And the mystery is solved, glad you got to the root cause. Sometimes "performance parts" are well engineered and designed, and other times they're something cobbled together in a guy's garage...sounds like you go the latter.

 

How true. Problem is I still am living in the past. Back in the 70's and 80's, I lived in junk yards. I would get parts and adapt them with no problems. Cars were less technical then. I remember getting station wagon springs from an Opel, cutting them down a little and putting them in my Opel GT to make it stiffer and a little lower. These days, cars are made with much stricter tolerances, with no margin for error. Even adding a low amperage accessory to the fuse box in the HHR caused problems-the computer senses the excess current draw. Things are tougher for shade tree mechanics now

But on the positive side the car is running great. I can drive it now without worrying about the missing shock or that the spring could fall out. And it is SOOOOOO much quieter over bumps, I just can't believe the difference!

 

Lee- Knew this had to be something with the shocks (as I posted)..

Anyhow, good your friend fixed you up..

I remember 2 years ago, you first posting problems.. Long road.. Glad it has smoothed out for ya finally..

 

Not uncommon to use another vehicles shock to replace one that doesnt fit anymore..though...when going thru the books, one should compare all dimensions before using...My Truck has 2 different shocks on rear because of the way the shock mounts were installed...and everything works fine..I needed 3/4" more compression and got 1 1/2...

 

In the future, I will have Bobby measure and order the correct shock. Anytime I need to buy things for my HHR or my racecar, I always check with him first to see if it is a good product. And many times, he has told me that while something sounds great, from his experience it does not work as advertised. And a few times when I did not heed his advice, I wound up wishing I had listened to him.