Gimpster
New member
Hey everyone,
***
Italianjoe1 is estimating ~$300 per set, would need a minmum of five people to be viable.
Confirmed / Committed Buyers List:
1.) Gimpster
2.) Blue Moon Sonic
3.) ScarabEpic22*
4.) NDarkling
5.)
***
Front Lower Control Arm Mounting Bolts/Nuts:
FCAB Bolt: 11611833 x 2
TCAB Bolt: 92139090 x 2
TCAB Nut: 11516382 x 2
Full disclosure - I am not a business, nor am I trying to shill for Italianjoe1. As usual, long thread
Long story short- I owned an early Sonic, and I've just bought (used) one again as my new winter beater/DD. I have also owned a few Cobalt SS/Turbos, and they are quite similar in design (shocker).
Most of you already know of the front control arm trailing bushings (TCAB) being a weak spot on these cars. It is a voided bushing, and next time you have the car jacked up for work... yank front/back on the wheel and you might be shocked at the amount of deflection. Mine are actually getting pretty bad @60k miles, and I see visible cracks in the rubber.... so I need to do something soon.
This is not unique to the Delta/Gamma chassis. My wife loves VW products, and I've had to replace the TCAB's on her GTI a few times. Last time I did with a solid rubber piece off an Audi TT/R32.
As I type this, you currently have three choices:
1.) Replace the TCAB with a replacement, it will eventually fail again.
2.) Replace/fill the TCAB with urethane. I can tell you from direct experience, this will not last. Urethane is not really the material for the types of load this component sees.
3.) Replace the entire LCA if you can't afford downtime.
None of these options give me the warm and fuzzies. Your car will also do this, end of story... if it hasn't already. You can fix it for the life of the car, or keep throwing junk at it.
A user on here name Italianjoe1 has actually done the hard work for us, and at least prototyped this. He used an off-the-shelf Moog spherical bushing intended for the Cobalt, and made a bushing to fit our LCA. He didn't really get a lot of response with his prototype unfortunately, and so it seems hes kinda dropped it. I feel pretty strongly about having this on the market for the Sonic though and thought I'd float it to you. In general, would be nice to see someone step to the plate on this. I am pretty sure I can make this for myself if I have to, but would prefer to save time and have it done for me I have more money than time these days it seems.
I had Powell Racing branded sphericals on all of my Cobalt SS's, and I can assure you its nothing but upside. It did not introduce any harshness into the driving experience.
So, in closing, would anyone else commit to going in on a set of LCA's switched to spherical TCAB's with me?
If you are confused as to what I mean here, this is a picture of Cobalt front LCA's with spherical bushings installed:
Here is a picture of the Sonic LCA and stock voided rubber TCAB:
Also for reference, here is his thread:
http://www.sonicownersforum.com/for...wer-control-arm-spherical-joint-bushings.html
***
Italianjoe1 is estimating ~$300 per set, would need a minmum of five people to be viable.
Confirmed / Committed Buyers List:
1.) Gimpster
2.) Blue Moon Sonic
3.) ScarabEpic22*
4.) NDarkling
5.)
***
Front Lower Control Arm Mounting Bolts/Nuts:
FCAB Bolt: 11611833 x 2
TCAB Bolt: 92139090 x 2
TCAB Nut: 11516382 x 2
Full disclosure - I am not a business, nor am I trying to shill for Italianjoe1. As usual, long thread
Long story short- I owned an early Sonic, and I've just bought (used) one again as my new winter beater/DD. I have also owned a few Cobalt SS/Turbos, and they are quite similar in design (shocker).
Most of you already know of the front control arm trailing bushings (TCAB) being a weak spot on these cars. It is a voided bushing, and next time you have the car jacked up for work... yank front/back on the wheel and you might be shocked at the amount of deflection. Mine are actually getting pretty bad @60k miles, and I see visible cracks in the rubber.... so I need to do something soon.
This is not unique to the Delta/Gamma chassis. My wife loves VW products, and I've had to replace the TCAB's on her GTI a few times. Last time I did with a solid rubber piece off an Audi TT/R32.
As I type this, you currently have three choices:
1.) Replace the TCAB with a replacement, it will eventually fail again.
2.) Replace/fill the TCAB with urethane. I can tell you from direct experience, this will not last. Urethane is not really the material for the types of load this component sees.
3.) Replace the entire LCA if you can't afford downtime.
None of these options give me the warm and fuzzies. Your car will also do this, end of story... if it hasn't already. You can fix it for the life of the car, or keep throwing junk at it.
A user on here name Italianjoe1 has actually done the hard work for us, and at least prototyped this. He used an off-the-shelf Moog spherical bushing intended for the Cobalt, and made a bushing to fit our LCA. He didn't really get a lot of response with his prototype unfortunately, and so it seems hes kinda dropped it. I feel pretty strongly about having this on the market for the Sonic though and thought I'd float it to you. In general, would be nice to see someone step to the plate on this. I am pretty sure I can make this for myself if I have to, but would prefer to save time and have it done for me I have more money than time these days it seems.
I had Powell Racing branded sphericals on all of my Cobalt SS's, and I can assure you its nothing but upside. It did not introduce any harshness into the driving experience.
So, in closing, would anyone else commit to going in on a set of LCA's switched to spherical TCAB's with me?
If you are confused as to what I mean here, this is a picture of Cobalt front LCA's with spherical bushings installed:
Here is a picture of the Sonic LCA and stock voided rubber TCAB:
Also for reference, here is his thread:
http://www.sonicownersforum.com/for...wer-control-arm-spherical-joint-bushings.html
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