Speebumps vs. Shocks

[QRK]

I live in an apartment complex with way too many speedbumps. Living all the way in the back, I have to drive over at least 6 of them every time I leave or come home. I am starting to wonder if this will prematurely wear out my shocks.

Some details:

I've found that driving over them at around 15-20mph and feeling a "bump bump" results in the least amount of shuttering/annoyance rather than going over them slower and feeling more of a "bump....bump."

Also each speedbump has a gap in the middle so I always place my driver-side tires to hit the gap (unless there is a car coming the other way), leaving only my passenger-side tires actually going over the bump.

Here are my questions:

Will these speedbumps wear out my shocks or cause any related issues over time?

If so, will driving over the speedbumps faster wear out my shocks any quicker than if I just deal with the annoyance and really slow down almost to a stop for them?

Will my passenger-side shocks wear out quicker if I continue placing my driver-side tires in the gap?

Thanks in advance.

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[El_Centenario]

I know what you're going thru, I also used to live at the back of an apartment complex and had to drive over 10 speed bumps on my way out. To your questions, I believe driving over the speed bums at slow speeds would cause less wear than if you drove over them at a higher speed. At slow speeds, you compress your shocks / suspension less as you drive over the bump thus feeling more of the bump. If you hit it at 15-20 mph, your shocks take a greater hit and travel more in the suspension causing more wear but feeling less of the bump. Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it too much. You get far greater wear from driving on the highway than speed bumps. I personally go over them slow, but then again I'm on lowering springs.

 

[cbrookre]

I would expect that the wearout difference would be difficult to detect unless you were taking them at 50MPH+ where you would probably see many other issues. Driver comfort is probably more your concern than the durability of the shocks, which all seem to be quite good these days. Cannot remember the last time that I had to replace shocks and we keep all of our cars at least 5 and at the most more than 15 years in my family.

 

[Old 5 Oh]

Drive over them like you are paying for your own car, not like you stole it, and you will be fine.

 

[NightmareMoon]

Shocks are just doing the job they were built and designed to do, so don't sweat it.

Shocks don't last forever and usually need to be replaced every 60-80k miles if you care much about ride quality. Until then the car can take it, so try to put it out of your mind. If speed bumps were all that bad for shocks, your entire appt complex would be full of cars with ruined shocks, so at least you'd be in good company.

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