[catattack]

I have been driving my 2004 5-speed since 2015 and the suspension has always been rough and bumpy, which everyone knows is normal for a G1. I have gotten used to it, however, it has been slowly getting worse over the last few years, and last week it became noticeably worse overnight. Now it seems like I'm feeling every small bump on the road. I've suspected the control arms for a while because the rubber bushings are worn out out. They creak when they flex like when I pull into a driveway. I know the ball joints are also going bad because it 'clunks' sometimes when making a tight turn. I want to know if anyone's fixed these kinds of problems by replacing the control arms or if I will have to also replace the shocks and/or springs.

 

[KLR3CYL]

How many miles on your car? Have you closely inspected the front struts to see if they are leaking?
A bad strut can be noisy and cause poor ride.

The lower control arm rear compliance bushings usually crack and eventually brake and can need replacement. I’ve replaced a few sets.

Scott

 

[hondarider90]

Mine had a noticeable ride quality improvement and mine weren't broken but the bushing flexed way too easily from deep cracks. Felt like the suspension sat higher and soaked up small bumps way better. That was all I did on that particular service. I'd say if you're digging in there do yourself a favor and consider struts or at least all the rubber bits and get scotts front springs.

 

[Drtye]

I've got a bad right front strut. I can consistently get a jarring behavior out of the suspension. I suspected they were weak but over the winter it developed rapidly into a gushing oil leaking from the strut. It's 100% gone now. It's darty, the steering wheel wants to be ripped out of my hand over certain rough roads. If I go over bumps on the right side under braking I can get ABS to activate from the tire bouncing on the road instead of being dampened. Overall dangerous to drive. The LF is weak RF completely gone.

 

[catattack]

KLR3CYL:
The car has about 160k miles. I haven't inspected the struts carefully yet. I don't recall seeing any strut leakage but I'll check soon.
hondarider90:
"That was all I did on that particular service." Do you mean struts or control arms?
Drtye:
Oh wow that sounds really intense. My car isn't doing anything like that. Steering is almost perfectly normal if not for a bit of bump-steer when going over very rough asphalt. Sometimes ABS activates from bumps, but rarely.

I'm hoping this means my issues are mostly caused by bad control arm bushings and ball joints. But replacing struts wouldn't be that much more expensive if I do the work at home.

Edit: Struts are completely dry. No visible signs of any fluid leakage anywhere on the strut, knuckle, etc. I have considered that it might just be my tires causing this problem. However I'm still wondering about people's opinions on the control arm replacement. I also heard that replacement arms come with 'new spec' bushings which improve handling. Anybody have an improvement in ride quality when swapping arms?

 

[hondarider90]

Just control arms made a massive difference in noise and ride comfort and neither were fully separated

 

[catattack]

Thanks, very helpful. I'll consider replacing them asap.

 

[hondarider90]

Even if they dont leak the fluid starts breaking down inside struts. Most people with over 100k miles will notice new struts. It's just a cost benefit question only you can answer.