Announcement

**RedZMonte** · 12-09-2009, 06:11 PM

not sure what the questions are.. but my opinon i would look at a set of "eibach" lowering springs 1.5" drop. no modifications needed to struts but a set of KYB's would definatly improve the handling. you would not have a harsh ride by any stretch of the imagination.

As for "rehooping" your stock steel wheels, i have never done it but i bet it would be cheaper to find a decent set of wheels or a nother set of Stock Steel wheels the right size to start with. or just buy a higher performance tire (firmer side wall, higher traction rating) or find a set of OEM Alloys that swap, tipically the factory alloys are 1/2-1" wider then the steel wheels. going with a 16" wheel, you should have some better tire choices. use the tire size calc to find a comp. diameter to keep your speedo accurate. with the right backspacing and tire size you shouldn't need to "Roll the fender". from there you can get Sway bars, polly bushings, strut tower bars, ect.... IIRC the malibu shares alot with the Grand Am's..... so parts for them should interchange.

Tire Size Calc.:

Tire size calculator

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

**95Grand-Am** · 12-09-2009, 11:10 PM

I don't know what your budget is, but a cheap sway bar package might come out of a 99 and newer grand-am GT from a salvage yard. You'll have to find one and measure it to see if they will fit you car. That eara Malibu share alot of part with the newer Grand-ams. You might also want to use the same tire and wheel set up. The 225 50 16 only show to be 1.4% smaller. You could upgrade to poly bushings, lowering springs, STB bar,and performance tires. That should offer a huge improvement over the stock malibu set up.

**JGTC MX6** · 12-10-2009, 09:46 AM

I'm not a huge fan of poly bushings, they do stiffen up the suspension but also do not allow it to articulate as well as spherical joints.

My question there was, "Has anyone done spherical suspension joints with this car?" I would rather not do the legwork if it has been done.

Tire size, this is where I am asking a complicated question. I'll preface it with this; the struts on my car and I assume all other malibus of this body style have little room between the tire and the spring perch, maybe 12mm clearance at best. Because I want a larger diameter and wider tire this will be a clearance issue. I would like the spring perch moved up an inch to provide the clearance I would like, which is not exactly possible without real coilovers. Yet there might just be a strut that will work from another car, I don't know.

Speedo, I didn't mention every reason for wanting larger diameter tires, the speedo/odometer issue will be resolved via the ecu.

Wheels, I like steel wheels, in flat black, kinda stealthy if you know what I mean, and more often than not they arent as heavy as the bling or stock alloys. Also, they tend to leave a bit more room on the inside diameter for stuff like brakes

.

My question there was, "Is there a strut with a higher spring perch that will fit the malibu, that hopefully comes from a slightly heavier car?" as above I'd rather not run around all over heck and creation if this is something thats been done already.

I'm pretty sure I'll need to roll the fenders with the 235s, if not then I'll go wider with a slightly lower aspect ratio. The thing is I dont know about the strut issue yet so finalizing tire/wheel width is just a guess at the moment.

My question there is, "Has anyone done anything even close to this that can give me some ideas or figures to work with?"

Maurice Pudlo

**95Grand-Am** · 12-11-2009, 12:46 AM

I don't Know about the malibu struts but on my older syle Grand -am I put Gabriel ultras on it and they measured 1/2" longer from the perch to the top bolt that holds it to the knuckle. That gave me anouther 1/2" of tire clearance. Measure yours then go to autozone and measure a new one. Maybe you'll get lucky like I did.

**onefastV6** · 12-11-2009, 01:23 AM

As previously mentioned:

Go with Eibach lowering spring and KYB struts.

The 99+ grand am GT may have a larger diameter sway bars than the malibu or you can check and see if you can find a set of aftermarket speedbuilt sway bars. I would also put on a set of strut tower bars.

Get a good set of tires and upgrade to 16" or larger wheels, I have used Toyo Proxes 4 tires with great results.

You could also get a billet motor mount from WOT-Tech that has polyurethane bushings, which made a noticeable improvement in my steering and handling.

Lastly, you could do polyurethane control arm bushings. I have mine done, just waiting to get the car back together. I am hoping they help quite a bit with the handling, the J-body community swears by them.

**RedZMonte** · 12-11-2009, 05:42 PM

I don't know how much room exactly there is on the malibu but on all my w-bodies and beretta's i know you can run a good size wider tire without issues.. and like mentioned above you may want to check if the KYB or other brands offer any difference, i have heard they do from other people as well... But honestly on my car i am lowered 1.5" and run a 245" tire on a 8" wide wheel and have never had clearance issues... if you do it right you shouldnt have any issues with clearance. What you may not get in tire width you will make up in improvement in suspension (springs, stb's, swaybars, ect). If you get a different wheel you can get a slightly lower offset and increase the wheel width as well as tire width... Example: W-body's run 225/60/16 on a 16x6.5" wheel w/ a 38mm offset... Optional wheel on the GP's where 245/50/16 on a 16x8" wheel w/ a 25mm offset.. wider tire and wheel fit because of the offset difference... My wheels are 17x8" w/ a 245/40/17 and 35mm offset, clear without any issues. so there is other routes other then "finding" or "modifying" a strut for more room.

I can apprecieate wanting to run a "Stealthy" wheel but that will be for you to decide if its worth the cost of rehooping that wheel or getting a clean OEM or aftermarket wheel and pawdercoating/painting it black to keep it stealthy.. Unless your building a all out drag car or going to huge chrome wheels there isnt going to be much of a difference in weight between a steel wheel and a alloy, atleast noticable when driving..

hope this helps

S

**JGTC MX6** · 12-17-2009, 03:30 PM

I will not go with poly bushings, they not only tighten up the suspension they also hinder its ability to articulate properly which hinders the suspensions ability to work as well as it should.

Obviously not for this car but youll get the idea from these links:

Racers Edge Porsche 924, 924S and 944 Spherical Bushings Kit for A-Arm

http://www.paragon-products.com/product_p/re_mc2500.htm

Our extensive development and testing process has been completed for every one of these important parts before they are made available to you. Together, they are a system of components that will make significant improvements in your car's performance.

Redirect Notice

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.function-7.com/f7images/ITRLCA-SP/images/img_8304.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.function7.com/products/itrlca-sp&usg=__wjy0Qr_9kSR_51zuVJiwf-Xj5E0=&h=427&w=640&sz=45&hl=en&start=3&sig2=odge8op7_ExBiccE51WBsQ&um=1&tbnid=CxGEoeSMo5HJrM:&tbnh=91&tbnw=137&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dspherical%2Bbearing%2Bbushing%2Binserts%2Bfor%2Bhonda%2Bcivic%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26rlz%3D1R2RNWI_enUS341%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1&ei=U4YqS6yaHM3rnQf7uc2ZBw

Redirect Notice

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://scch-heads.com/images/parts/mkII%2520Stock%2520arms%2520with%2520beaings%2520top.jpg&imgrefurl=http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread%3Fid%3D4125124&usg=__5CdQ3_9qLJMHuoRNKjOKcoybBpg=&h=480&w=640&sz=48&hl=en&start=40&sig2=FpsHBp3LYY0xWOAjLwW7RQ&um=1&tbnid=DUo1q7L9wmFJfM:&tbnh=103&tbnw=137&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dspherical%2Bbearing%2Bbushing%2Binserts%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26rlz%3D1R2RNWI_enUS341%26sa%3DN%26start%3D20%26um%3D1&ei=oYYqS92rAdKEnQe26vyXBw

Hope this helps you see what I'm aiming for.

Maurice Pudlo