Stupid Friggin' Grand Prix

It seems that the saga that is my Pontiac Grand Prix never ends. If GM's bankruptcy has taught us anything it's that there's a reason their cars suck. Cheap engineering and poor build quality that leads to fast depreciation and fun repairs. Ok, I'm a sucker for this car. I can't find a reasonably priced "foreign" car that offers the same comfort, performance and features for this heap in the same price range. It's a love/hate relationship that landed me on Grand Prix #3.

Today, I decided to bite the bullet and do some long overdue maintenance on the car. For the last month or so the car's developed a slight pull to the right. When I noticed my driver-side front tire was low, I was disappointed to see it had worn the outer edge pretty good. Great, an alignment is exactly what I wanted to do with that extra money I have laying around. I decided to kill two birds with one stone and also replace my long overdue rear struts. I dropped the cash and had some struts shipped to me. Unfortunately, my experience with Advance Auto Parts was a nightmare but I finally received all the parts I needed to complete the job. Since I was going to get an alignment, I decided to check out the front end to make sure a steering component hadn't failed. Now, if you recall a post a few months ago, I noticed that one of my wheel bearings was toast. It was then that I realized that National Bearings were crap (or at least the ones I've had the pleasure of replacing). Guess what? My wheel bearing was toast. As I continued my inspection I noticed that the front brakes were also shot so I added them to the list of parts. Luckily, nothing else was broken so I picked up a Timken wheel bearing and a set of brake pads.

The wheel bearing was cake. I've replaced so many of these, I could do it in my sleep. About an hour in and I had the wheel bearing and brakes on the driver-side done.

The new bearing and the old raggedy part.

The new bearing's future home. Ain't it purty?

Oh, I have to share a new tool I bought. I know it sounds dirty but it's much easier to use than the traditional c-clamp. Ok, get your heads out of the gutter.

Next up was replacing the struts. It's pretty easy. Remove the tire. Crawl in the trunk and remove the three retaining nuts at the top of the strut using a mid-well socket and lots of patience (because the one in the corner is in a tight spot. Get out of the trunk and work the kink out of your back. Use the impact to break the two lower strut mount nuts loose. The bots are splined and will have to be beat out with a hand sledge. In general, I put a jack under the disc brake as insurance in case the strut assembly blows apart. It's rare but it could happen and I don't want to see what loaded car spring vs. my head would look like.

Here are the two lower bolts. I flipped the nuts over so I wouldn't destroy the bolt while beating it with the hand sledge. The driver-side came out pretty easily.

The passenger-side was a different story. I had the use "the equalizer" to get those bolts unseated.

Here's what a strut looks like sitting next to the car in a staged picture. Trust me, they work much better when installed.

So, the next step is to use a spring compressor to make the springs more dangerous by, um, compressing them some more. I've had friends tell stories of shops seeing those blow apart and the spring lodging in a cinder block wall. I don't know if they're true stories or urban legends but I'd rather not find out.

I trust my life to this cheap "OEM" branded tool. Scary, eh?

One of these kids is doing his own thing...(glad I replaced them both)
I also had the pleasure of replacing the upper strut mount bushing on the passenger side. Although I didn't get a pic, it's a metal bushing molded into a rubber/plastic housing. It's the top piece on the assembled strut pictures. The one on the passenger side was so worn out I could push it with my finger and see the cracked rubber. Heck, it was cheap. I slapped everything back together, torqued, tigtened, finished the brake on the passenger side and went for a spin. So much for hoping this fixed my ABS issue but, whatever, at least it is safe.

The next day, with coupon in hand, I dropped my car off at Car-X for an alignment. I couldn't get the boss to authorize a $6k for a "toy". I'd also have to find a place to bolt a lift to the floor. Anyway, the guy says it'd be about an hour so I walked down the street to Starbucks to drink expensive coffee and play on the internet. An hour later I walked back only to see the car still sitting outside. The guy assured me I was next and it would only be an hour but I knew better and got picked up. Four hours later I got a call that they were done and my car drove straight. I drove home for the evening.

There was still a matter of the worn front tire. Since my back tires were fine, I decided to have the fronts rotated to the rear but I was way beyond wanting to touch another wrench. As I went to leave, I noticed the front tire was low. I added some air and went to Discount Tire. The guys there repaired my leaky bead seal and rotated the tires for free. As long as they continue their great service (and especially the free stuff) they'll have my business. I have to admit there is a definitely noticible difference in the ride of the car. It's remarkable these little things can have such an impact.

Ok, if you haven't fallen asleep, here are the grand totals for this work. Let's just say that if I had a payment on this thing I'd have traded it in...

Wheel Bearing $100
Struts $140
Strut Mount $22
Alignment $60
Brakes $0 (warranty)
Tire Repair $0
Tire Rotation $0
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Grand Total: $322 + time about 4 hours labor