Are my springs toast?

[WrongWay]

I just picked up a '95, 1.6L a couple weeks ago and have been in the process of bringing it up to snuff (ball joints, tie rod ends, fluids, belts, etc). All going easy enough so far. This is my first MX-3, so I'm pretty green on some of the particulars. Is it normal to be able to compress the rear suspension when it's jacked up? I mean, when I have the wheel jacked off the ground, I can grab it and push it upward a good 6 inches or so. It's the same on both side. The ride seems fine and isn't bouncy at all. On my RX, I can't budge the wheels at all by hand. But maybe the MX has very low spring rates?

[Polonius]

What are you jacking it up by? The frame, or the suspension?

[WrongWay]

The frame. So while the wheel it hanging there, I can grab it and compress the springs upward by hand.

[Trevor]

Unless the springs are broken or your going to lower the car I would just throw a good set of struts and sturt mounts at it and send it for an alignment

[Demonic1]

I say the suspension is in need of repair. You should not be able to pick up the rear tires easily. Err... You know what I mean. :/

I would say to go for a full suspension. K-sports are looking to be my next upgrade. But I want to lower it a bit, you might just want to talk to a suspensions shop and see.

Better yet, a lot of suspension places will do a free check for you. Take it in and have someone who does it for a living tell you what's up.

[Nd4SpdSe]

Remember, you've got a 1.6, suspension isn't set to be as sporty as the 1.8. an RS WILL be softer, and typically sits higher than the stance of a GS.

Springs are springs, they don't really weaken (unless you've heated them up), they just break, as Trevor said, unless they're broken, they're ok. Do a double check, it's usually the top coil that's broken and it's not always obvious.

Shocks are a different story. Shocks absorb, well, shocks. They act totally different if it's a sudden shock from the road (bump, hole, etc), or a slow push from a human. Being able to compress it by hand is no indication if it's bad or not.