Hello all - Looking for your opinions here. My friend took his 2012 Sonic into an oil change shop to get the winter tires switched over to all-seasons. They did a front end/rear suspension/brake inspection at the same time, and "found a few things". My friend brought the car over to my place this afternoon for a 2nd opinion. Here are their claims vs. my findings:
- FRONT STRUTS STARTING TO LEAK
The R (passenger-side) strut may be weeping slightly, but it's hard to tell. The L (driver's-side) is completely dry. We changed them both a year ago, and used Delco genuine GM parts. It's not reasonable for the tech to have seen OEM parts and assumed that they're original. As well, my friend had a different shop change out the R ball joint a couple of months after we changed the strut. It was good when we changed the struts, but loosened up sometime after that. I wonder whether they hit a bad pothole sometime after we'd changed the struts, and that the impact damaged the ball joint and started the strut weeping. (Our roads are pretty atrocious due to our freeze-thaw cycles.) I'm positive the new ball joint was on the R side as we could see where the shop had ground down the rivets securing the original ball joint. The replacement is bolted to the LCA.
- REC. FRONT LINKS
We're presuming they're recommending changing out the front stabilizer bar end links. We changed them both a year ago. Took off the top end of each link this afternoon, and although the ball and socket ends are free to move, there is no apparent play. Per my friend there is no knocking or clunking over speed bumps. We'll leave them for now. The set we put in a year ago is the 3rd set - the factory ones lasted about six years. Replacements by a chain muffler and brake shop only went a year or two. Hope to get at least another year out of these. Perhaps back to dealer parts when we do these again; the aftermarket ones just haven't lasted.
- REAR SHOCKS LEAKING
The driver's-side (L) shock is dry. The passenger-side (R) shock has a lot of oil on it. We plan to change both of them out.
- FRONT LEFT CONTROL ARM BUSHING POPPED OUT
We're presuming this is the puck bushing on the LCA. Please refer to the photos. Is it bad enough to replace, or is the shop exaggerating a bit? If it is bad, we'll likely change out the entire LCA.
Thanks in advance!
- FRONT STRUTS STARTING TO LEAK
The R (passenger-side) strut may be weeping slightly, but it's hard to tell. The L (driver's-side) is completely dry. We changed them both a year ago, and used Delco genuine GM parts. It's not reasonable for the tech to have seen OEM parts and assumed that they're original. As well, my friend had a different shop change out the R ball joint a couple of months after we changed the strut. It was good when we changed the struts, but loosened up sometime after that. I wonder whether they hit a bad pothole sometime after we'd changed the struts, and that the impact damaged the ball joint and started the strut weeping. (Our roads are pretty atrocious due to our freeze-thaw cycles.) I'm positive the new ball joint was on the R side as we could see where the shop had ground down the rivets securing the original ball joint. The replacement is bolted to the LCA.
- REC. FRONT LINKS
We're presuming they're recommending changing out the front stabilizer bar end links. We changed them both a year ago. Took off the top end of each link this afternoon, and although the ball and socket ends are free to move, there is no apparent play. Per my friend there is no knocking or clunking over speed bumps. We'll leave them for now. The set we put in a year ago is the 3rd set - the factory ones lasted about six years. Replacements by a chain muffler and brake shop only went a year or two. Hope to get at least another year out of these. Perhaps back to dealer parts when we do these again; the aftermarket ones just haven't lasted.
- REAR SHOCKS LEAKING
The driver's-side (L) shock is dry. The passenger-side (R) shock has a lot of oil on it. We plan to change both of them out.
- FRONT LEFT CONTROL ARM BUSHING POPPED OUT
We're presuming this is the puck bushing on the LCA. Please refer to the photos. Is it bad enough to replace, or is the shop exaggerating a bit? If it is bad, we'll likely change out the entire LCA.
Thanks in advance!