Front suspension tune up

[TheChristian]

 

[TheChristian]

This is a bundle package by Scitto and comes in under 200.00 available on Amazon . Fits your 2000-2005 Buick lesabre . The reviews for Scitto aren’t bad so for a car that’s past the end of its shelf life and in need of a front suspension refresher this is the way to go . This is all easy diy for those that are mechanically inclined and that has a few tools lying around . I recommend an alignment after installation. Also available affordability on Amazon or rockauto are the Gabriel strut assemblies and CV Axles which you should just go ahead and do anyway.

 

[TheChristian]

Oh and while your at it replace those old and tired cross member bushings and while your down there replace your engine and transmission mounts . Just kidding of course . No really just do it !

 

[TheChristian]

I replaced every thing the market had available for the rear suspension , not available are the cross member isolators bushings . GM ran out of those a long time ago and no one makes an after market replacement. Of course I’m referring to the very large outer subframe insulator/isolatior
Bushings that are round . Theres an isolator bushing available for the center crossmember as well as the small square bushing for the cross member . Available is the control arms , trailing arms , coil springs but if you use moog you’ll be maxing out your ride height and you’ll be above the air level sensors factory engagement point and your shocks won’t air up as I experienced because your car will be sitting up to high for the leveler to activate . Leave your original spring in the car . Also available are many aftermarket coil over shocks for the rear of your car for those of you who don’t want to spend money on the air suspension components. Also available for the rear limited touring edition with rear sway arm are the sway arm to frame bushings and sway arm end link bushing kits .

 

[TheChristian]

For those of you who with a sagging rear , pun intended , and your suspensions air pump and leveler are still functioning you can carefully remove your frame to air leveler valve ROD and cut it in half , yes it’s metal in the center but plastic on the ends so be careful, take a 10-42 die and thread the ends of the arms of your two pieces as far down as you can go and buy the smallest adjustment sleeve ace hardware has and install it with a locking nut at each each end to lock it up when you get your desired ride height . No this isn’t for the average diyer but hey I’ll try anything once . It takes a while for the pump to kick in so this is fairly time consuming.

 

[02LTD2.0]

I think the bigger problem many folks will have with the rear suspension is RUST taking out the upper spring perches, That happened on my brother's 2004 Limited.

 

[JGBuick]

Wow... Less than $200 for all those front suspension parts? No reason not to. And yes, the rubber sub-frame bushings on my 2001 are probably rock hard. Good points you have made. The thing to remember is that age affects everything on a car. Even here in Arizona, it affects it. Rust belt cars? Even worse.

 

[TheChristian]

I think the bigger problem many folks will have with the rear suspension is RUST taking out the upper spring perches, That happened on my brother's 2004 Limited.

That sounds problematic .

 

[TheChristian]

Unfortunately there’s only one after market front subframe bushing available and it’s made by Dorman and they are north of 30.00 each .

 

[02LTD2.0]

That sounds problematic .

Yep...his car had low miles (87k) when he bought it 5 years ago but it may have spent time near the Jersey Shore. I bought mine in New Jersey as well but luckily my frame is still in good shape.

 

[TheChristian]

I bought a 2002 lesabre from a private car collection in November of 2021 and it had only been to the dealer for oil changes
It had 15,000 miles in it , now it has 95,000 no rust . You couldn’t give me a new car .

 

[02LTD2.0]

I bought a 2002 lesabre from a private car collection in November of 2021 and it had only been to the dealer for oil changes
It had 15,000 miles in it , now it has 95,000 no rust . You couldn’t give me a new car .

I bet you paid a premium price for it.

 

[TheChristian]

I paid 8,000.00 cash

 

[TheChristian]

Was a trade in by very old couple who only drove it to get oil changed , Oklahoma dealership owner took and
Put it in his private collection, when he decided to give it to one of his car dealerships to sell it , it happened to be right down the street from where I worked in Yukon Oklahoma, it was posted on cars for sale.com where at any given moment you might find any where from 45 to 170 2000-2005 Buick lesabres for sale. All across the United States , any way I was the first person to show up with cash in hand and the salesman told me even though they just posted the car for 8,000 on carsfirsale.com their phone was ringing off the hook for that car and they had just raised the price on the dealer ship website to 11,000 and I said you need to do the right thing and give me the car for what you advert and not only did salesman say no but manager as well , so I drive back to work and called one of their other dealerships and said I need to speak to the big cheese because I have been disenfranchised and they gave me his number , was right hand man of actual owner so I explained the entire situation and he said give me
Five minutes and I’ll call you back , he calls me back and says I don’t have to do this but you are are right that the car should be your and he said the car is yours go and pick it up and when I got back to that dealership my new 2002 Buick Lesabre limited with 15,550 miles was parked front and center with a red carpet going from the main dealership door to my car with a giant sign with my name on it and all of the staff lined up to greet me and present my new car , I have to tell you it was the most exciting day of my life , I had hunted high and low for this car , most lesabres on websites have at least 25,000 miles on them so it was X-mass in November of 2021 for me , now she has about 95,000 give or take and coolest thing was it had that new car smell for about three months

 

[BuickGirlFromMars]

I think the bigger problem many folks will have with the rear suspension is RUST taking out the upper spring perches, That happened on my brother's 2004 Limited.

there is a gm sold still now btw repair patch panel piece for that perch that gets welded in

 

[02LTD2.0]

there is a gm sold still now btw repair patch panel piece for that perch that gets welded in

link?

 

[ulycyc]

Not sure if still available. Part # 25710008 and 2571009 left and right

​

 

[BuickGirlFromMars]

Not sure if still available. Part # 25710008 and 2571009 left and right

​

Was a few months ago , I think they do parts runs on it infrequently kinda like the park avenue heater module for the defog

 

[02LTD2.0]

Passenger side is available from GM Parts Direct. The driver side is on backorder.

 

[JimP]

In the driver's side rear wheel well where the gas tank filler tube passes through, an opening exists that allows splash to get in and settle on a frame member/shelf which is close to the spring cup. I pulled about a quart of mud off that shelf. The metal was so rusted it broke through with finger pressure. I had it welded. It was a bit expensive because the welder thought it was necessary to remove the tank to be safe. Who am I to argue.