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Busy day for my 9-5...

854 views 4 replies 2 participants last post by  numbersix 
#1 · (Edited)
Today, the bucket had...

Installed:
-New Aero springs
-Bilstein HD's
-Goodridge stainless steel brake lines

Replaced:
-Strut bearings
-Bump stops
-Lower control arm bushings
-Upper motor mount
-IDM
-Spark plugs
-ACC head unit

Performed:
-4 Wheel alignment
-Brake fluid flush

I think there's more I'm missing--I'd have to go get the receipt.

Not a cheap day for either myself or the extended warranty administrator.

And there's more to come...
 
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#3 ·
The list wasn't expected to be quite this long, actually.

Didn't know prior that the IDM was failing, nor that the upper motor mount was bad--although I suspected it might be, as shifting from R-->D-->R while stopped (when parallel parking, say) would result in a lot of abrupt drivetrain movement similar to when the upper pitch mount failed on the old 850 Turbo.

Thus far, I've driven the car a total of about 10 miles with the new goods thanks to other commitments tonight. It definitely feels more flat and controllable than before; my biggest beef with the stock setup was the overall lack of body control--the car just felt old and worn. That's just a bad memory now. It's still not a sports car by any measure--the stiffer setup makes the chassis flex more apparent, and the steering feel is nil. But I can tell it will be far more enjoyable overall.

I can tell it's likely going to be much more sensitive to tire pressure. The tires were at 35psi when I picked it up, and I upped that to 40 and noted a big difference in initial impact harshness over small road imperfections. I might bring that down to 38 or so and try to find the sweet spot.

One curious thing: I've heard that rear shocks tend to fail early on these cars--around 50-70k. Mine are 100% fine, but the front ones seem to have zero rebound resistance left--I can pull/push the strut shaft in/out and it will stay in whatever place I leave it. That's not normal, in my experience.
 
#4 ·
Steering feel was greatly improved with hub braces. An even bigger improvement to steering feel and chassis flex was the subframe brace. Unfortunately that was a one time group buy, and most of them are broken now. We need to harass Nick to make us a new brace, since those lucky 9-3 folks already have more braces than a grade school :lol:

I found that 35psi on 17" tires was my best zone between comfort and road feel. At 40psi the little bumps got quite annoying.
 
#5 ·
04's = Saab kindly took care of the hub brace upgrade for me.

I hear the subframe brace made a difference. It sounds like Nick is not convinced by the design of the 9-5 brace; if he (or someone of his caliber) were to produce something and could demonstrate the soundness of the engineering behind it, I'd consider buying it.
 
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