Early VINs: removing the rear squishiness by upgrading suspension components

[SeminoleFSU]

Is this early VIN difference only on cars with the air suspension? what about early coil models? My VIN is 11.5k and I'm still a little confused on the VIN threshold. Sounds like 11-12k would be early enough to have the crappier parts based on when the P+ came out?

 

[dsm363]

I'm interested in finding out what package or parts to ask for. I guess now that the P85 no longer exists I'm not sure what they'll do.

 

[SeminoleFSU]

Same here... and I'm still not very clear on what the transition range of the VINs are... and if this problem even existed on cars with coils? is it an air only thing?

 

[tezco]

(from post #32):

As far as telling, you'd have to put it up on a lift. Label on the top of the LCA should give the part #, and the old ass'y is P/N 6006774.

Just to make this clear - for people who didn't read the first post entirely - this was a paid service change on my part, not free and not something I considered wrong with the car; it drove fine. I just wanted it stiffened up like today's models.

I suspect all early Performance models (air and coil) have the same bushings that caused the squirrely rear end. I don't think we know whether there was an abrupt transition to the new setup, or whether old and new overlapped (like the transition from A to B packs). We believe all Sig's were affected, but only the performance models seem to "overpower" the rear suspension. Where the change occurred in the production model sequence is unclear.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm interested in finding out what package or parts to ask for. I guess now that the P85 no longer exists I'm not sure what they'll do.

Part numbers are listed at the start of this thread. I think that these should remain available since I believe the new engine subframe and control arms also were also used on all the non-P+ and non-P models.

 

[dsm363]

Thanks. I emailed my local service center to ask about this again and get an update now that the P85 is no more. They are asking management about this. I mentioned it had been approved previously by Jerome.

 

[SeminoleFSU]

Thanks. I emailed my local service center to ask about this again and get an update now that the P85 is no more. They are asking management about this. I mentioned it had been approved previously by Jerome.

Please keep us posted! I doubt I would want to pay $5k+ to upgrade to these later parts without being able to quantify the improvement... but I would still very much like to know whether I have the old parts or the new.. I'm assuming this isn't something I could check easily (especially now with the titanium shield on)...

Do they not keep an inventory of parts used when cars are built? I'm pretty sure mine would fall into the older category and have the squishy parts.. VIN 11.5k, and I'm fairly certain the P+ came out after that.

 

[tezco]

Thanks. I emailed my local service center to ask about this again and get an update now that the P85 is no more. They are asking management about this. I mentioned it had been approved previously by Jerome.

Please keep us posted! I doubt I would want to pay $5k+ to upgrade to these later parts without being able to quantify the improvement... but I would still very much like to know whether I have the old parts or the new.. I'm assuming this isn't something I could check easily (especially now with the titanium shield on)...

Do they not keep an inventory of parts used when cars are built? I'm pretty sure mine would fall into the older category and have the squishy parts.. VIN 11.5k, and I'm fairly certain the P+ came out after that.

The update is still available to those that have the softer bushings in their rear linkages. My SC consulted with the head chassis engineer who looked up the build of my car and came up with the proper parts list (he also recommended new toe links in addition to the various parts FlasherZ lists at the beginning of this thread). I'm going to have the update installed because I think the handling is currently a bit too unstable when cornering or performing a quick lane change and simultaneously applying high power. The worst episode I experienced required quite a bit of finesse to keep the car on the road and in it's own lane. I don't drive that aggressively very often, but I seriously believe that a novice could get into trouble, and who knows when I might be letting someone else spell me behind the wheel on a long trip.

 

[dsm363]

The update is still available to those that have the softer bushings in their rear linkages. My SC consulted with the head chassis engineer who looked up the build of my car and came up with the proper parts list (he also recommended new toe links in addition to the various parts FlasherZ lists at the beginning of this thread). I'm going to have the update installed because I think the handling is currently a bit too unstable when cornering or performing a quick lane change and simultaneously applying high power. The worst episode I experienced required quite a bit of finesse to keep the car on the road and in it's own lane. I don't drive that aggressively very often, but I seriously believe that a novice could get into trouble, and who knows when I might be letting someone else spell me behind the wheel on a long trip.

Thanks. If you can could you post the entire part list? Maybe your SC could have the head engineer make sure all the others SCs know about this too.

 

[tezco]

To get things started, I copied Flasher's parts list into my email to my service rep and a link to this thread with a note that I wanted to bring my rear suspension up to current production standards. They took it from there and looked at the actual build records to see what parts were actually needed to do the job. I'd recommend that you suggest that your service department might want to pursue the same process to get the correct parts, with particular consideration paid to your individual build configuration.