BoostedE21

Howdy,

It's about time for a complete suspension overhaul on my 99 ES. As I currently live in a small town, I've just been puttering around town on crappy roads for the past two years. That whole time, I think I've been developing a pretty serious rhythmic shake in the suspension, and I just haven't noticed it since the roads suck so much. When I got it out on the freeway over the weekend, I really started to notice it. It's that same sort of feeling you get when your lug nuts are loose. Not good! I was planning on doing a suspension overhaul over the summer, but I can move it up a few months.

I saw a ton of overhaul guides for the second generations, but I didn't see one for the third. I figured if we get a good parts list together, I can take some pictures and turn it into a nice DIY.

NOTE: I'll only have this car for a few more years, and I'm not looking to get fancy, unless it can be acquired for prices comparable to Dealer pricing (what I will be charging to do this job for my father, the owner of the car).

Obviously the first thing is struts. I hear KYB GR-2s provide a nice ride, and have good life. I'll pick up some of those for all corners.

Next comes the mounts. Mine might be in OK shape, but it's a pain in the rear to replace them if they deteriorate later, so might as well. Looks like KYB makes those too on tirerack. I'll also need new dust protector bushings.

Here's where it gets interesting: I'm pretty heavily mechanically experienced, but I never took the time to get underneath the ES, because it was always so reliable. I know I typically replace tie rod ends (ball bearings), control arms, trailing arms, etc. on other cars - but what else needs to be done on these guys? As answers come in, I'll update this post.

ASG14

iTrader: (1)

You should always replace the mounts on our cars when doing the struts, if high miles.

Struts, springs, sway bar links (if needed), and may be a good idea for swar bar bushings. Thats really all unless there are other issues.

ivory98es3

iTrader: (1)

Don't forget the 2 new bearings for the fronts struts when being replaced. They install bewteen the strut and the strut mount. Also, the spring isolator rubber pads, fits between the spring the lower strut body, they may need to be replaced. When I did my struts, all 4 rubber pads needed to be replaced.

BoostedE21

This is exactly the sort of tidbits I'm looking for, since I'm not familiar with the ES's suspension setup yet. Thanks!