GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

hey all. long time lurker, this is my first post here. I'm replacing the suspension on my 2003 vibe base 1zz. Installing tokico blue (recommended by many members here). Factory struts were a b!tch to remove [frozen on - 140k miles, salted roads in winter, etc.]

My question is this:

What associated parts, or parts that are related to the rear suspension (or not) and accessible with the car in the air should I look to replace at near 150k miles? this is a daily and at times heavy duty driver, I plan on driving it 20k a year until I have to bury the carcass in my back yard. I love this car and it's been with me through hell and back, so I want to treat it right.

thank you,

-J

Welcome to the realm of posting

When I changed the struts last spring (to Tokico blue) the rear struts where still functioning properly, as where the top hats that hold the struts to the unibody. So the top hats where reused. Having blown struts makes it more likely the top hats also have damage, so they should be inspected. When in doubt replace.

Everything else is metal, so as long as it's not damaged or too rusted reuse everything else.

Note: I had a blown front strut so I replaced both the front top hats.