Howdy Everyone,

'99 LS ~218,000 (Almost all freeway miles) 85-90% freeway

Freshly replaced items -

LBJ - 210k
Strut Rod/Bar/ Tension Rod - 217K

The LBJ fixed the clunk over harsher speed bumps and the strut rods got rid of almost all of the clunk entering and leaving the driveway. After looking at all of the struts, none of them are leaking, although they are old and have over 200k on them. To me, it seems like it still rides just fine. going over wider smoother speed bumps the car returns to normal height almost instantly (hopefully that makes sense). In other words you it doesn't feel like the Cadillac boaty type suspension.

Everything else in the suspension is Factory OE. The Outer Tie Rod End boots are ripped on both sides. There is also a slight tear in the accordion looking things closer to the crossmember.

The UCA ball joint is basically shot with far too much play. I think this is why is clanks and clunks over imperfections and lane reflectors on the road. I have priced the OEM UCA's at $470 total. If anyone has a better option I am open to all suggestions.

Here's my question. Which parts do you suspension gurus think I should start replacing first(Bushings, Ball-joints, etc.)? The UCA clank and clunk is pretty harsh and would improve the ride experience exponentially if I could get rid of that.

Thank you for your input and help,

Matt

 

Nothing? Darn.

 

If the car rides fine I would say just replace parts as needed. With that many miles you may not notice since you don't know what the NEW car ride was like but I'm sure things like motor mounts, shocks,rear carrier bushings, ect.... are not optimized. Since you know the upper control arms are shot I would start with those if it really bothers you. My drivers side is leaking a lil grease but not enough of a problem right now for me to be bothered. There was a thread recently about some place to get OEM UCA for cheaper.

 

Definitely, that's sounds reasonable enough. Appreciate it.

 

i too would also do the UCA. if they ever separate, though i haven't heard of it happening, you are in deep doo-doo!

 

if you have all these problems i would replace everything at once and get it aligned once.
no sense in paying to realign your car 2-3-4 times because you wanted to save a few bucks when you could be paying $100/alignment onto of the work.


the "PROPPER" way to do it is replace everything. that might seem cost prohibitive but it will make a world of difference.
also, do not neglect the sway bar links front and rear... they can be the source of a lot of clunks that a lot of people miss.

 

Not to mention if you change the UCA and the later want to change shocks you will be unbolting the same parts repeatedly.

 

I would love to redo the entire suspension as well as tons of other things. I'm only working with so much cash and the smartest thing I can do at this point in my life with min. Wage job and firsr year in college is save as much as I can and keep this thing going. Realistically I could just start ordering the parts one by one until I get all the ones I want to replace then just do it all at once. I just did the strut bars and would be doing all the work myself.

It doesn't look like it would be too difficult to do any one replacement on the suspension, it seems pretty straight forward.

Anyway thanks again guys. I'm at 218 K right now and would love to get another 150k out of it.

 

Well if you are on that limited of a budget, the price for the UCA's you are getting is $200 more than you need to spend. Price stuff out on Rockauto and you'll probably be able to do a lot more stuff on your limited budget.

 

I like rockauto so far, pretty sweet. I'll end up going with the moog UCA instead of oem. Those got the best reviews in the mother thread.

Trust me, I wish I could get all the little dents out of the body, touchup the paint, fix the moonroof, fix the trunk seal, get rid of the slightly spongy brakes, motor mounts, and the list goes on. One thing at a time though. That's the best I can do

Thanks again

 

Well at least you have a plan. I tend to stock pile parts unless something needs immediate attention. This usually means I would be waiting months before doing actual repairs.