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2000 3-door Front End Rebuild - What to buy, and from whom?
Topic Started: Jan 14 2016, 02:22 PM (715 Views)
MrPink
Long live the Metro!
[ *  * ]
Hello, everyone!

Got 210K on the 3-banger, and the front end is now really starting to clunk around on any sort of bump. The last thing I want is for something to break and for me to fly off a cliff or bang into something (or someone). So it's time to redo it.

While I am knowledgeable about a lot of things, front ends aren't one of them. I have no idea where to start or what to buy. I have a pro I'll use for the job, but he won't have the expertise that we do here on what to buy and why. That's why we have the forum!

So! Now's everyone's chance to speak out on what I should get, why, and from whom. I want this to be as good as possible, and don't want to buy parts that won't last or won't work well. I plan to put at least another 200K on my lil' bubble. The difference in terms of cost really doesn't matter to me, so tell me what I need to buy for my mechanic to put in! Upgrades? Yeah, we got upgrades! If there's stuff we should change from stock, talk about it.

Also, the struts are originals (amazingly, they're still good), but now's the time to change them. What do y'all like for those?

Let the fun begin!
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MarkZ28


You can get complete lower control arms that come with bushings and ball joints, look on e bay and Amazon, cheap, around 50 bucks a piece. Check tie rod ends, there's 2 inners and 2 outers obviously. Struts, strut mounts if yours are bad, also cheap. Anti sway bar bushings and end links. All easy to do yourself. Look on rockauto.com, lots of choices there for struts, have everything there I believe. May be cheaper on Amazon, search by the number of the part you find on rockauto and see if their prices are cheaper.
I'm going to do the same thing on my 98, but going with polyurethane bushings.
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MR1 Kingsbury
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Exp. builder/rebuilder

When you say "clunk around" do you feel anything in the steering wheel or brake pedal?? It could be loose exhaust hangars or an aging motormount.
Prop it up on jackstands and do a thorough evaluation of the steering rods, wheel bearings, and control arms. Brake calipers can also clunk when they get old, stuck, or loose.
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Woodie
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First thing to do is inspect the frame horns for rust. Everything bolts to those and they're notorious for wasting away.

You'll need struts, strut mounts, control arms, inner and outer tie rod ends, sway bar links and mounting bushings. If there's any question about your bearings, brakes, or CV joints, this is the time to do them too, you're going to have it all apart.

KYB is the only way to go on the struts, you can get all four for about $150 if you shop well.
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myredvert
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myredvert

Good advice from Woodie about carefully checking the frame horns. I just bought most of these same parts a few weeks back and here is what I found - hope this helps.

Blue text = link (expect that one...)

Entire suspension kits are available on Ebay seller worldsuspension that include the control arms, bushings, ball joints, inner and outer tie rod ends, and sway bar link kits for <$80. With the "Best Offer" option, you might want to try as low as $67.55, which is what they were selling for until the day after I bought mine. I also bought rear strut mounts from them and they shipped in the same box. Those prices also went up after I bought mine - try as low as $15.50 with the "Best Offer."

There are some "wear" parts that do not come with front strut mounts, but rebuild kits with the seal, washers, and bearing are available from member bbowens - he sells on Ebay under the seller name bowens name or you can contact him through here to buy directly from him.

kyboutlet.com runs a $40 rebate every year starting in (I believe) in April. $0.99 shipping (I believe) all the time. As Woodie said, you should be able to find a complete set on Ebay for ~ $150 or so most anytime.

If you need the rubber baby buggy bumpers strut bumpers and dust cover/bellows, SB101s are on sale now for $13.23/set directly from kyboutlet.com, even at regular price they are almost always cheaper than the same from ebay.

However, I believe the bumpers in the SB101s are taller than the original and you need to trim them down to match the size, but rockauto.com specifies the SB103 which have a shorter bumper. Roughly $50 for 4 sets shipped for either the SB101s or the SB103s. Enter 3965904736048015 in the "How did you hear about us?" box for 5% discount).
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MrPink
Long live the Metro!
[ *  * ]
Oh, this is great stuff. AFAIK, there's no rust to worry about on the frame horns (I will have another look to be sure). I'm pretty sure this isn't a motor mount or loose exhaust. CV joints and brakes were done not too long ago. You can feel the rattle in the steering wheel, and if one of the front tires is out of balance and we get to a shake at speed, sometimes the front end will rattle with the vibration. That's rapid wear at its finest. Don't think it's a caliper, I've heard/felt this noise in other vehicles and it's always been some sort of steering component. These are the original components with 210,000 on them.

While a bargain is always welcome, I thought I had read elsewhere that a lot of the inexpensive front end parts don't last very long. Are there suggestions as to which ones to buy, or are they all basically the same Chinese parts no matter what?

A few things <moron mode>:

Myredvert
 
There are some "wear" parts that do not come with front strut mounts, but rebuild kits with the seal, washers, and bearing are available from member bbowens
Er, say what? Elaborate, please. Rebuild kit for the strut mounts? See, this is why I don't do suspension. I would think that you'd compress the springs, unbolt the old ones and put the new ones in. There's more to this story? ("Of COURSE there is, grasshopper!")

Myredvert
 
However, I believe the bumpers in the SB101s are taller than the original and you need to trim them down to match the size, but rockauto.com specifies the SB103 which have a shorter bumper.
Uh... huh? Are they easy to trim? Or would I just get the SB103s? Since I don't want my guy to not have what he needs to do this job, I'll buy these along with everything else, but it would be nice to have the right ones.

</moron mode>

Urethane just for the sway bar? Or can you get that stuff for everything? And if so, best place?

I really appreciate the tips, suggestions and pricing help. What I want to do is rattle in with a box of parts ready to go, and drive away later with old Steve happy and me not rattling anymore.
Edited by MrPink, Jan 16 2016, 12:14 AM.
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myredvert
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myredvert

The parts in the rebuild kit are actually some of those that go on the top of the strut before it goes up into the actual mount. Take a look at the expanded diagram in the Service manual or GMPartsEast.com, or the diagram that bowens posts along with his rebuild kit on Ebay and it's easier to see those parts I was referring to.

I know someone that trimmed their bumper stops down and he didn't relay any issues with doing that to me. I'm kind of taking a little shot by trying the Rock Auto specified bumper/bellows kit instead of those specified by KYB - I can let you know here in the next week or so when I dig into mine if they matched the original size better or not.

As far as the relative merits of the less expensive controls arms, bushings, etc, you might want to hear from or communicate with someone like t3ragtop who has considerable experience replacing suspension components on various models through the years. While his tastes in suspension components tend to run more towards the "performance" end of the spectrum than a lot of us, he can certainly provide some very good insight into that question and the relative merits of some of the more expensive available replacement parts like control arm bushings and such compared to those that come with the Ebay type units.

I've had to work with a limited budget for replacing my suspension components along with some other "bigger" things at the same time like the KYB struts, or my new snow tires and chains that haven't seen snow yet (thank you Mr. Murphy :smackface ) followed by my soon to be new "normal tires" I'll have to buy after the suspension work is complete. Plus another couple of hundred dollars for parts unrelated to the suspension that I really would like to get done soon. So for me I decided to go with the "less expensive" parts like the control arms that will hopefully provide at least several or more years of decent service before they need replacing again while allowing me to get all those other things done at this time. If the control arms and bushings were all I was replacing right now, I may very well have made a different decision about what parts to use. :dunno
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