gio89kid

Well I had the car aligned and they didn't mention anything having any play in it, so I'm hoping it's not those things but, this car is new to me about a year, and the tires are the same ones I bought with it, so I'll try getting them balanced and see where it goes from there. :)

donbrew

I have run into a few mechanics that refuse to believe LCAs go bad on these cars, so they will not even look at them.
It is very difficult to see the bushing. It is my personal experience that "brake judder" virtually goes away with new ones. Some other things make it go away too, but I think LCAs are the prime suspect.

The one on the left is really broken, It caused severe outside tire wear. The one on the right is just normal wear and tear(ha), just clunks.

gio89kid

Hmm well the car does squeak at every bump, and when jacking the car up, and when braking and turning.

But tire wear is great, it only shakes when I put on the brakes going down hill and on one on-ramp on the freeway during acceleration which happens to be a downhill on-ramp with no brakes.

Oldblue

LCA bushings are most likely the issue

gio89kid

So today I took the car to a special alignment place that specializes in alignment, and they said it has to be the rotors and the right lower control arm ball joint has an 1/8 inch of play in it.

So what I want to do is resurface the rotors even though I think they are fine, but I might be wrong, and get new lower control arms because I can get two front complete ones with new bushings and ball joints for a good deal, but what do I look for when buying them?, I don't want to buy cheap junk.

gio89kid

I have read somewhere else on here that the lower control arm can be fe1, fe3, or fe5.
My car has the fe3 package, but if the fe5 control arm doesn't do anything to the ride or feel I rather have that one, do to it being lighter aluminum I believe??? What do you think?

gio89kid

Ok, I'm thinking about these, they are fe3 and seem to have premium bushings.

http://m.ebay.com/itm/351180512090?nav=SEARCH
Let me know please????????

firemangeorge

Fwiw. You can not use FE5(SS) lower control arms in a regular HHR w/FE1,FE3 arms.

The ball joints are a different size in the FE5.

Also. The link you gave, the chart shows a 2010 HHR SS w/FE3. WRONG.

Oldblue

Same Prime Choice but you need for the FE 1 HHR, light aluminium LCA's

gio89kid

No it says 2006-2011 chevy hhr and mine is not fe1 it's an fe3.
So double check please, because mine look like the ones pictured, I just want to make sure those are good ones to order. Thank you :)