Suspension 'refresh'

[vit4]

In a nutshell, the ride in my car (Vauxhall Astra mk2 1.4 Merit) has been getting a bit crashy for a while now. The car's on 109,000 miles so not done too badly I need to keep it for a couple of years yet for insurance reasons so it makes sense to look after it.

Anyway, I was wondering what exactly is involved in doing a 'suspension refresh'? Also, could someone with limited spanner skills do this, and if so how much potential to cock things up monumentally is there? Got an 1,100 mile round trip over France in a couple of weeks so hesitant to do it myself if it could render the car undriveable as I'm not insured to drive anything else abroad!

Thanks in advance

[Marf]

Suspension refresh to me means

Shocks
Springs
Bushes
Dust boots
Top mounts

i.e. replacing the whole lot.

The two hardest parts would be fitting the springs to the shocks using spring compressors, and removing the old and fitting the new bushes as you may need to burn out the old ones, and might need a press to push the new bushes into certain components.

Of course once you've replaced everhything you'd need to take it somewhere to get a full 4 wheel alignment done.

[SonicShadow]

It would involve replacing a load of bushes, the shocks and the springs, maybe top mounts if they are also knackered - would probably replace them anyway if you are doing the rest. While you are there, you'd check everything for wear and tear (joints, arms etc) and replace as appropriate.

Worst case scenario is you are left with a load of bits on your driveway and an immobile car, or a spring lodged in your brain because you didnt use a spring compressor when rebuilding the suspension and an immobile face.

[Schuey M]

It's not worth spending money on a 1.4 astra; save up and get a decent car instead is my advice.

[v8will]

Schuey M said:

It's not worth spending money on a 1.4 astra; save up and get a decent car instead is my advice.

OP says he needs to keep the car a couple of years...

I'd probably just stick to replacing what's required at MOT time as a full suspension refresh can be quite involved in terms of cost.

[vit4]

Hmm. Doesn't sound too bad... I suppose my biggest concern would be if anything out of the ordinary did happen, for example;

Marf said:

The two hardest parts would be fitting the springs to the shocks using spring compressors, and removing the old and fitting the new bushes as you may need to burn out the old ones, and might need a press to push the new bushes into certain components.

Spring compressors are a given so I'd fork out for a decent set, but other than that I'm pretty limited in what tools I have/have access to. Might give it a bash, hope for the best and phone the garage if it all goes tits up, only one way to learn

Out of interest, other than Euro Car Parts, are there any similar suppliers that would be worth a check? Looking at the items given above, and they don't have everything. Cost wise it's better than I was expecting but I know they're meant to be pretty competitive.

Schuey M said:

It's not worth spending money on a 1.4 astra; save up and get a decent car instead is my advice.

As I said in the OP, insurance for where I am is crucifying and the Astra is an anomaly. I'm paying £1800, for scale of the situation my gf's V-reg Fiesta would be about £3200 and an E38 (which is what I really want at the moment) would be over £4k. Even a higher trim of Astra would stick nearly a grand onto it.