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01 grand prix trailing arm questions

sasquatch094

sasquatch094

New member
question, on my 01 grand prix SE, both of my rear trailing arms are bent/kinked. Ive never got hit or did anything to kink them. Im curious to why both sides, left and right rear trailing arms would be like this. are they that weak??

Factory shape is like a U persay, aftermarkets are tubular. should i stick with some factory ones or grab a set of aftermarket. This car has no mods what so ever, but id hate for them to bend again..

what kind would you recommend. thanks
would this even work??http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Dorm...ies&fits=Model:Grand+Prix&hash=item51967344bb
 


The factory design is poor at best on the rear trailing arms. If you're going to spend money on replacements, go ahead and get the tubular ones. And, since you're going to spend time replacing them, get some good ones. ZZP has some 1" ones for $120, or you can pick up some BMR 1.5" ones for $130-$140 at various outlets online. Honestly, anything other than the factory ones will be a tremendous upgrade. I think the Dorman ones you have linked are square tube and something like 3/4" across. They're small and weak compared to the nice tubular ones, but still better than the stockers.
 
thanks dan. By no means is this a race car or anything like that. im just looking for a "better then stock replacement" and a minimum cost :)

is the control arm the adjustable one correct?

and would you know why the trailing arms would be bent in the first place?? thankss!
 
It's been mentioned that the GXP trailing arms fit as well. If I remember correctly, they are about $30 each and are similar or are the GMPP trailing arms. UMI also makes a set of trailing arms.
 
The dorman ones will work fine for you. The stocks are just stamped steel and get rusty then just decided they are tired of holding the car and bend.
 
good to know. thanks for your help guys. ill see what i can do, i prefer to buy new if i can afford it. ill have to look around.

If i wouldnt have noticed the bent trailing arms, do you think it would do anything to my tires or any malfunctions? did i catch it soon enough?
 


If one broke your ass end would be all over the place, other than that they would just screw up your alingment.
 
shawngtp said:
I had the UMI trailing arms and they are great and I think they were 125 shipped IIRC.
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thats not too shabby. im just thinking about resale value on the car if i ever turn it around. someone looks under it and sees upgraded suspension they automatically think race car driver or some dumbsh*t like that. soo i need it to be better then stock, but with "stock like" appearance. :th_scratchhead:
 
Stick with the Dorman ones, then. They'll be better than stock but still look like a factory piece. Or you can pick up some GXP ones, like Guz said, and they'll still look stock but perform quite a bit better.
 


I wanted to help stiffen the rear suspention on my '04 Monte Carlo. I pulled the stock trailing arms and put on a set of arms from UMI Performance. Can't say I noticed much as far as a difference (a little firmer/stiffer take off, but next to no one would ever notice that).

I have my old stock arms in a box. They have about 55K on them. I bought the '04 Monte in Septmber of '08 and it has not seen snow since I bought it.

I'm more then happy to sell the stock ones. If you are interested, PM me if interested (if your serious, throw me a price and I can get a shipping quote). I would be happy to see them leave my garage and someone get some use out of them.

If you're going to go aftermarket, I am thrilled with the craftsmanship of all the UMI stuff I bought for my '84 Camaro (hence why I chose UMI for the W-Bod arms).
 
sasquatch094 said:
TheManiac- they bolt up with no modification? id be interested, hell im in Willoughby, so like 2 min away from you. lol

i saw that set from Morad actually. still debating, i should really get moving on this, driving a car with fawkd trailing arms probably isnt the smartest
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That is too funny you're a city away from me! I never took notice of your profile info. Looking at your profile pic, I think I saw that Grand Prix for sale a few years ago!

I sent you a PM regarding the trailing arms. Hit me back, I am more then happy to work something out with you.
 
TheManiac said:
I wanted to help stiffen the rear suspention on my '04 Monte Carlo. I pulled the stock trailing arms and put on a set of arms from UMI Performance. Can't say I noticed much as far as a difference (a little firmer/stiffer take off, but next to no one would ever notice that).

I have my old stock arms in a box. They have about 55K on them. I bought the '04 Monte in Septmber of '08 and it has not seen snow since I bought it.

I'm more then happy to sell the stock ones. If you are interested, PM me if interested (if your serious, throw me a price and I can get a shipping quote). I would be happy to see them leave my garage and someone get some use out of them.

If you're going to go aftermarket, I am thrilled with the craftsmanship of all the UMI stuff I bought for my '84 Camaro (hence why I chose UMI for the W-Bod arms).
Click to expand...

If your stock ones you're trying to sell aren't tubular i'm going to have to recommend the OP skip them just based on how much of a PITA these can be to replace.

As for noticing the difference... it just tightens up the rear end... of course you're not going to notice a difference in a launch. Try a corner for a change.
 


matt5112 said:
If your stock ones you're trying to sell aren't tubular i'm going to have to recommend the OP skip them just based on how much of a PITA these can be to replace.

As for noticing the difference... it just tightens up the rear end... of course you're not going to notice a difference in a launch. Try a corner for a change.
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There non-tubular, hence why they are stock. I replaced them just because I wanted to stiffen the rear end (outside of that, they are in great condition).

As for being a PITA to change, not sure why. Admittedly my only pain point was not having an impact gun available (breaking the bolts free holding the arm took a lot of UMPH). Out side of that, changing them was a breeze, easy, straight forward.

As I stated, if I were going to buy a set new, I too agree with going for a tubular pair (hence why I recommended ordering a set from UMI Performance, like what I put on my Monte). The tubular ones will function better then stock. Just my opinion.
 
matt5112 said:
your car is too new to have nicely seized parts :p
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Hehe, I'll give ya that, got me there. That's a good point (and I did not look at that factor).

I would think a little PB Blaster (or other penetrating oil) and an air impact gun would get the job done. And if I had to worry about rusted parts, I would have done my arm swap where I had access to an air impact gun.
 
the brackets that mount to the body tend to seize to the sleeve in the bushing.

One side of mine were okay, the other was a PITA.

LCA's were a similar deal.

One side was okay, the other was a major PITA.
 
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