i have tokico 5way adjustables with intrax springs on my S5 and they've been on for a while. a while ago, my drivers side rear one started squeaking whenever i went over a large bump. more recently, it still squeaks but now i notice the whole drivers side rear area of my car is much lower than the other side. do i have to replace my spring or my shock? how urgent is it that i replace it? also note both shocks for the back are set at 5 (the highest stiffness). thanks for your help ahead of time.

 

The springs are probably fine. Sounds like you have blown out one of your tokicos. If you pull it out, it should be easy enough to tell if it is bad.

 

how will i know once that it's out?

 

Ehh i think maybe your upper shock mount is wear out or broken. THe reason i think that is becaue of the squeaking sound and the fact that the squeaking side is lower now. A blown shock doesn't cause a lower ride height. Even if is blown it wont lower the car for more than half an inch. IT could also be that the spring has slip out of place on the shock mount. IF you have some tools and don't mind getting a little dirty, it would only take your maybe half an hour to take the rear shock out to inspect it.

 

That spring might also be sagging, although it's unrelated to the shock problem. If it has sagged and you can't afford new springs, just swap the springs side to side and wait for it to even out (don't laugh, people really do this!).