Cheap New Control Arms 73$/side

[QUOTE=CateraMV6;1989575]This post should serve as a nice log with information about upgrading the sway bar bushings on the CATERA.

So far I have noticed wear on the tires and will need new bushings and I am debating if I should upgrade all of the bushings on my car both front and rear so that I can get it lowered in the future.

While researching the bushings I found some pictures of the suspension and as a result some cheap polyurethane bushings that will help improve the responsiveness of the entire system.






REAR SUSPENSION

Bushings can be purchased on Summitracing.com

Rear Bushings

14mm Rear bushing ~ 5.95 $ (Inc 2 bushings)
New Bushing

OEM bushing


Rear Bushing and link shown...


Diagram shown you need the bushing that attaches the sway bar to the carrier assembly. (2 bushings located on top)



Rear Link.. ~ 17$ at Rockauto.com








FRONT SUSPENSION

Front Bushigns are:
23mm Front Bushing ~ 6.95 $ (inc 2 bushings)



OEM Front Bushing


OEM Bushing on the car...


FRONT Link... No replacement needed but if yours are worn out they are roughly 16$/pc








TOTAL COST:


6.95 - 2 Front 23mm Polyurethane bushings (SUMMIT)
5.95 - 2 Rear 14mm Polyurethane bushings (SUMMIT)
32.42 - 2 L & R Rear Sway Bar Links (Optional) (Rockauto)
33.68 - 2 Front Sway Bar Links (Optional) (Rockauto)

FREE - 2 hours of your time


TOTAL w/o Sway Bar Links... ~ 20$ (INC Shipping ~ 7$)
TOTAL w/ Sway Bar Links... ~ 93$ (INC Shipping ~ 14$)


I will likely go the 20$ route as that will be the most bang/buck route.

More pictures of installation will follow.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=elvin315;1989647]I had this but never updated my Suspension Upgrades. Thought you guys might be burnt-out from them. But since you brought it up..............

Anti-Sway Bar Bushings (Polyurethane):
Front
1.02 in. / 26 mm.
part # 19-1142 / Bracket Style B
part # 19-1182 / Bracket Style B (grease fitting)
--
Rear
.59 in. / 15 mm. - (9/16 in. = .5625 in. = 14.29 mm)
part # 19-1103 / Bracket Style A or # 19-1127 / Bracket Style B
part # 19-1151 Bracket Style A (grease fitting) or # 19-1170 / Bracket Style B (grease fitting)
http://www.prothane.com/universal.php

NOTE: The A & B style Brackets have different hole spacing. If someone can provide the Catera's mounting hole spacing I'll update this listing. The Sway Bar diameters listed are from GM Media Online for all Catera model years including Sports. The rear bushings I listed are a little undersized but I'd rather that than too loose.

Hope this helps.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=CateraMV6;1989739]Oh, so I had no idea that it was 26mm/15mm I looked on rockauto and they had them as 23mm/14mm... so now which ones do I order? Should I measure the bart itself before I get some then?

On another note the Grease Fitting units will be nice but they will be completely redundant as the bracket sits facing the body of the car and there is hardly enough room for your hand, whats to say about the grease gun getting in there...

Thanks for the info though![/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=MyOpel;1990550]keep an eye on my V8 conversion thread in the next few weeks, I hope to confirm fitment of the gto rear subframe bushings on the catera.

but for now...
slp has the gto rear swaybar endlink bushings, they fit into the bottom loop of the factory endlink. so one set can do two cateras. (see pic)

Pic: (top) slp 19mm gto adjustable sway bar, will require endlink modification/possible endlink mount modification.
(bottom) stock swaybar with stock endlinks and slp gto endlink bushings in lower loop (upper in pic) slp uses K-Prene polyurethane and is harder then regular poly


Pic: factory sway bar with greasable poly swaybar bushings
[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=CateraMV6;1990627]Fantastic! So its safe to assume that the sizes of the stock bars are 23mm FR and 14mm RR correct?

I will order some as soon as I figure out what I need.

Otherwise I just bought 2 front control arms with new bushings and ball joints but you wont believe the price...
Waiting to see when they will get delivered.

Next is new sway bar bushings, I will probably stick to the non greaseable ones as the grease fitting is impossible to reach in that spot... makes it kind of useless.

As for rear sway bar upgrade... I know from experience that the bushings have almost as much effect as a larger bar...

As for the rear Camber Adjustable Bushings, I found a place around here that has them for 100$/set but they still order them from Australia so the wait time is around 2 weeks...

Anyone find any cheaper?[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=CateraMV6;1990633]BTW on this picture what are the two cooling vents on the under carriage shield... they seem to point towards the exhaust manifolds... kind of like what I have seen on the under side of some corvettes...

Also what is the hose attachment for... ?

[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=MyOpel;1990782]front is [SIZE="5"]26mm [/SIZE] rear is 15mm

tube is for the v8 alternator
nasca vents direct air towards the exhaust manifolds

as for rear camber bushings search ebay for noltec less then 100 shipped[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=CateraMV6;1991347]I did find those Noltec bushings and I am doing some research on them as we speak... I guess they offer a product that falls between rubber and polyurethane bushings with some better ride qualities and stiffer then rubber characteristics.

The 1st one is 66$
PONTIAC GTO NOLTEC RR CAMBER TOE ADJ BUSHING KIT NEW
Noltec Part # N61309
^ I assume this kit provides +/-1° of adjustment



The 2nd one is 72$
PONTIAC GTO NOLTEC RR ADJ CAMBER TOE 2PT SUPER LOW KIT
Noltec Part # N62927
^ This one says SUPER LOW so I think its more like +/-2° of adjustment



The 3rd one is 150$ but features 4 bushings...
PONTIAC GTO NOLTEC RR ADJ CAMBER TOE 4PT SUPER LOW KIT
Noltec Part # N62946
^ This one is ultimate adjustment for tow and camber but not sure if its made to adjust 1° or 2°


So please correct me if I am wrong but the inner bushing seems to push the wheel hub in and out and the outter bushing seems to move the hub front to back and given the geometry each one affects Camber and Toe but do they affect both?[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=CateraMV6;1992219]Well look who showed up at the front door this morning with a large box... yep you guessed it... it was FedEX...
I ordered my control arms from Rockauto on Tuesday... got email that they shipped out on wednesday afternoon.... and received them Thursday morning... now get this, they shipped from the UK...

Anyways here is what I paid...
1 Left Control arm... 51$
1 Right Control Arm... 51$
Shipping half way around the world... 54$...

So each control arm cost me around 73$ Total.


It would have cost me...
Rear Bushing... 22$/pc both 44$
Front Bushing... 42$/pc both 84$
Ball Joint... 48$/pc both 96$

Total not including shipping 224$ Throw in tax and shipping and you got yourself a 250$ bill... Not to mention the time it will take you to drive those old rusty bushings out and to drive the new ones in...

Not a bad way to spend 73$ I guess...

Enough talk here are some pictures...








[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=jjhammer;1992959]I went on their website but their prices are much higher (much!) than what you paid. How did you do it? thanks![/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=CateraMV6;1993420]The secret is:

YOu go down to 2001 Opel Omega...
Then 3.2L V6 category...

Then you will see that there are only a few items listed but under those you will find control arms, bushings, and a few other parts that are way cheaper then anything else.. .

Shipping will cost you around 20-30$ on order but as you saw 2 heavy control arms only cost me 56$ in shipping... so its not that bad... and it took around 1 day to get them here...

Good Luck.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Warez;1993527]That's really neat what you discovered there!!!!

A lot of parts are cheaper.

I wonder if they lose money on shipping?[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=jjhammer;1994429]Will these control arms fit all cateras? I have a 2000 and want to make sure before I buy. Thanks![/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=elvin315;1994606]This is a hard one to put into words. Granted, the eccentric bushings are identical but it's the way they're adjusted that makes the difference.

The inner bushings control the toe-in and are meant to move the trailing arm's inner pivot along a horizontal axis. This moves that pivot fore or aft, with respect to the inner subframe pivot that it mounts to, thereby affecting the toe-in angle. To accomplish this the eccentric must be rotated so the extreme fore and aft positions are located at 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock. The final adjustment will be somewhere between those 2 extremes. This movement of the inner pivot will turn the trailing arm at its fulcrum (that being outer bushing) causing the leading edge of the tire to turn in or out to match the spec.

The outer bushing works much the same way only its extremes are at 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock along a vertical axis. This bushing's eccentric will move the trailing arm's outer pivot higher or lower with respect to the outer subframe pivot it mounts to. Rotating the eccentric will cause the trailing arm to turn at its fulcrum (this time the inner bushing). This in turn causes the top of the tire to tip in or out according to its spec.

The inner and outer eccentrics will affect each other's adjustments so it will be necessary to recheck the alignment before buttoning it all up. Any experienced alignment specialist will have seem this before so there shouldn't be a problem. Don't forget the alignment bolts for the front control arms. They expand the adjustment range by +/- 1 degree and go a long way toward curing the worn inner tire edges.

I hope this makes sense because even after several re-writes I still don't think I've explained it correctly. I can visualize it but I can't verbalize it. The diagram below is of the semi-trailing arm suspension from 3 Series BMW and is very similar to ours. Hopefully it helps visualize the movements of the eccentrics.

[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=CateraMV6;1995478]Here is the finished product.

I managed to install the front control arms with new sway bar links and new Energy Suspension Bushings, and also 2 new Front GTO springs...
Here are some pictures...






[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Cadi Cat;1995765]so what size bushings did you go with. 23f-14r or 26-15mm?[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=CateraMV6;1996352]I used 25mm/15mm and i beleive that is the size for the Sport Model. The non sport is 23mm/14mm but do measure before you buy! For me 25mm front fit perfectly, i got mine from autozone part 9.5161R.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Warez;2000019]@CateraMV6

Did you have to pay any duty, brokerage fees or any other BS once the control arms arrived?[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=CateraMV6;2000082]Nope, fedex just had me sign a delivery confirmation. Technically you are purchasing the parts from an american company but it just so happens that they have a wearhouse in the UK. You shouldnt have to pay any additional fees.

Sent from my iPod[/QUOTE]

I read you bought these lower control arms back in 2009. What brand name control arm did you buy? I see moog and klarius/quinton hazell listed for a similiar price you paid. Are they identical to factory ? Thanks for your time..Glen

I wanna say from memory this is the parts i got.. quinton hazell

They lasted a good 80K miles and i got some wear on my tires so i replaced the vertical bushing again. Bushings were cheaper then a whole new control arm.

Give them a shot, they are not bad.

I just had to replace the inner and outter tie rod ends and buy a new ball joint for the lower left. Unfortunately my steering was super loose and this was the way to get it back to like new condition.

All and all parts and labor was 300$ including the alignment. Car drives like new again.