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Hi all, picked up a '09 Cobalt SS today. I was reintroduced to these about a week ago, and went to check this one out last weekend. Once I saw that it had the G85 package, I was sold. It's going to by a fun driver and a potential autocross car. It needs a few things, such as a rear O2, thermostat, wheel bearing and something clunks in the suspension. All-in-all, seemed like a good deal for the mileage. This is also my second Chevy in 6 months; I picked up the Tahoe recently for daily/towing duties and it has paid dividends!
And here is my other car. It's a '97 BMW 328i built for STX, but ate up its second alternator at the last event. Had to trailer this down from my buddy's house after picking up the Cobalt this morning.
Right around 157k on it. The previous family (passed from mother to step brother to brother) had a house in the Philly suburbs and the Jersey Shore. Lots of highway travel between there.
Oh, and his name is Bolt. They named their motorcycles females and cars male. I don't name my cars, but you also don't change a car's name, so it is sticking. I hope it has as much character as my BMW does!
Alright, finally got to drive it for the first time today. Suspension feels pretty worn out, so it definitely needs a good once over to see what parts I have to buy. One thing that did bum me out is that the rear axle beam does need to get adjusted since the LR wheel isn't as centered in the wheel well as the RR one is. I just hope it doesn't need a new axle beam.
I'll get good photos eventually. Not a morning person and it's always dark when I get home.
Strange problem on the axle beam and I would think it would of had to been wrecked if that rear wheel is out of place that far. When I was in Highschool back in 2007 I was doing some ebraking around corners in the snow and hit a spot that was slicker and it slid me sideways right into a curb and bent my steel wheel pretty badly. It was completely ruined but it didn't screw up my rear axle beam. As for suspension being worn out I would use that as an opportunity to upgrade. If you are doing autoX at all I would recommend either new TC Cobalt FE5 or Koni dampers combined with Powell's YYZ V.5 springs. Also either swap out the front trailing control arm bushing or buy a new arm with a spherical bushing already installed. I know Powell has a great lifetime guarantee bushing and I have heard OTTP has a good option but I can't personally verify. At the very least replace the rear bushing with solid rubber instead of that junk voided rubber on the stock application. Front sway bar is fine just inspect bushings and end links and replace if worn. Powergrid makes an adjustable end link that is a really nice peace but probably too much cost for no more benefit than it has over say moog. For the rear twisting beam you will want to first figure out if anything is actually wrong with it obviously but it is beneficial to add a stiffener bar. Again Powell makes some really quality pieces and I recommend the Hardcore bar because I honestly think the XXX bar would be too much as I have plenty of rear end rotation with just the Hardcore bar. I have heard OTTP makes a decent bar as well. Maybe even ZZP, idk. Also on a related note I would get a rotated motor/trans mount to help prevent wheel hop no matter how you plan using the car. Again Powell makes a quality piece but OTTP may have a decent option as well. I know I have seen some scuttlebutt that OTTP's mount may not actually be rotated and just a different core material but I have no idea if that is actually true or not. And most importantly have some fun with it!
Strange problem on the axle beam and I would think it would of had to been wrecked if that rear wheel is out of place that far. When I was in Highschool back in 2007 I was doing some ebraking around corners in the snow and hit a spot that was slicker and it slid me sideways right into a curb and bent my steel wheel pretty badly. It was completely ruined but it didn't screw up my rear axle beam. As for suspension being worn out I would use that as an opportunity to upgrade. If you are doing autoX at all I would recommend either new TC Cobalt FE5 or Koni dampers combined with Powell's YYZ V.5 springs. Also either swap out the front trailing control arm bushing or buy a new arm with a spherical bushing already installed. I know Powell has a great lifetime guarantee bushing and I have heard OTTP has a good option but I can't personally verify. At the very least replace the rear bushing with solid rubber instead of that junk voided rubber on the stock application. Front sway bar is fine just inspect bushings and end links and replace if worn. Powergrid makes an adjustable end link that is a really nice peace but probably too much cost for no more benefit than it has over say moog. For the rear twisting beam you will want to first figure out if anything is actually wrong with it obviously but it is beneficial to add a stiffener bar. Again Powell makes some really quality pieces and I recommend the Hardcore bar because I honestly think the XXX bar would be too much as I have plenty of rear end rotation with just the Hardcore bar. I have heard OTTP makes a decent bar as well. Maybe even ZZP, idk. Also on a related note I would get a rotated motor/trans mount to help prevent wheel hop no matter how you plan using the car. Again Powell makes a quality piece but OTTP may have a decent option as well. I know I have seen some scuttlebutt that OTTP's mount may not actually be rotated and just a different core material but I have no idea if that is actually true or not. And most importantly have some fun with it!
Thanks for the info!
This definitely hasn't been wrecked in the rear, but it does have 157k miles of Philly and NJ roads. Definitely not kind to the suspension. I'm going to lift it up and see if anything looks visibly bent, it could be that the beam is just shifted and not bent. It tracks 100% straight and the rear tires don't have weird wear.
I can't do that much stuff to this car. I plan on doing SCCA street class. My recipe is: Konis, 17x7.5 wheels, Powell XXX bar and refreshing stock bushings. I'm doing the KISS method, since my BMW has so much adjustment available and I'm sick of it.
The jack point pinch welds are suffering. Looks like a lot of floor jack duty and it just flattened them out. I'll bang them straight and paint them so they don't rust this summer.
My front suspension clunk is the lower ball joint not being tight in the knuckle. Small chance that it's the wrong ball joint (I think I read the FE5 one is different?) otherwise, the pinch bolt is not tight enough. I gotta dig into it some more tomorrow, but it's been good so far.
The jack point pinch welds are suffering. Looks like a lot of floor jack duty and it just flattened them out. I'll bang them straight and paint them so they don't rust this summer.
My front suspension clunk is the lower ball joint not being tight in the knuckle. Small chance that it's the wrong ball joint (I think I read the FE5 one is different?) otherwise, the pinch bolt is not tight enough. I gotta dig into it some more tomorrow, but it's been good so far.
Have you confirmed the ball joint is loose in your knuckle? That could be a very dangerous situation and could also cause damage to your knuckle. It's possible that someone replaced the ball joint or even complete control arm with an non FE5 with the smaller ball joint stud.
Have you confirmed the ball joint is loose in your knuckle? That could be a very dangerous situation and could also cause damage to your knuckle. It's possible that someone replaced the ball joint or even complete control arm with an non FE5 with the smaller ball joint stud.
I think somebody replaced the ball joint with a smaller non FE5 one (the ones on it don't even have a zerk fitting). I tried to tighten it more today, and it was definitely tight. I had a buddy wiggle the wheel while I was under the car looking/feeling for what was moving. I could visibly see the ball joint stud moving in the knuckle.
I'm seeing some sketchy stuff on it right now. A few lug nuts were stripped, and the car had lost 2 of them! The maintenance list is slowly growing...
11-18-2017, 11:14 PM
