pstar

Thanks loweredd. I was aware of the washer doo higgy that holds the bolt in place but thought is was located under the sub frame. Someone said it looked like the bolt would be hard to put back in if it fell out. I guess it wouldn't as long it doesn't get wedged up somewhere in the cross member area. When you said the bolt popped down after prying it with a bar I envisioned it came out of the washer thing. I spent some time under the car looking at the bolts and loosened them up. I thought about taking a sledge with a punch bar and giving that "body flange" that is in the way of the nut a wack or two. I suspect it would easily bend but the brake lines run close to the area in question on the left side and I didn't want to screw them up. I like your way much better. Great tip. My end links come this Friday from Rock Auto and I'm on my way to the dealer to pick up the bar bushings. Hope to get everything swapped in the weekend and get rid of the thunk.

dirtydoug0070

Speaking of struts and shocks. Which brand is best for the 007 HHR(James Bond's favorite car and year.

whopper

There is no "best" brand as such. It all depends on how deep you want to dig into your pockets, and what you expect out of them. If you ask a question like that here, you will get a number of different answers, each saying a different brand is best. If I was you, I'd browse the various posts/threads here regarding the suspension, and make up your own mind.

Give the SEARCH function at the top of the page a try and maybe search for various strut/shock manufacturers to see what others have used, and any comments they may have posted. Lots of good info there.

texasmagpie

After joining this wonderful forum and reading all the posts about the same "clunk" that all of us have been experiencing, changed the sway bar links to no avail. I paid close attention while driving after the link r&r and noticed that the clunk mostly happens when one wheel hits a bump, or when the car is twisting; like when going over a speed bump diagonally. BING!! Sway bar bushings!! So this past Sunday I put in the Energy Suspension bushings. Wow, what difference! No clunk is gone! The car handles WAY better!

texasmagpie

Ok, now I have a similar problem associated with the sway bar bushings. The entire bar shifts left to right slapping against the stops on the bar. Did I do something wrong? Is ut possible to move the stops on the sway bar? Is there a spacer required?
HELP!!

Oldblue

I changed mine a few months ago, no spacer required, just check to ensure you put the bushing on correctly

texasmagpie

I fairly certain that I put them in correctly. I placed the seam of the bushing facing the same way the OEM bushings faced; towards the rear. Initially it was great; a nice quite ride. So the "clunk" was gone. It was pretty bad, and the roll was terrible previous to the new bushings. You could really hear the sway bar slam around. Now it rides much better, but there is this "tapping" going on over minor bumps and such directly under my left foot. I replaced the end links before the bushings with the same length that came off of the car. Were the originals replaced before I owned the car? I don't know. I bought it in 2010 and the noises were not there. Starting around 90k miles the noises started popping up. It makes sense to me that if the end links were to long I would have been hearing the tapping all along. There is a little marking on the control arm where the sway bar come REALLY close to it. And I noticed that the new Energy suspension bushings weren't quite as tall as the OEM bushings. Is it possible that I created this problem when I changed the bushings?
Would changing to 10" end links hurt anything? Would they alter the ride? Could it be something else?
I would really appreciate some help

Texasmagpie
2009 HHR "The Toon Army Mobile"

Oldblue

I swapped to the 10" greaseable Moog links, no change in handling and lined up the sway bar more to the LCA. factoring in I lowered my front end 2" so I installed the 2" shorter links

donbrew

12 inch links are the wrong ones. If you have a previously owned car, somebody put the parts on that the "book" said to. Most books are incorrect! The correct part number ends in a 12, which confuses the book writers, that does not mean 12 inches. The 12 inch links end in 252(I think) they will fit, however they will come into contact with the LCAs.

texasmagpie

Right now the ends of the sway bar are sitting pretty low, but paralell with the ground. The bar does come uncomfortably close to control arm. I'd say 1/4". I'll change them. I just hope this doesn't hurt performance.


Texasmagpie