macwalker1

Hello all,

I am fairly new here. I have a 2007 HHR 2LT with the 2.4. I bought this car with 36,000 from the local Chevy dealership. It now has 105,000 miles.

During my time I have now put three sets of front pads, two calipers, two rotors, two end links and rear shoes on it. Now yesterday I take it to the dealership to have the oil changed. They noted to me that the front end felt considerably "loose." This is something I have noticed as well. When you go over imperfections in the road etc. it just feels "worn".

They come to me and say that it needs both control arms replaced at a cost of $600.00! Obviously I'm not paying for that.

My main issue is this: I'm not happy at all with the performance of the front end components I've had to replace. I've owned many Chevy's over the years and never had issues like this, on this level this early into the life of the car. In terms of mileage that is. In my eyes, this is early to have had to put three sets of pads, and now to think of it, two sets of rotors on a car.

This is not to mention it is due for struts as well. It is also due for the 100,000 trans service. I'm really disappointed in this car from this standpoint. I've owned enough cars and worked on enough to know that this is excessive.

It was actually suggested to me, by the service adviser, to trade the car if I could within the next 6 months. That was the "best" option in his opnion. What? I've been out of work for 6 months. Not to mention that in 6 months I'll only owe 18 months on the car!

I have fully intended to get 200k out of this car. Outside of these issues, I've been quite satisfied with the car. Gets great fuel mileage. (I've seen as much as 37 on the highway.) Really good power for the type of car, I think. You can carry a ton of stuff, it's versatile and that Pioneer stereo is great. The remote fobs are cheap and I've had to work on those several times. But overall the other things have been Ok.

Have any of you guys experienced this much work on the front end of these cars? I'm sorry, I think it is excessive and the suggestion to trade it is absurd in my opinion.

Really gives me pause about buying another Chevy. Had planned on getting an Equinox after this one is done. But I'm rethinking this now.

Any input is greatly appreciated.

Frustrated!
Thanks
-Mac

1970judge

These cars ARE made cheap. keep in mind these were pre-bail out cars. GM was trying to skirt by, and we end up with cheap crap. I love mine, but it isn't the most well put together car in the world, but I knew this going in as well. Things have changed 10-fold at General Motors since these cars, so I wouldn't hesitate for a second to buy a new GM product. Our newest addition to our family is a '11 Malibu LTZ, couldn't be happier. Our family has had the good ones and the bad ones. It's hard to pick 100 apples off the tree and not expect a dozen bad ones.

DreamHHR

This is on par with my experience. My '07 has 140K km; pads and rotors are almost a yearly replacement (I'm on my 4th set), but I don't mind that: I'm replacing them myself at a fairly low cost. Both front wheel hubs and front struts where replaced under warranty, as well as end links. I finally replaced the (yet again) failing links with the greasable Moog units. I also replaced the sway bar bushings early on. My wiper transmission assembly just failed (I performed a temporary repair to last until summer), as well as something in my automatic shifter mechanism.

I only have two payments left until it's fully paid off, and I was going to keep it for a couple more years, but I'm seriously considering selling it off and getting something else while it still drives well and has some value. I can do most maintenance and parts replacement myself, but I'm dreading the big ticket item that might hit me next.

Yves

wmsburghhr

usually it is the bushing that goes bad but with a lot of miles on it, new control arms (complete with ball joints) can be bought for around $100 ea believe someone on the site did it that way. This can be a diy project if you never worked on a car and have a buddy that has worked on cars, watch this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAtjwHYYwd8 which is close to what we have. Here is a thd on the bushings which can also be a diy project. You can find video on youtube on how to push or cut the old bushing out and press the new one in, or take the arm to a shop to have them pressed in and out.

firemangeorge

Ok. You have over 100K miles on this car. Things wear out. What do you want a lifetime warranty on the entire car?
Brakes and some front end parts on the HHR are known to wear out early. They just weren't designed "heavy duty" enough.It was an unfortunate design flaw. Yes it could have been better, but no car is the perfect design.
Let's get realistic here. 100K miles will wear out parts! Doesn't matter what you drive, thats a lot of miles.
Sorry but I have to speak my mind here. Can't get the logic of people buying a car and thinking it should last forever,much less buying a used car and thinking it should last forever.
OK. Ranting over.

db/sb

We bought our HHR new in 2006. It now has just a little over 63000 miles. We've done rotors, as, IMO, as well as others, the stock rotors are junk. Ever since I put the Raybestos rotors on it, no further warpage problem and we're only on our 2nd set of pads. It's had the somewhat standard 'can't get the key out because the release in the shifter is stuck', the cowl leak, and the crack in the catalytic converter pipe, all covered under warranty, as well as one set of factory rotors though they did warp again. Like they say, the HHR 'is what it is'. We won't likely have it for more than another year. Ours may not even get to 80K before we sell it/trade it; whatever. Had I been looking for a vehicle to go 200K, I wouldn't have looked for an HHR...

fastsuv

We bought our 2006 HHR 1LT new. It now has 107,000 miles.

I have gone through 2 sets of brakes and just recently replaced the factory rotors.

The car has had the "front end clunk" for the last 30K miles.

Last week I replaced the driver's side sway bar link, the control arm bushing, and the wheel hub (loud rumble noise from bearing). The clunk is less, but still there. I will replace the passenger side sway bar link and the sway bar bushings soon. The struts are also in need of replacement.

The key FOBs are junk. I have repeatedly repaired them.

There are previous posts on why the new wheel bearings don't last as long on ANY car (barfan, I think posted why). I have helped several friends replace their wheel hubs on different make vehicles at around the 100K mile mark.

The front suspension parts are definitely subpar and wear out sooner than they should. However, this is a low-cost vehicle and the car has been very reliable in terms of running properly.

The control arm replacement is ridiculously easy. After pulling the tire, you remove four bolts and take it off. No spring compressing, etc. If I had a lift I could replace a control arm in 10 minutes. Without a lift it took 30 minutes max.

On the other hand, our 2002 Suburban with 140K miles has been great. All suspension components are still solid, no clunks, no bearing whine, no loose feeling, shocks still going strong. All this on a vehicle that tows an 8000lb trailer during the summer. Oh yeah, the original brakes lasted 70K miles, the rotors never warped or pulsed. The only reason I replaced the rotors was they rusted out (thanks to the road salt here).

That's what you get on a $50K vehicle.


Steve

Snoopy

macwalker1.......

You are probably getting slightly less than average mileage from your repair needs from your HHR. But don't forget, you purchased your vehicle used and the previous owners "handling" is not known. AND, you mentioned "you put" on the car....referencing the repairs needed. If you did the repairs, you MAY have contributed to the continual replacement.....not slamming your ability, it's just my opinion based on numerous responses on this site. Replacing brake components on this vehicle is not like replacing them on a vehicle from 10 years back (MANY threads on this topic, as well as others that you have mentioned....if you do a search). Using RELIABLE repair services is a key to longevity (or knowing what is EXACTLY needed, to accomplish the repair), for some of the necessary repairs. However, problems have occurred even with GM dealers.

Now saying all that, I will acknowledge that SOME parts are inherently weak on the HHR's. You, as well as others, have mentioned them. But I don't believe this problem occurs "across the board", or EVERYONE would have had the problems......and that has not occurred. I have not experienced ANY brake problems, whatsoever. I have not witnessed any suspension problems....although I recently changed all my suspension to the OEM SS. However, this was elective. I did have 2-3 items "fixed" when the car was under warranty....which almost everyone had experienced. But frankly, for the past 3-4 years, I have NOT had any repairs. And the car CONTINUES to be great economical, trustworthy transportation and serves the utility for which it was purchased.

Laco

Its really all relative. I bought my 2007 new, paid only a little over 13K for it, out the door for under 14K, and have spent zero on repairs so far. It has 33,000 miles on it, but is set up to tow behind our motor home, so in reality has far more miles on it than the odometer reads. So far, I've put tires on it, and a battery, but still on original brakes. The rotors seem ok so far, though they will need to be inspected when I do replace the pads. For a low cost vehicle, its held up pretty much as expected, its not perfect, has some front end noise, which eventually will have to be addressed, but then since I paid so little for it originally, I can't really complain. All in all, we are satisfied with the HHR, it has performed well for us, and though I do expect some expenses for repairs in the future, I consider it a reliable and comfortable car, for what it is, which is not a luxury car.

hhrfreek

Why would the control arms need to be replaced? Are the bushings bad? If that is the issue you can replace them for under $50 and a few hours of work.