The front suspension has very little travel or bounce (next to none)resulting in a very harsh ride.

Can this be anything besides struts and springs? The car is new to me and reported to have had new struts installed approx. 3000 miles ago.

Any feed back on this issue would be appreciated.

 

Is the car lowered at all?

Take off the wheels and snap some pictures.

 

No,it hasn't been lowered. It's been senior owned since new.

 

One must ask, what brand are the new struts?

 

Bill, I just found that I miss read some of the service records that came with this car.

The record shows that the replacement struts were declined by owner, so I guess what's on the car are the originals at 121,000 miles.

Is it likely they are bad and causeing this problem?

Thanks, Ron

 

It could. Normally it's the other way (bouncy), but cars don't always know how they are supposed to break.

Look for signs of rust or leaks.

 

Check the body height to determine if the springs are not giving your Accord the correct ground clearance. With you knee push down on the bumper and release. It should come right back without any bounce. That is for the struts. If you need struts and Springs check Majestic Honda. I have found the factory Honda strut assembles are less expensive than buying them part by part aftermarket and they come assembled and ready to install.

 

I have a '92 LE w/220,000 and original struts. Feels like bushings somewhere are used up when on washboard gravel road, but pavement OK.
I've been recommended to have them replaced at an oil change place, but just based on age.

Since you're new to car is there chance it's just different to you?

 

OK I wanted to suggest this stuff but I didn't because the shocks were pretty new. (so you thought...)

It's unusual, but happened to my dad a long time ago. Leaky struts allowed water to enter the strut. When that froze, the suspension was hard as a rock. Thaw it out in the garage overnight, it was OK.

Or... it's a lot more common for shocks to fail by getting soft. But not always; sometimes they go bad by getting very hard.

 

Thank you Jim, that is very helpful.