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[gavlar001]

Hello everyone, hope all the members are good in these testing times.The old girls still going but i have drivers side inner tyre wear and i can hear it rubbing on turning.Ride height looks ok, no clunks or knocks, pulls to the left a little,plus there isnt much room between the shock and the tyre on both sides.Is it spring wear, wishbones or just a camber set up thing.MV6 2.6 Auto Thanks 

[Nick W]

It's probably a combination of all of those things. A complete front suspension rebuild(shocks, springs, strut mounts&bearings, drop links, wishbones, trackrods and a proper alignment) at about £200 per side in parts is probably due, I'm afraid.

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

Wot he said ^.

[gavlar001]

Nice one did have a feeling that it might be that. Any ideas on what shocks springs and wishbone it will need and where to buy. It's an mv6 2001 v6 2.6 saloon. Thanks

[Nick W]

MV6 spec springs and shocks will increase the cost somewhat.
Any wishbone will do, but you do need to replace the front bushes with polyurethane

[Doctor Gollum]

Keep the springs, unless they're horrible. If they do need replacing, then you're looking for LoweredSportChassis specs (-15mm) and appropriate weights for the engine type ie 4 or 6 cylinder petrol.

Sachs for the shocks. Standard factory fit.

Same for top mounts. Pedders do an uprated top mount for the Monaro, which fits perfectly and not significantly more expensive.

Wishbones upto you, but be advised that you can typically buy both wishbones/track rods/droplinks for around £70.

Front bushes from Powerflex, but now north of £60

[gavlar001]

Brill, nice one at least ive got some idea of what fits.will put the powerflex bushes on as well.Got a bit of work to be getting on with then lol.

[gavlar001]

On the bits from pedders which monaro is it in reference to the parts, the 2004 VXR or CV8.Thanks.

[Doctor Gollum]

Either, or...

https://pedders.co.uk/pedders-strut-mount-5851 (original factory part is exactly the same as the Omega ones down to the part number)

If you're doing the rear subframe bushes, you can fit...

https://pedders.co.uk/urethane-rear-crossmember-pad-2-pkt-ep1168 with... https://pedders.co.uk/urethane-cradle-mount-bush-2pkt-ep1145

If your car is a saloon, you may find that the standard height Monaro springs are suitable, but you'll ideally need the original LSC specs for a comparison before committing.

Key points are spring rating ie the weight it will support (this should be the axle weights from the chassis plate) and the ride height, (from memory standard is 670mm to the centre of the wheel arch, so LSC should be 655mm).

Best would be to take both front struts (one intact and one dismantled) to Pedders to compare them with the new items, likewise the rear springs and shocks. Although for the rear shocks, Sachs ones come with the correct top mounts for the Omega and I suspect the Monaro rear shocks are also longer.

Again from memory, the Monaro struts will fit the Omega but no one ever needed to because the Omega ones were still available (2010/2011), although I believe that a chap in the States (the Monaro was sold there as a Pontiac GTO, so parts were easily sourced) fitted a set, Elvin? possibly... memory is a bit hazy on this point, as I have a nagging suspicion that the strut/hub geometry is different on the Monaro 

You can fit standard/OE parts all round for about £200 per corner plus tyres and a decent geometry set up, but obviously the sky is the limit if you want to get stuck into it... All a matter of personal choice.

Some people will throw any old second hand crap on it just to get an MoT and be perfectly happy, equally shop carefully and budget parts will get the job done to the satisfaction of anyone pootling to the shops and back, but make the effort and the car will reward you with a chassis that actually drives exceptionally well for its bulk.

The critical point is to get the set up spot on when the time comes... get that wrong or cheap out (£100 for 'tracking' seems excessive to some) on it and you'll struggle to get 1,000 miles from the front tyres.

[gavlar001]

Thanks for that i know that geometry on the omegas can be really tricky for some places to set up, so wheels in motion might be the only place to take it for it to be done correctly.Thanks for all the info, good to see that some bits can be sourced from the monaro etc.

[Nick W]

Thanks for that i know that geometry on the omegas can be really tricky for some places to set up, so wheels in motion might be the only place to take it for it to be done correctly.Thanks for all the info, good to see that some bits can be sourced from the monaro etc.

STS in Strood know how to do it properly, and are closer/cheaper, but getting Omega geometry correct isn't magic. It just requires a bit of care, and the knowledge that the settings and their tolerances(which were provided by GM) need to be carefully considered.


Al's list of what you need to check is a good reason for going for standard parts which are a straight bolt-on proposition. If checking spring rates etc, be aware that your stock ones have almost certainly settled, and won't necessarily provide useful data.


Here's everything, except the rubber isolators, all new. Above the shock, left to right: spring isolator, dust shield, bump stop, bearing, top mount, upper isolator, spring plate. No, they're no quite in the right order.





One last thing: if you do this work yourself, you will need some robust spring compressors:





And assembled with a new spring, before starting the job:

[Doctor Gollum]

Enceladus seems to be quite good at providing factory specs, so will hopefully contribute details accordingly 

I fitted all my Omegas with Pedders front top mounts and rear subframe bushes along with Powerflex front bushes and arb bushes.

Springs were either original plod spec or new Kilen HD ones, (one estate got Irmscher shocks and springs, but that was a different project altogether), fitted to Sachs shocks/bump stop and cover along with wishbones from ATP. Whether you touch the rear suspension or not, the rear track rods MUST be free to adjust the geometry.

The only bits you need to reuse from the current struts are the rubber spring seats, top spring cup and the top mount to shock rod washers. Pay attention to the orientation of everything as you dismantle it

[gavlar001]

Cheers mate nice to see the photos,thanks.On the wishbones, has one side got to have holes already located on it for the self leveling hid control box.Is that correct.

[Doctor Gollum]

Both sides are at least predrilled. If you're lucky, they're even threaded

The only thing that makes a wishbone left or right is which way up they fitted the balljoint

[Doctor Gollum]

Three rules that must be obeyed re Omega suspension work.

1. NEVER jack the diff.
2. ALWAYS get the geometry set properly.
3. ALWAYS tighten the wishbone front bush with the weight of the car on the wheels (unless you have fitted polybushes).