the blaab

Hi all,

I am curious about how to determine which parts of the front suspension need replaced based on symptoms while driving.

My SAAB's (120k miles) suspension was a mess, main complaint was it was very loose and all over the place in general and sharp bumps vibrate violently all the way up through the steering wheel to the point where it almost shakes your hands off the wheel.

So I got it "fixed" or so i thought! I just dropped about $600 to have lower control arms replaced and some other sundry work done. This is an 01 9-3 SE.

So the mechanic, a guy i trust implicitly, replaced lower control arms, rotated and balanced tires, "tightened up some things that were loose." Wheels were shaking/vibrating at 55-60mph so I had the tires rebalanced (Goodyear Eagle GTs) as well, and he gave it an alignment and hit me for about $600....(total bill $985 that also included inspection, emissions, oil change and replacement of tensioner on serpentine belt as it was cutting into timing cover, part was $162)

Results?? OK overall, it is "tighter" although over the last week or so it seems to be "looser" again or I am just getting jaded.

No longer shakes/vibrates at 55...BUT now it shakes/vibrates at 70 mph and on up from there.

And the big bumps are still exactly just as bad on the ole steering wheel....scary!

I understand that is an SE and I am on sport tires so i should expect a hard ride but this shakes the entire steering set up - unnerving. Does this happen to anyone else?


So.....Strut inserts????? Springs???? Thoughts???

Thanks in advance!

DougVT

This is my first post, so please forgive me if I've attached it to an incorrect thread.
I've recently had a set of Eibach springs installed on my Saab, which already had Bilstein shocks/struts.
Ever since that installation, I get a squeaking noise low on the front, passenger side that's most prevalent when sitting still and rotating the steering wheel from straight ahead to full lock. When warm, I get more subdued shorter-duration squeaking noises as the suspension moves up and down reacting to the road. When up on a lift, the noise cannot be reproduced.
I did not have this noise before the new spring installation.
My dealer's initial guess was a bad strut, even though there's no sign of leaking. I had them change the swaybar bushings on the firewall, because that's what it sounded like to me...and because that was considerably cheaper than jumping into $500 of new struts. The bushings didn't fix the problem.
Has anyone in this forum experienced this symptom?

Roto

Is your spring seated correctly? I think it probably is not.