Recently purchased my first SS Cobalt, also being my first chevrolet.

Car is an 07, loaded to the teeth minus the LSD with 37K on the clock.

It test drove nicely, felt good, so I took the car home *Looked at quite a few, didnt notice much a difference*

After having it for about a month, I have a pile of assorted questions, and really don't have time to dig through every forum for answers, so I was hoping is someone could guide my in the right direction for a few questions:

A) Didn't notice, but the calipers have been painted , along these lines, I can't help but notice that the pass side rear brake does not seem to be grabbing. Do the rear calipers seize commonly on these cars? Or did some paint probably get in there from the idiocy of the previous owner? The brake still heats up, but is not getting clean after a month...

B) Front end occasional thud over bumps, I know nearly the first modification made by the looks of it on many cars is the trans mount, do the factory ones go bad easily/quickly?

C) Front end, occasional thud over bumps, I feel like I'm hearing the struts make a bit more noise than they should going into my driveway, as well as the nose sits mighty low compared to the back, Do the front struts on these cars go bad quickly/commonly, or just sit that low?

D) Bearing noise from the front, Sounds like a wheel bearing is already going out on the front, driver side, common/unusual/etc? The tires on it are nearly new, but they are 'cheaper' model of goodyear, and this is my first 'low profile' tired car in a while, so I do not know how much noise is typical, but it sounds like my old taurus SHO when its bearing went.

E) Bounce at idle when decelerating, I've been told this is common by a friend who owned one that the car when coming to a stop, may drop to a 500 idle, and bounce up, then down once to 'clear up the unburnt fuel' type of thing. But on the flip side, I feel like it has a miss under partial load, to top it off, this is my first boosted car, so I do not know what kind of 'surging' may be expected, if any? (No CELs)

F) Carfax and Autocheck all came up clear, but the windshield has been replaced. Now at this stage, the above problems make me feel like it had been in an accident prior, but an accident serious enough to need a new windshield I'd imagine would be reported, and the front panels all look like they have 3 years, and 37k worth of wear on them for sure. *Not that its in bad shape, but I can tell flat-out that this car has never been repainted beyond a shadow of a doubt* So on that note, do the OEM windshields crack/spider easily from road debri? My old taurus one cracked CRAZY easy.

Thank you in advance for any help or guidence guys, its going to a dealer hopefully soon here to get the recall done, and I'll have them go over it to confirm whatever may actually be wrong with it Vs. what is typical.

 

Congrats on the purchase!

Learn as much as you can about the LSJ engines and check to see if the engine has been modded. Supercharger pulley size, injectors, etc, etc will all make a difference. It's nice to know what other people have done and/or messed up with your car lol.

I'll briefly answer a bit...

A. Rear brake problems not really known on car. Tear off the caliper and check the pads, rotor, caliper, etc. A pretty easy job on these cars.

B. Thud in suspension is usually front sway bar end links. Moog makes better than OEM replacements. Powergrid makes the best but they're pricey.

C. Car is decently low from the factory. Could be lowered. Stuts couldn't make the car sit higher or lower as the spring holds the car up in the McPherson Strut front suspenstion. Suspension would bounce a bit if the struts and or shocks were going bad.

D. What kind of noise are you hearing? You'll learn real quick that Cobalts will make every noise under the sun. As soon as you fix one noise another will be heard lol. If you aren't getting shaking or pulling while you drive (minus alignment, tire balance and wear, etc), your suspension is probably fine.

E. Not 'normal', but not 'bad'. Usually cause by a dirty throttle body causing the butterfly to hang up. Damn drive by wire cars. Clean TB. Could also be caused by a shitty tune with wrong injector values.

F. Windshield can crack for any numerous reasons. Never heard of the SS/SC's windshields cracking any easier than any other car. If the fron end is beat it's likely the car did a lot of highway driving, so a nice stone chip could explain the windshield replacement.

Ohhh, and if you're looking to mod, I have some parts for sale! https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/show....php?p=5029399

 

Thank you!

I bought the car because it is BONE stock, it does show signs of some highway travel, but the belt tensioner has never been touched by a tool, hands down too clean.

I figured stripping the paint, and cleaning the caliper will probably resolve the issue, but just figured I'd ask, my old taurus ATE rotors.

Suspension doesn't have any odd bounces IMO, granted I used to drive quite a few hondas too, and am used to a bit of a 'rough' ride, and this car is no where near 'bad'.

No shaking or pulling, but I REALLY think its the bearing, Are these bolt in or press in?

I figured it may have something to do with DBW, I had a mustang that did something similar when its TPS went on the fritz.

Kinda goes along with what I was thinking *Windshield* And you don't have what I want FS!

 

Sounds like you have everything under control. I believe you usually just replace the whole hub when the wheel bearing goes bad. I don't think it's user servicable. About $100 each if I recall.

Clear up the problems you were talking about and then take it to the dealer and see if they will fix anything under any remaining warranty.