Sticking with oem affords one perchance two options. The factory oil charged FE2's on the V6 and GT or the gas charged FE3's on the GXP. In my extremely humble opinion, the FE2's were craptastic off the starting line and should have never been installed on a G8. The FE3's are the better choice albeit unsure if they're readily available. Be sure to replace the strut mounts as well, Best "rubber" strut mounts?.

 

FE3 will be hard to find. The early gen Caprice PPV struts are just a bit stiffer, and are a direct fit. Much easier to find.

 

do you happen to have the part number?

 

Major Suspension work

Hello all, Still have the 2009 G8 GT (not a 2009.5) at 89k miles and it needs suspension work. I'm not really a gearhead and pay mechanics to do my work for me, but I still like the car and want to keep it going and I have never done an extensive suspension job other than replace one bad...

www.g8board.com

 

Your local GM dealer should have the exact part and part number. The FE2 suspension has been around a long time tried and proven and made by the major manufacturers anyway. Probaly Monroe.

You saw the strut move up and down inside the hood. That shows the top mount is stuffed and needs replacing. But you still have to take the strut out to do that as it sits on top of the shock absorber underneath that photgraphed bush and washer so you may as well replace the following

Refer two drawings attached

Mount and Bearing comes as a set usually (5,6)
Bump Stop (7)
Rubber Boot if it's damaged (9)
Cable Ties (8)

Shock absorber (1)
Bolts and Nuts x 2 (3,6) These are stretch bolts and are supposed to be damaged when they stretch with a quarter turn after the Torque of 100Nm.

Video Instructions to remove and install VE/G8 strut

Video Instructions to renew mount, bearing, bump stop, boot

 

By the way, original poster current mileage?

 

Front Strut Bushings - Pix Over Time

Guys, let's start tracking pix of what the front strut bushings (what we can see from the towers under the hood) look like and at what mileage. All pix should be taken on flat, level ground with wheels straight. Whether you have issues or not, this might be good to monitor how they deform or...

www.g8board.com

 

The car has 62,000 miles on it now. It makes a clunking sound over bumps. from my visual inspection it looks like there is a gap between the fender well and the top bushing also.

 

 

When I push down on the fender well on the driver front fender you can see the movement and hear a sound.

 

Definetly need new strut top mounts by those pictures.

 

A significant gap between the cup washer and strut tower is a telltale sign of collapsed strut mounts. Reached a decision regarding strut choice?

 

probably going to stick with FE2. Still trying to decide.

 

A year from brand new, my GT had floating on the highway with the factory Fe2s. They were that bad and with the bobbing and weaving on the 2 lane roads, I couldn’t wait to get them off. Went with the PPVs which with stock springs and stock size 18 inch tires give a firm ride but the handling is planted and with grand touring tires, is perfect as my high performance road trip car.

 

I too suggest trying to find a factory alternative to the Fe2 - either the FE3s or the PPV struts and a good poly mount (BMR or Superpro). I am on BMR strut mounts with Fe3 struts - big improvement in handling.

 

If those strut options are not available or are expensive now, the Pedders shocks and struts are a great aftermarket choice.

 

So the FE3 were the standard on the GXP? I was doing a little research and it looked like FE1 is base, FE2 GT, and FE3 GXP. Any issues with just changing the front two to FE3 and leaving the backend stock?

 

FE3 is no more, the only viable factory option like that is the PPV (police) part which is even stiffer. With so much stiffer front shocks you'll end up with a lot of understeer in your handling. It won't be a pleasant handling on the limit but at least will be safe. (As a self-promotion: I wrote a book "How to set up your car" on this general subject).

PPV is made by Monroe, and if you install it, definitely get the Monroe top bushings too. They're stiffer and stronger. I've installed at first the bushings from gtog8ta.com (or some such), and they failed in about 6 months, had to replace them.

I wonder if Koni or Bilstein make their shocks for our car?

 

The FE3's came standard on the GXP (6.2L). FE2 was standard on both the base (V6) and GT (6.0L). Don't ever recall seeing a base (V6) with the FE1 suspensions albeit it is listed in various places. FE3's on the front with FE2's on the back is kinda sorta like a horse yoked to a mule plowing a field. While others frown upon it, had the setup and didn't notice a quantifiable difference. Bear in mind, the car rarely had rear seat passengers.

 

Pedders GSR. Can get them as a kit front and rears.

 

FE2 suck. Unless you want to keep the car 100% stock, don’t buy them. FE3 are gas charged and a definite improvement, but a bit more expensive. Now what ride type do you want? The PPV’s will give a firmer ride.
I ran them with Tein springs and it was like a BMW. Great on smooth road, didn’t like rough ones. Now if you are doing minimal mods. Poly bushings for the stock sway bars. Mevotech ft control arms and rear poly subframe inserts. The Pedders black replacement struts and shocks are gas charged and are imbetween the FE2 and FE3. At $409 for the set of 4. Hard to beat

 

I like the idea of the FE3 since they seem to be a better performing product. But I also have the issue of needing some one to replace them. I have watched a few videos and I am not sure if I am capable of removing the current struts and taking the spring off and then installing the new struts with the existing spring.

 

Front FE3 are like unicorns, you can only find the Left, Right is discontinued and rears are also discontinued.

 

Information may or may not be applicable. GXP front struts.

 

I agree with GT Envy. I have an '09 GT w/ 41k miles. While the car is in excellent shape, the suspension was still warn due to age. I ended up replacing the struts/shocks with Pedders and wrapped them with H&R Sport springs late last year. The ride and comfort is excellent. I also went with the SuperPro strut mount bushings at the same time.

The most important thing to note when doing the fronts is making sure the upper strut mount is properly clocked so the strut sits in the strut towers properly. I also highly recommend doing front and rear end links at the same time. As soon as I finished my rear suspension I started hearing a clunk. Sure enough, it was the swaybar end link on the right rear. Thankfully I already bought them and they're easy enough to install. I also found using the individual spring compressors (like stocked at Harbor Freight) worked better on removing the old springs. Best fo luck on your suspension project!

 

^^^ my book on suspension setup