Bad shock?

hamburg

hi all, seeking some advice. i have a broken front spring on my 04 polo 9n. so i bought a new spring and top mount to change it over. everything went good until i compressed the old spring and took it off. then just out of curiousity i pushed the piston into the body of the shock and it just stayed there. it does not come back out under its own steam but can be pulled out manually, also it seems to have more resistance being pulled out but less being pushed back in. does this mean it is kaput? i would have thought the piston should rebound on its own if it was pushed in, if it was a good one. anyway i took the shock off the otherside to check that and it is exactly the same.car has 220,000 kms on it and i think these are on it since the factory. thank you for any advice.

porsche boy

Yep tour shocks are knackered. Get a new set and you'll know the difference when you drive it.

OldmanMondeo

Yeah as above. You are better in changing both as you will have an imbalance. Might seem cheaper to change only one, but the imbalance will cause extra tyre wear, decreased MPG and poor handling.

hamburg

many thanks for the advice! while the car is in pieces i will get 2 new shocks. one more thing though ,i was looking at the manual earlier and it says the car is fitted with sports suspension as standard so that makes me think they might be gas shocks. would i be ok just fitting normal shocks (oil) to it? cos it will be cheaper and i havent got the money this side of xmas. also the car is 10 years old at this stage. once again thanks!

visual

You'll be fine with normal shocks. If you want better get good quality shock. Don't worry if not sports shocks anyway most aftermarket sports shocks are just cheap gas shocks with marketing hype.

hamburg

thats grand, i will order some tomorrow! thank you.