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Re: Front Suspension refresh - pleas advise Posted by Bill B [Email] ![]() ![]() In Reply to: Front Suspension refresh - pleas advise, Dan ![]() |
Your ride is fine unless something is wrong. On the suspension wrong things either make noises or allow the car to bottom out when you go over a speed bump. To go in the order you gave:
Control arm problems occur in the bushings where the control arm attaches to the subframe. Bad ones click gently when you go over road irregularities. No clicks, don't worry. I replaced the clicking control arms at 140k and 150k on my '01. When the clicking does start, don't panic. You have many miles (thousands) before things go bad. After clicking started on mine, I drove 5k before doing the replacement.
Tie rods have to do with steering, not suspension. You can feel looseness in the steering wheel on bumpy roads. To verify, jack a wheel up off the ground, then with one hand at the front of the tire and one at the back, shake the wheel back and forth. If there is clicking and if the hub carrier moves relative to the end of the tie rod, you need a new tie rod end. Check both wheels. Tie rod ends last a very very long time if the boot holding the grease in is intact.
Struts are wear items and go bad after time. I bought my car with one bad front strut. It bottomed out going 15mph over a speed bump. If you replace them, buy good ones. Folks on Saabnet swear by Bilstein, Sachs, Koni FSB, and Koni Sport. I am happy with the four Koni Sports I installed. You should also install new bump stops and dust boots. I also installed upper bearing on my front struts. Now I can go 40 mph over the same speed bumps with no bottoming and no noise from the suspension, but plenty of noise from my wife.
You did not mention ball joints. They last a very long time with intact boots. They click when going bad. When the clicking starts, replace them. You can check them by jacking under the control arm with a floor jack or a bottle jack, or lowering a jacked car onto a pile of bricks or wood blocks under the control arm, such that the wheel is an inch or so off the ground. Then lift the wheel from the bottom with a long crowbar. if there is any play, the ball joint needs replacing.
The only item above that affects "ride" is the struts. The others, including the swaybar links, which you did, are items that click from free play when they are going bad and do not need replacing until they are going bad.
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