Need Suggestions! (:

[xDanielSenpai]

Hey Guys, I've been lurking these forums for a while. So far im loving everything I see here.
Great ideas and so many mods that I've never thought of integrating into my car. I swear I love it, its like an adventure! I Currently Own An 03 P5, love it, and I'm trying to know my car better.

Anyways I'm changing certain parts that need to be changed but I can't really decide what brands I should use. So I've come here to hear your guys suggestions and recommendations to which specific parts I should get!

This is what I need:
Lower Control Arm (L & R)
Control Arm Bushings
Sway Bar Links (L & R)
Ball joints (I assume they come with the sway bar links)
Wheel Bearings
Wheel Hub
Brake Disks
Shocks And Struts (I have really bad suspension)


If I need additional parts that should come but I have not included, please let me know

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[MP5x2k3]

Welcome

What are you looking for out of the car? Do you want go keep it stock? I'm in the same boat with suspension stuff, and I'm currently upgrading. The popular path to go seems to be polyurethane everything, it stiffness up the handling and makes the car more fun to drive. Granted, they seem to handle well in stock form, but if you want to have fun in the corners poly is the way to go. With all the suspension parts you are looking at replacing, now would be a great time to do it

If you want stiffer ride, coilover would be a good start. Not cheap but definitely worth it. Poly control arm bushings would help as well. Front abd rear sway bars, etc...

Brakes, if you want you could upgrade to drilled rotors with a good set of pads. Personally I prefer using any quality brand ceramic pad, but you could upgrade to hawk pads, etc. Powerslot makes a good kit from what I've seen that is 4 slotted and.drilled rotors with a carbon Kevlar pad. Stainless steel braided brake lines are a nice upgrade, increasing pedal feel and fade resistance (goodridge makes an excellent set). Stainless steel braided clutch line is a great upgrade and.cheap (if you have a 5spd car)

 

[xDanielSenpai]

Actually I don't want to keep it stock, was actually on looking to buy upgraded/aftermarket parts, but with good quality. Thanks for the help, I'm new to this and I was really indecisive in to which parts would be better for my car. Thinking about getting poly now, i do love to have fun while I drive. Now... Do you know where I could find these items at? Like a certain website? Would appreciate it

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[MP5x2k3]

If you are going to Poly, start with motor mounts. I'm still pretty new to these cars as well, but from what I'm finding around the forums and what I've felt driving mine, they have a lot of driveline lash and eat motor mounts quickly when you drive "spirited". AWR makes poly mounts in 3 different durometer poly (70, 88, 90). Personally I plan to go with 88 durometer all around as its a happy medium.

Bear in mind that if you install poly bushings, they are harder and will theoretically transmit more vibrations thru the chassis/steering wheel of the car.

As far as the ball joints, etc any reputable manufacturer would be a good choice, personally I prefer Moog or anything made in USA (at the very least made in Taiwan if I have no other choice and my wallet doesn't agree with it). I've heard good things about the Moog end links, and I also see mention of using the Ford Escape links as well.

Corksport sells a lot of suspension and upgrade parts and seems to be one of the more preferred websites to order parts from around here

There are a lot of manufacturers out there making aftermarket "performance" parts for our cars. Check out the protege marketplace here on the forum, you may be able to score some good deals there on some of these items.

 

[nickthaskater]

I've got a 70 duro AWR #3 (passenger) mount for sale if you want one on the cheap

 

[TheSwapnessMonster]

I went all Moog everything for the suspension. Since May, I've done inner and outer tie rod ends, lower control arms, and sway bar links. I'm very happy with them and I found good deals through Amazon Prime and Advance (with coupon codes from retailmenot.com). For brakes, I recently put stoptech premium with e-coating rotors on all four corners (~$30 each from Amazon). I live in upstate NY. If they put down a lot of salt near you, it might be a good idea to do that. The Moog lower control arms come with the lower control arm bushing and ball joint attached. They are non-serviceable. The Moog sway bar links are thicker than the stock sway bar links and have greasable fittings.

 

[xDanielSenpai]

Guys I appreciate all your help, I ended up with Moog all the way and sent it to my mechanic. And now I got it back.. Wheel bearings are good to go, ordered Moog control arms, and end links. He got me new tie rod ends. I ran it the one time before I took it home. While driving home I noticed that my passenger side at the moment of braking it makes cracking/popping sound. So I was wondering if any of you guys ever had that type of sound coming from that side, after all the parts that I just listed got changed?

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[n2stox]

aside from adding "performance" upgrades like better brakes and suspension, I have never been happy going down market on other parts like control arms, TREs, etc. there are quality parts out there that are far better than any cheap replacement. basically, avoid ebay for control arms and such.