Suspension Woes, looking for suggestions

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bschooled

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There has been several hundred threads pertaining to this, and I promise I have read about 80% of them but I have a couple questions.

Super Over Complicated suspension got destroyed in its first winter in the U.P. of michigan and now sounds like an 80 year old truck driving down the road with all the creaking. I have replaced (deep breath) all tie rod ends, front lower ball joints with moogs, new rear sport shocks, toe link bars, all new sway bar links, new energy sway bar bushings.

I took it into the shop today that has done most of the work that I don't do myself (I supply parts) and they are saying rear bushings which are making most of the noise and very loose, and front uppers are pretty bad most likely the drivers side is going to let loose pretty soon. Now at between $100 to $300 for control arms and considering I am increasingly poor (mostly due to this car) I am wondering if anyone has any control arms (doubtful) or if anyone has had any success with used ones?

I have looked and I am assuming no one has gotten universal bushings to work in this car yet?
 
Oh btw its a 2000 with about 135k on it. Also there was some post on the same page with similar issues, so sorry to kind of double post here, but I feel my question is a little more specific as I know whats wrong and am just looking for replacement suggestions instead of eating $1000 in suspension costs (money I don't even have anyway).
 
I just bought used rear lowers (your bushings) from a yard in Michigan from an 05 with 54k miles for 150 for the pair. Should be going on this weekend :)

From when I looked though, most shops want between 75-120/side.
 
Salvage yard would be your most cost effective way to go. However, for the long haul you should go with new parts.
 
I think I am going to go for a used pair, I really only need it to last for 10,000 miles or so as I am contracted for a 60k job starting in mid-august and I WILL be buying a newer car. This car will actually probably go to my mom as her car is a piece and she barely drives anyways and I have put so many blood, sweat, and occasionally tears into this car (plus a couple thousand dollars) for it to be even worth trying to sell.
 
Then you should open a credit card with zero percent interest for six months and buy new lower control arms. Pay it off when you get your high paying contracting job. Also this would prevent the used arms from failing on your mom. Or just have your mom pay for them, if she is getting the car.
 
hite337 said:
Salvage yard would be your most cost effective way to go. However, for the long haul you should go with new parts.
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Pretty much that. My rear lowers are starting to tear but since I live in Florida (away from winter) they will last me a little while longer still. Just more parts to collect and throw in the corner of the garage. :)
 
Kumba said:
Pretty much that. My rear lowers are starting to tear but since I live in Florida (away from winter) they will last me a little while longer still. Just more parts to collect and throw in the corner of the garage. :)
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Did you hear mine last weekend? I think the people were wondering what was making that awful sound as we drove by since mine squeak so bad. I should have shown you what mine looked like. Its embarrassing.
 
Hawk03 said:
Did you hear mine last weekend? I think the people were wondering what was making that awful sound as we drove by since mine squeak so bad. I should have shown you what mine looked like. Its embarrassing.
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I did hear some noticable squeaking when we were in convoy but I figured it was someone's brakes.
 
There are 3 other LS'es in the area I know of and every single one of them makes the same sound from the rear suspension. I just don't think they built these cars to handle any environment other than summer.

As for the credit card comment, hahahaha, I have too many credit cards with balances that are high already because this car, my credit doesn't have any more room for debt :p.
 
Ended up getting 2 rear lower control arms, $40 each, 76K on them, had them inspected before sent to me and they ensured the bushings were good. $109 shipped for both, got them yesterday, they were in excellent condition, I did end up using a needle grease injector and filled both of the greased bushings up just for good measure while they were off the car. Put them on, took me about 3 hours to do both. No more squeaking! The old ones were in really terrible condition, they were so worn and had tons of play. Now I need to do front uppers ... might have to just buy new for those.
 
bschooled said:
Ended up getting 2 rear lower control arms, $40 each, 76K on them, had them inspected before sent to me and they ensured the bushings were good. $109 shipped for both, got them yesterday, they were in excellent condition, I did end up using a needle grease injector and filled both of the greased bushings up just for good measure while they were off the car. Put them on, took me about 3 hours to do both. No more squeaking! The old ones were in really terrible condition, they were so worn and had tons of play. Now I need to do front uppers ... might have to just buy new for those.
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No good, you might have just shortened their life span.
 
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