front end OVERHAUL - this better fix my baby!

[curtc]

So my 2001 STS (186,000k) rides a little rough, seems like she's crashing over some bumps that I never used to feel at all, she was like butta! The front drivers side tire wears out FAST, especially the inner half, and she shakes pretty good down the highway once you hit 65 or so. I've done wheel bearings, a lower ball joint on that side, and outer tie rods before but it never really fixed the problem completely, it only subsided slightly. I recently bought both lower control arms with ball joints, inner and outer tie rods for both sides, and both wheel bearings, new tires too...

Anything else I should look at while I'm under there?

[chubbyranger]

Struts. If they're original at 186 they must be tired by now.

[Ranger]

The front drivers side tire wears out FAST, especially the inner half, and she shakes pretty good down the highway once you hit 65 or so.

For starters you obviously need an alignment and wheel balance. I would expect worn struts to give a softer ride.

[Ian-STS99]

Change both front struts (left & right) and then have the alignment and wheel balance done.

[eyekandyboats.inc]

road force balance?

[Ian-STS99]

Originally Posted by eyekandyboats.inc

road force balance?

Yes, on all four wheels.

[curtc]

I am trying to avoid the struts for the time being, they're a little pricey. I am planning on having a four wheel alignment done as soon as I get done replacing all of these parts, and the tires are balanced just fine, no bent rims or anything like that, I just had this done. If I put my hands on the fenders and make the car go up and down there is absolutely no noise what so ever, the struts seem to be fairly smooth all the way around.

[Ian-STS99]

You can get direct replacements from Rockauto that sells Monroe shocks / struts that are half the price of OEM shocks.

The direct replacements are the same as the OEM ones (ie active)

186,000k -- the struts are well over due if they are the originals when it left the factory. Get them changed out.

BTW, I've yet to find any other place that makes direct replacements for half the price.

[derone]

Don't forget the sway bar end links...A sawzall comes in real handy when removing the OEM ones.

[curtc]

Well once I got under there the passenger side was looked and felt pretty good aside from the brake pads. The drivers side wasn't so hot, LCA bushings were shot, ball joint was gone, and so was the outer tie rod end, the bearing went out too due to this. Replaced all of that and had a 4 wheel alignment done and it is much better, but there is still a little shimmy at freeway speed. I can't expect her to ride like she used to after putting over 100,000 on her, not including the 86k she came with, but I'm sure struts are on there way in the near future.

[joe45]

It’s your struts. I just replaced my original OEM ones at 180K with the cheaper passive ones and it rides 90% better do to the lower control arm bushings still needing replacement. My old struts made a lot of noise like something was busted inside of them but they didn’t bounce going down the highway ether.

[drewsdeville]

Keep in mind that, contrary to popular belief, cars do NOT misalign themselves over time for no reason. Unless you have hit a curb or somehow knocked the alignment off by physical force, you probably have worn steering components causing the shimmying. Proper lubrication of the ball joints and tie rod ends will prevent this, but it's probably too late at this point.

You'll want to check your front end components for looseness. If you don't want to do this, don't worry. When you try to get your car aligned, they'll give it right back to you explaining that they won't be able to align it properly due to the problems.

If your struts need changing, don't touch the rest of the car until you are willing to do this. Changing your struts will include aligning the car afterwards. Therefore, it makes no sense to have it aligned now when new struts are on the horizon. Save yourself the extra money and time by doing it all at once.

edit: nevermind, I somehow skipped over your last post where you explain that you had it all done. My bad.