Quote:
Originally Posted by Arragonis
Congrats on the mileage. Just one question, did yu fully check out the suspension / alignment before getting the brace ?
I only tap this as I spent a small fortune on uprated this and that on Helga (tyres, bushes, new dampers, tracking (front end alignment) etc.) before finally springing for a "proper" full 2 axle alignment which made more difference than anything else I had done.
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All but having an alignment machine in my back pocket, yes. Prior to even going in the dealership I tried to wiggle the tires vertically, horizontally both were solid. I checked the tie rod ends directly (solid). The rack and opinion is tight and no leaks. Test driving the car it tracked straight. As far as the rest of the suspension, one of the struts are going bad on the front, but it’s still tolerable. When I bounce the front end it’s taking 3 bounces instead of only 2. Also, the good thing and the bad thing about the Sunfire it has a solid rear axle. I’m guessing your Fabia has a independent rear suspension thats why you needed a 4 wheel alignment. You can only get a 2 wheel alignment for the J body. It’s crude but it works and it’s cheaper to maintain. If the car was in a wreck they did a good job of hiding it because there are no crinkles in the under side of the car and the carfax (3rd party car check) was clean.
I knew going into the deal that Gm J-bodies (Cavalier/Sunfire) rear drum brakes have a lot of problems and the front brake rotors from the factory are too thin to begin with (they warp really easy). In the vehicle manual it showed the tires were somewhat new (3k miles put on them) and it recently had a brake job done. I haven’t checked to see if the brake fluid needs flushed, but I think I’ll be good for a while on the braking system and the tires.
The reason why I put the front strut tower bar on was really because this is an SE and the strut tower bar was cheap and well made. SE’s are base as base can get on newer cars in America (although, I do have a factory radio that I never use). The J bodies I’ve owned are ’97 Z24 Cavalier, 2004 Cavalier Sport and my wife had a 2001 Sunfire GT. I’m used to having the tight handling of the performance (I hate using that word on a fwd 4 cyl. car) versions of the cars. The strut tower bar brought the Sunfire almost up to that standard.