Very nice! It looks like the control arm part is missing the hole where it attaches to the frame, and the hole for the sway bar link. That must not be the final product, or Nick's having things attach slightly differently. I'm assuming it will be $700 for both sides, which unfortunately might put these out of my price range. Still, those would be nice to have.

 

I'd be interested to see the swaybar and stanchion arm connected to this. If this solves some of the wear issues there, the price could end up being quite affordable in practice.

 

I think I'm on about my 4th set of control arms in about 175,000 miles. The stanchion arms are original, but I had the bushings replaced once (I'm not counting the extremely short-lived ProParts ones). If I had to pay someone to install the parts, it would have been more than worth it over the years to have something with replaceable ball joints, since that seems to be just about all that wears out.

 

The catalog listing says "pair" and it priced at $350! It's a steal at that price if you need arms... and you get camber adjustment!

FYI - if you look at the arms you can see that the Heim joint serves as the subframe bushing, with the spaces shown. It does appear to need a hole and/or recess for the sway bar links.

 

FYI..

The catalog listing says "pair" and it priced at $350!

Price just went up to $375, but they are currently in stock.
I just placed an order today. Also, the connections to both the subframe and the upper control arm do not use bushings. They are solid mounts.
Looking forward to giving them a try when my car gets back on the road this winter! It's not lowered (yet) so I will not be able to test the "Improved roll center geometry for lowered cars." I'm excited that the ball joints are replaceable!

 

I think it also requires 16" wheels.

 

I would bet that most people who shop at Taliaferro Saab are running at least 16" wheels, but I'm always concerned about the 15" spare on these cars when 16" wheels are required. I picked up a 16" spare and the matching foam tool piece at Pick-n-Pull from a 9-3 after upgrading to 308mm front brakes. It would really suck to get a flat on the front and have to swap tires just so you could use the spare on the rear.

 

I'm always concerned about the 15" spare on these cars when 16" wheels are required.

This is a theme at my house... My SPG, Fiero, Falcon, and XR4Ti all have brakes that won't allow use of the factory spare. I buy "mobility kits" (compressor + goo) when they show up cheap on eBay. Since virtually all modern cars use these, it's pretty easy to get a good price. I have found this far superior to a spare tire - I've not once had a flat so bad I couldn't pump up the tire and get to a tire store... I've not once had to resort to the goo. Adding air is a lot less painful and a lot less dirty than changing a tire. I also save a few pounds and win some storage space.

 

I just got 17s with a og9-3 I bought they look really good.

 

I'm going to have a set of lightly used Vgotland lowering springs and Bilstein shocks from my previous 9-3 up for sale in late January. Long story, but I have a very short time-frame to sell... then they go back in storage indefinitely. If you might be interested, PM me and we can chat about a deal.

 

Rubik - Good call on the control arms. Don't forget your sway bar bushes as well.
My understanding - I could be wrong.. is that it is really only Viggens that cant use a 15" unless you've upgraded your brakes to the Viggen or 95 sets.
I've got the standard 288mm so I pack the 15" spare. Finding a spare ALU26 3 spoke is hard.

 

I grabbed sway bar bushings as well (only $20), and the upgraded bushing where the upper control arm attaches to the subframe, including an extra set of super hard race bushings.

Well I will certainly be doing some experimenting regarding the wheels! I have like 4 different sets of 15s and only one set of 17s at the moment. Maybe I'll have to get 95 brakes to justify running larger wheels regardless🤔

 

That is a good plan.

I have 13" Corvette brakes on my Fiero, necessitating very large wheels. Regrets? Zero.

 

I just saw a set of adapters to put 9-3ss brakes on an og. So you could go to TurboX or even possibly Cobalt Brembos.

 

How do we get more rotors installed on the axles??

 

The bolt pattern and hub bore is the same, so they go right on. You just gotta have adapters for the different caliper position.

 

Or you can just get the Viggen carriers and upgrade to the 308's without any real work at all.

 

I was joking, but I meant additional rotors and braking components on the same axles. Like an extra rotor sitting behind the normal ones.

 

In case anyone wants pics of the arms in the subframe assembly, here yah go.
I ended up repainting the subframe and anti roll bar cause I saw a little rust. Plus it looks pretty cool. It's got powerflex stanchion arm inner bushings and Taliaferro arb bushings.

I'll be installing it tonight or tomorrow. Also got the Taliaferro engine mounts (hard) and an ebay copper ceramic clutch so there will be very little flex between the crankshaft and the wheels .

 

Very interesting! I was under the impression that they also included a replacement for the stanchion arms, but obviously not. With all of the adjustments that can be made, I'm assuming that the car will need an alignment after installation? What kind of bushing does it use to connect the stanchion arm to the control arm, or is it a rigid connection? It seems like there doesn't need to be any flex there, since the Vauxhall that shared the same platform had a one-piece control arm.

 

With all of the adjustments that can be made, I'm assuming that the car will need an alignment after installation?

Yep, alignment is recommended. I'm not super familiar with suspension geometry design, but I've watched a few youtube videos. I guess lowering the car changes the roll center and camber angle. So the adjustment is useful. I'm not sure what the control arms are set to when they ship from Taliaferro. Do alignment shops do camber adjustment as well?

What kind of bushing does it use to connect the stanchion arm to the control arm, or is it a rigid connection?

It is rigid. There are two aluminum spacers between the two arms (probably to reduce the size of the aluminum stock they mill). In the pic I haven't tightened the bolts, which are of course larger than stock.

 

That looks really fantastic.... I wouldn't have thought painting the subframe useful, but it looks really nice!

You may have to find a "specialist" alignment shop... usually a computer says "set this to X" but you have new adjustment that previously didn't exist. A lot of chain technicians won't touch things that don't match up with the computer. You'll have to figure out where you want camber to be.... and I'm thinking that adjusting camber will have an affect on caster, too, since fixed stanchion arm will move the steering knuckle around a bit as the LCA gets shorter or longer. Maybe not enough to matter though.... Surely Nick has some recommendations for initial settings?

 

I cannot get over how great that looks!!!

 

The factory specs have a camber dimension, it's just not adjustable. I'd get a lifetime alignment so you can play with it as needed. Have you shimmed the rear hubs for camber? Makes a big difference. If you are doing all that to the front, shim the rear to -1.1 negative.

 

Rubik, my 02 9-3 front suspension is only ~60k mi old and now clunking (again). I'm now researching parts that would maximum the front suspension durability.. Would you recommend these Genuiesaab Machined Control Arms What else would you do to maximize durability?

 

Is it the front or rear arm that is the source of the clunk? The machined control arm kit is just replacing the front arm. The rear one still uses the stock bushing to mount to the subframe, unless you go the powerflex route like I did.

I can't really advise whether you should go for these or not, I'll just state my experience so far:

I haven't put a ton of miles on the setup so far, probably under 1-2k, since I've been chasing engine issues since summer. But it works well, feels very stiff and responsive, but I have also done a lot of other suspension mods. The main attraction is that you won't have to replace the whole arm just to replace the ball joint. It's basically a drop in replacement of the stock front arm, except you need to run 16"+ wheels and you need to lubricate the ball joint with a grease gun.

I'm happy with the purchase, but again you can't run the 15" wheels which most of the 900s/9-3s came with.

 

Very nice work Rubik , you have inspired me for next time I have a subframe out , I love the idea of the serviceable ball joints with the GS arms . One day .....

 

My mechanic confirms that it's the rear arm bushings that are gone, not the front arms which had been replaced. And he said they look original.

Does anyone have recommendations for good quality rear arms, and ones to avoid? The Original Saab arms are like ~$270, which is more than URO and other aftermarket brands that go for ~$100-150?

 

Chatty; You're still talking about the front suspension? So you're referring to the stanchion arms as the "rear arms"?

Like @Rubikssolver4 suggested, bushing replacement is the suggestion. The arms themselves don't wear.

Cheapest route is probably the import arms (vs. bushings) if you're paying for labor unless the mechanic is very reasonable and doesn't charge flat-rate. Best durability is the factory parts.

Either way, you should also replace the sleeves (part # 32021742 , only a couple bucks each) and the rear stanchion arms bolts for good measure (#11100011) when you do the job. You can buy the 11100011 bolts from a GM dealer. They are used on other models.