DreamHHR

Not absolutely, but my first attempt with a normal socket wrench on one side ended up rounding the bolt and I had to drill the bolt out. With an air gun and enough pressure applied to the bolt initially, I'm sure I could've avoided that.

Yves

dbfruth

I discovered the easiest way to replace the bushing is to jack the car up and take the front wheels off. While cramped it provides decent access. An impact wrench is not necessary and in fact I did not use one at all even though I had it available. A good tight 6 point socket and a breaker bar do just fine. You will need a wrench to hold the bolt on top thought since it is not a captured or welded nut. The front bolt can be removed with a socket wrench and varying length (short) extensions.

Black Rose

OK, now for some more internet diagnosis :)

I got under the HHR this afternoon and I was not able to really tell much doing it by myself.

I did make some discoveries though. When I held onto the strut springs or sway bar end link rod, I could feel the clunk when gently rocking the car. When I held onto the sway bar while gently rocking the car, the clunk felt stronger.

Now the odd part. If the car is sitting with the wheels straight, I can rock the car gently and it clunks easily. However If I turn the wheels, it takes a lot more effort in rocking the car to get the clunk to occur

Fuel HHR

I did the same thing to my 06 2LT.I also grab the endlink and try to twist them and they did so I replaced both end links and clunks are gone. Hope this helps you good luck.

DreamHHR

Just an update on this topic:

If you need to replace the bracket bolt, like I did, don't count on GM for a replacement: they sold me an M8 bolt to replace an M10 bolt. There appears to be a mistake in the parts database and they could not find the M10 part. You can't really use a regular M10 bolt because the needed socket size won't fit through the access hole, so I ended up getting a M10 with a recessed Allen key head.

Also, after my install, the whole front suspension felt tighter but there was still something noisy, and one of my struts was leaking, so I got it to the dealership because I'm only 5000 km from the end of my basic 3y/60K warranty. Well, it looks like I'm getting an almost complete new front suspension:

2 sway bar end links
2 new struts
1 new wheel hub (the same one that was replaced last October )

Is the front suspension made out of glued popsicle sticks or what?

At least the bar bushings are fine .

Yves

DreamHHR

Well, another update:

The poly bushings are off my ride.

After chasing down another suspension noise for a couple of months, I took it to the dealer who replaced another loose bushing (holding the wheel hub) and suggested that the remaining noise might be due to the aftermarket sway bar bushings. I was skeptical, so I crawled underneath to check and although I couldn't yank it to make it knock, I was able to move the bar sideway about 1/4 of an inch (it was sliding in the bushings).
I then bought new OEM bushings and re-installed them with the original brackets: the noise is gone, suspension is once again quiet !

I don't know exactly why it was knocking like it was: the only 2 differences from stock are that the sway bar sits a bit lower (bottom of poly bushing is thinner), and this sideways motion (because of narrower bushing, the stops on the bar are not tight against the bushing). I guess that any of these 2 could explain it, but I'm still puzzled as to why it took two months to occur; maybe they started wearing, maybe everything settled, who knows?

I'm just so glad that my suspension is quiet and feels solid again!!!!

Anyway, poly bushings: I tried, they didn't work; be warned.

Yves

Stryker

Not to revive and old thread but I was curious if you ever tried re-greasing the bushings during the time period you said they became loud.

DreamHHR

No. Greasing was not the issue, there was still plenty of it left when I took them off. With the narrower bushings, the bar was able to move a bit side-to-side and that made a clunking noise. That being said, when I went back to a new set of GM bushings, I left a lot of grease on the bar and that got rid of most of the cold weather suspension groaning.

Yves

Stryker

So was maybe 25mm too big? Would a 24mm be better then?

DreamHHR

25 mm was tight enough; actually 24 wouldn't fit. Issue was not the hole diameter, but the actual bushing width. There are "stops" on the bar preventing side-to-side movements and the narrower bushings allowed the bar to move sideways.

To fix that, someone would have to find a way to move the "stops" on the sway bar slightly, or to add some material to the side of the poly bushings to make it thicker. I wasn't willing to spend the rest of my summer tweaking things under there. Removing and replacing these bushings is not an enjoyeable task, given the tight and hard to reach space, especially on the driver side.

Yves