01 Nubira Front Suspension

[Rob916]

Greetings all.. New user here. I just picked up a 2001 Nubira from a friends tow yard for $500. Car is in pretty good shape, only 92k miles on it. I have noticed that the car wanders from side to side driving in a straight line and was wondering if it is the typical control arm issues I have been reading about? I see I can purchase complete control arm assemblies from Rockauto.com for $40 each. Other than that the car seems great, I have no clue if the timing belt has ever been done so the first thing I'm planning on doing it taking it in for a timing belt service at a Daewoo service center I found near me.

[Daniel]

Welcome.
Control arm bushings are weak points on Nubira. There are several posts about this in the forum. In addition to trace your problem have a close look at all suspension & steering ball joints, drop links, tire wear/pressure.

I have had a similar problem that was gradually cured by new bushings, new tires & new power steering fluid.

When ordering the parts also order the four centering split sleeves 96 300 622 that go in the rear silent block.
IMHO the manual is incorrect asking to put 2 sleeves prior arm to chassis assembly. I used the following sequence: put a sleeve, put the arm in place, push the first sleeve by the second sleeve until it flush with the bottom of the frame, insert srew.

[Rob916]

Just swapped the control arms out. Was only slightly a pain in the ass to do the job. I was able to pull and install the replacement control arms without removing any axles or anything else. Basically I removed the ball joint pinch bolt. Removed the rear arm bolt and removed the bracket so I could have more clearance to get the arm out. Removed the front bolt and nut which is a pain to remove with the axles in place. You can squeeze it past the CV boot, I thought about reinstalling the nut and bolt backwards for ease of install however I thought about it from an engineering standpoint and thought that they probably designed it that way so if the nut happens to fail for some odd reason the bolt will not come out. Getting the bushings to line up with the holes was slightly difficult however with the help of a couple screwdrivers I was able to position the bushings for the bolts to pass through. I was able to reuse the split sleeves as they were in good condition. Now I shall be off for a front end alignment tomorrow.

[Daniel]

Good job!

...if the nut happens to fail for some odd reason the bolt will not come out

That's the reason and correct procedure.

If you can I would like to know your front/rear alignment settings fo caster/camber/toe/included angle/...

[Rob916]

So my replacement control arms lasted about a year and it's now eating a pair of tires every 30 days. I bought the cheap Dorman ones from Rockauto and looking at it, the front bushings on the control arm are torn, the rear ones look ok. Now I'm thinking, would you recommend the AC Delco control arms from Rockauto as perhaps they are a better quality. Or would it be ok to just go with replacement bushings and press them into my existing control arms? If replacement bushings is OK, what brand bushing would you recommend so I don't have to do this again after another year?

[Puddle31]

that's awful fast to go through a set of tires! have you had your allignment checked? Toe in, camber etc? it may cost a few bucks but much cheaper than tires every month.

[Rob916]

Well I replaced the control arms last May. then had the alignment done at the Infiniti dealer (I'm a vendor of theirs). The tires were fine until about a couple months ago, then I looked and the bushings and they are torn again.. It's not an alignment issue, it's the damn bushings.

[Daniel]

You can replace the front bushings alone but you need some kind of press to do the job.
The rest of your control arm will still be "low cost" but that's what I would do.

Remember that the worst you can do to those bushings is to lift the car with front wheels hanging. When ever possible I now lift the front wheels by control arms as mentioned by service manual.

[NubiraDellwoo]

I have noticed that the car wanders from side to side driving in a straight line
and was wondering if it is the typical control arm issues I have been reading about?

The control arm bushings could be fully or only partially at fault

as there are other things that could be suspect...

does it wander or pull when throttle is applied ?
reason I ask...
is I also changed out muh CA bushings...
but still had issue.
Came to find out the motor mount on the passenger side had failed.
Gel type... replaced that... removed the torque steer.

still have a little play in the steering tho'
but think it may have something to do the the racks tie rod ends.
just haven't looked into that very far.
Was under the impression the rack need be replaced as a whole
and was not serviceable... but I don't know that to be fact.