Chevy Cobalt, lower control arm bushings..

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Originally Posted By: labman
One minor problem the company took care of. I had 6 years and 140K on my Cavalier before I replaced anything but wear items. And its wear items don't include a timing belt. I am talking tire, brakes, wipers, etc.



Besides the fuel pump on our Cav, nothing but wear items also. I'm getting ready to change up the fluids (trans,coolant), and she should be good to go.


Now the dash rattle and the broken visor, that is a different story....
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Originally Posted By: tripleM
..The question is - will it happen again in 31k miles which will cause u to dump the car because it will cost u on your own dime.

I think we all know the answer to this....


You do? Funny 'cause I don't!
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Anyway, in another ~31Kmi, that will put the car at 4yrs old and paid off. The only money put into it thus far is a new set of Kumho tires and DIY oil changes. It wouldn't be a disaster to have to throw a few hundred into it at that point, but I'm not clear if the 5yr/100K warranty wouldn't cover the replacement anyway. Per my manual, the "Front Wheel Drive" 5/100 coverage is; "The axle shafts and axle shaft bearings, constant velocity joints, wheel bearings, supports, front hub bearings and rear axle hub bearings, seals and gaskets are within the 5 years or 100,000 mile powertrain coverage period."

Joel
 
Nothing as awful as spending a couple hundred bucks on a car with only 62K on it. At that point you might as well trade it in on something newer. Debt is good, people.
 
Originally Posted By: tripleM
Originally Posted By: JTK
It is a shame to have suspension issues being so new, but it didn't cost me anything and was fixed in a day completely hassle free for me. I'm still very pleased with my little econo car that cost me ~$12100 plus tax brand-new. Had I gotten a run-around, had to pay for the repairs or paid double for the car, yeah, I'd be a little more critical.

Joel


The question is - will it happen again in 31k miles which will cause u to dump the car because it will cost u on your own dime.

I think we all know the answer to this....

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My wife had a similar attitude, but we bought the "inferior" Chevy Tracker vs a CRV or RAV4 and we've had about $400 in repairs so far in 6 years... Would the $10k more competition needed this much maintenance? Maybe not but I'm still $9600 ahead in any case...
 
GM's bushings aren't known for lasting. My brother had to do the LCA bushings on his 2000 Olds Silhouette recently. The strut bearings on my 99 LeSabre have been going, along with the swaybar endlinks that were bagged out and replaced with Energy Suspension parts. The front swaybar bushings are also shot to heck, but dropping the front subframe to do those is not on my "to-do" list.
 
Quality control on these bushings have actually gotten worse over the past 3 years. We failed 7 Ion/Pursuit/G5/Cobalts in one day for MVI for these bushings, all under 40K kms, all 2007 or 2008 model year. My 2003 ION has 97K kms on it, I replaced one sway bar link, and 4 sets of sway bar bushings, the rest of it came from Saturn when they built the car. Coincidentally though, one of our tech figured out that the control bushings from a Cavalier fit these cars, so expect a listing for it shortly.
 
Originally Posted By: labman
You would trade something due a timing belt?


The type of person I'm speaking of probably neglects the timing belt till it snaps. Then trades the car when they find out it's an interference engine and not cheap to fix..and rolls whatever they owed on the car they traded in on the financing for the new one.
 
Originally Posted By: labman
One minor problem the company took care of. I had 6 years and 140K on my Cavalier before I replaced anything but wear items. And its wear items don't include a timing belt. I am talking tire, brakes, wipers, etc.


Hate to get super nit-picky, but what Cavalier ever had a timing belt?
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Joel
 
Originally Posted By: artificialist
Originally Posted By: Finklejag
The Saturn Ion is known to have bad front sway bar bushings. The kicker is, only GM makes the part. The Cobalt probably uses the same front suspension parts.

Not true.

I replaced the end links in my 2003 Saturn ION 6 months ago.

The factory ones were made by "Central CTR" and my replacement ones were the premium Moog pieces. Just like most other Moog parts, the ball ends were larger, and the bar between the 2 ball ends was thicker. However, there were no Zerk fittings.

But maybe years later, GM gave up using "Central CTR" end links... Their ball joints and tie rod ends are still Central CTR, because I have worked under several new Cobalts.

There is a difference between the ION suspension and Cobalt suspension. It is the way the strut is attached to the body. I know of no other difference.


I was talking about the front sway bar bushings. You can only buy them from the dealer.
 
Front suspension is horrible on the Cobalt/G5!!
On my 06 Cobalt I have had the rt side lower control arm and sway bushings changed around 35k. The 2nd time was the left side control arm bushings at 56k. My brother had his rt side control arm bushings changed at 20k on his 07 G5. My friend had his bushings on his 07 cobalt changed at 18k.
BTW...the right side is clunking again at 68k. May be control arm bushings,may be sway bar...it's out of warranty so I'll tear into it soon.
 
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Kudos to the dealer for fixing the problem, getting him a shuttle and not trying to [censored] him on the work.
Just cause something goes wrong on his car doesnt mean we have to start with the negative GM comments. Thats just my 2cents thou. The dealer did the right thing and thats whats important no matter what brand car he had
 
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Originally Posted By: Yeti_as3
... On my 06 Cobalt I have had the rt side lower control arm and sway bushings changed around 35k. The 2nd time was the left side control arm bushings at 56k. My brother had his rt side control arm bushings changed at 20k on his 07 G5. My friend had his bushings on his 07 cobalt changed at 18k.
BTW...the right side is clunking again at 68k. May be control arm bushings,may be sway bar...it's out of warranty so I'll tear into it soon.


This post was dragged out of the archives! I thought these were typically replaced in pairs regardless? I know my dealer replaced both rt and lft side lower control arm bushings at the same time. IIRC, only the left side was making noise when I brought it in. The metal bushings basically squirted out of the rubber grommet on mine. I guess that's the typical failure pattern on these.

Joel
 
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