my friend has a 91 DA LS , he was getting new tires put on and a new alignment, but they told him that he needed new upper control arms and new springs, is there any reason why they would need to do this? I always thought that his car did sit alittle bit lower than it prob should have, but dont know why he would need the control arm replaced, anybody have any idea?

Ok, he just heard back from the shop and he said that the front springs were broken! so thats why it sits lower, but he still didnt explain why the control arm needed to be replaced

 

Well it could be that either your FRIEND or the person he bought the car from CUT the spings to lower the car to say money. And after years of running it like that the ball joints on the control arm were damaged. Your friend can do the work himself in a couple of hours. 90-93 integra used parts are abontant. You can find them in the junk yard, Recycler and even craigs list or ebay. He can get all used OEM parts in good condition for about $40.00 and install them himself.
Then take the car back to the shop for an alignment.

 

Might be true.. of so do it yourself. DON'T pay the shop to do it.

 

yeah, well the shop said that the springs were "broken" not cut, but I told him that we could do get the parts from the junkyard or ebay, the shop was going to charge him $1200 for all of it, and he only paid $1800 for the car, so its not worth it, we will get to it within a week or two hopefully, thanks for all the help guys

 

1200? I bet most of us here can do the swap in 4 hours, so can you. Spring cost you like 50 at junkyards, and probably another 50 fot that UCA. Another 60 bucks for the shop manual, and probably a couple beer for a friend who works on car. You do the math.

 

how can you "break" springs from normal driving, and he might need to replace the control arms because they could be bent, possibly explaining why the springs might be "broken"

 

well the car is about 15 years old and has 160k on it, the other owner had done some pretty stupid **** to it, so yeah, he might have cut the springs, but we dont really know, all we know is that we have to fix it or his tires are going to have a bad wear pattern again, his old ones were almost slicks!

I know that I could do the install by myself, its just a matter of having enough time to do it, since we are both in college and work weekends, if we do fix it we will replace oth the springs and upper control arms, prob some from ebay or a junkyard, since we found a DA in one thats aout 30 min from his house, we have already taken a couple of parts from it, lol

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RaceMyGhost &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">how can you "break" springs from normal driving, and he might need to replace the control arms because they could be bent, possibly explaining why the springs might be "broken"</TD></TR></TABLE>

Springs can break, they get worn from rust and normal movement. My civic has the same problem, stock sprink cracked and broke and now the car sits slightly lower on that spring.

 

when you mean your friend, do you really mean YOU!!!

shops these days, they dont know when to stop. go to the junkyard!

 

no, i have a 96 CX Civic, he has the DA, and i dont think i would buy a car that is as rusted out as his is

 

Hey guys. Its my car. lol, No the springs were not cut, they just rusted out as mstolars said. What i actually think I'm going to do about it tho is wait till next semester at school (I'm going to MATC Madison for Auto Tech) and change everything out in the unit. That way I can talk my parents into buying me some good stuff for christmas, and wont have to pay for it!

They said that it shouldnt get any worse over time, and the reason they had to replace the upper conotrol arm was becuase they couldnt adjust the camber becuase of the spring and bushings were shot. At the bottom of the springs it is starting to wrinkel and break.

I haven't looked at it yet, havent had the time to, but I wouldn't doubt these guys. He was extreamly honest with me about it. Honestly one of the best mechanics that i have talked to. He said i could do everything myself if i had the time and the product, he was just "giving me a quote" is what he said

 

yeah, i can vouch for him, this shop is the only place that i trust with my car other than a Honda dealership, but they charge to much, and they are an hour away from where i live, plus they are they only mechanics that I trust with anything that i dont trust myself with or dont have the tools to do it with