm in New England and it's the end of winter, the roads are a mess!) Does this mean my shocks are going or maybe something else? I think it's coming from the right front area.

Also, it's always had a little trouble switching between first and second gear but this week it started really struggling, could these be related? If not, any ideas on that as well?

It's an old car at this point so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised if a bunch of systems decide to get weird at the same time, but I love it and would love to keep her on the road.

Thanks for your help, I know pretty much nothing about cars!

 

[jimvw57]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

Sadly these cars do not have much in the way of suspension so potholes and imperfections in the road are always going to be a problem. it is possible to damage a tire or suspension components when hitting a bad pothole. If it is possible you may have bent a rim or damaged the internals of the tire. On my car, I hit a speed bump at work and over the years it has weakened the spring, and it broke. so stuff does happen just like any car.

Take a good look at the tire and rim, check air pressure for problems.

 

[Jeb Baker]

I got very good results simply by lubricating the suspension points under my 2008 (120k miles) pure. Before I applied silicone spray, I was getting awful jolts on the potholes, afterward, it was noticeably much better. You may have to do this more than once, to free up the suspension. Search the forum for advice on lubricants and how-tos.

 

[smark]

Short wheel base, no rebound time, between bumps.