Chassis, Suspension Work Untapped Opportunities for Improved Profits

Chassis and suspension maintenance is often an undersold part of an independent service provider’s overall business.

For example, shocks and suspension systems should seem an easy sell for regular maintenance work at a service shop. Over time, the systems wear affecting both the comfort of the ride, and if the wear is severe, can affect the safe handling of the vehicle. However, what seems like an easy sale is often not the case.

According to William “Mac” McGovern, director of training and marketing for KYB America, a supplier of OE and aftermarket struts and shocks, in Addison, Ill, about 98 per cent of service shops across North America sell less than 10 suspension parts to drivers a month, regardless of the size of the service operation or the number of vehicles entering the bays.

“Most shops are selling about two per cent or less compared to their car count,” McGovern said. “Let’s say a shop is moving some 300 vehicles a month. That means at two per cent they are only selling six units or less.”

The problem with selling maintenance on chassis and suspension systems is many service technicians are not trained to recognize when parts have become worn; or how to use that knowledge to educate the car owner on getting onto a maintenance program for chassis components and suspension systems.

Learning to spot the first signs of trouble

Unlike the failure of a water pump or a muffler rusting to the point where it falls off or makes a lot of noise, most car owners have little knowledge or understanding that chassis and suspension parts wear over time. Because of this, technicians have an excellent opportunity to educate customers on how various parts can wear and what that wear means to the drivability and safety of the vehicle.

Take for example ball joints and tie rod ends, parts almost no automobile or light truck or SUV owner every thinks. But those parts do wear and that wear can impact how a vehicle operates over its life, especially with today’s crossover vehicles and SUVs. Combining the features of a truck with the handling of a commercial passenger automobile, ball joints and tie rod ends can take a rather sever beating in such vehicles.

John Thody, president of XRF Inc. in Kimball, Mich. said technicians need to pay careful attention to the ball joints crossover vehicles and SUVs will handle very often both light and heavy loads, that is someone using the vehicle to take the kids to school during the weekdays and then on the weekends hitching a boat to the back and heading up to the cottage. Over time that constant load change can cause the ball joints to end up 15-20 degrees away from vertical. This means the vehicle will sit differently when it is loaded or empty, and that difference will affect the vehicle’s wheel alignment and therefore the feeling of the vehicle while it is being driven.

Problems with worn chassis parts and systems can manifest themselves in the condition of the tires, often the first thing to signal a problem.

Steven Cartwright, systems curriculum manager for chassis and brake products with Federal-Mogul, which handles Moog Chassis Parts and the Moog suspension product line, in St. Louis, Missouri said a technician can point out to a car owner that different kinds of wear can indicate different kinds of chassis and suspension problems. For example, a diagonal wipe on a tire might indicate a worn bushing which needs to be looked at and replaced.

“What I have often seen is diagonal wear on rear tires of a front-wheel drive vehicle, and that indicates that you have an improperly set rear toe,” he added. “If you see a cupped edge, you could have a worn part that causes the tire to oscillate as the vehicle travels down the road.”

ACDelco, in its training for technicians, suggests one should be on the look out for and point out to car owners such things as excessive wear to one side of a tire which may indicate that the car has worn ball joints, wheel bearings or the springs have started to wear or there is an incorrect camber. A diagonal wipe to the tire could indicate worn bushings, grommets or ball joints. Other things to look out for are such problems are rough or stuttered steering, and inner and out tire-edge wear which might be a sign that the tire rod ends are wearing out.

Sherry Allen, product specialist for suspension products with ACDelco in Grand Blanc, Mich., said problems with shocks and struts are often not readily apparent to the naked eye.

“Shocks and struts are pretty much self-contained parts, but they do deteriorate over time,” Allen continued. “Physical signs of wear that can indicate that shocks or struts need to be replaced are leaking, worn bushings or broken brake line brackets. Worn struts and shocks can impact the tires with wear that is sometimes associated with over inflating or under inflating the tires.”

Allen points out that as shocks and struts wear there will be an impact not just on the comfort of the drive, but on safety as well, something that should be emphasized to a car owner when promoting maintenance of chassis and suspension systems.

“Worn struts and shocks can affect stopping distance. You many have a brand new set of brake pads, but if the shocks and struts are worn, the car may dip forward when you stop,” Allen said. “That will perpetuate forward movement which will increase stopping distance.”

Bringing back the road test

Glen Hannan, ride control specialist with KYB America in Guelph, Ont. said whenever a technician is speaking to a customer about chassis or suspension issues, it is always a good thing to remind them that the systems are not independent from each other. In fact, suspension, steering, brakes, tires and all the parts that make them up must work together properly.

“Ride control is only as good as the weakest component,” Hannan added. “If you do a great brake job and replace the tires, but your shocks and struts are worn, then your braking distance will increase and your handling and drivability will decrease.”

Because all the systems must work together smoothly for both the comfort and safety of the drive, Hannan and KYB recommend a road test of the vehicle, both to identify problem and to make sure everything is running smoothly after a repair or replacement of a part. In fact, KYB America launched in 2005 a Ride Control Solution program that gives technicians and service writers the tools and means needed to identify worn parts and to convey that information accurately to the customer.

Hannan believes it is important that service technicians communicate more effectively the need for regular maintenance of shocks and struts, and to ask the right questions of the customer to better pinpoint potential service trouble spots.

“That is where the road test can be very handy,” Hannan suggested. “you can help them notice things such as acceleration squat, noise drive or body roll and to even ask them simple questions like ‘Have you noticed that when you go around a corner, the car seems to roll a bit more than usual; or when you brake really hard the nose of the car dips down quite a bit?’”