Monte got a new e-brake cable today (finally!!) Front and rear sway bar links have been swapped. Fronts have poly bushings now Next will be the bushings for the sway bar front & rear, then new trailing arm bushings..

My mechanic let me do a visual inspection during the wait for a new cable(turns out AZ sucks as usual, our catalog is wrong) Noticed I have some minor oil leakage, everything is wet(but not dripping yet)
I was talking to him about a exhaust shop he recommends (turns out to be the one I've been thinking of) for a resonator delete & u-bend delete and I noticed I actually have no resonator! The original owner probably switched it out along with the mufflers to the slp loudmouths.

So thats one modification that has already been taken care of! woo!
Also, the poly bushings work nice. Here is what the sway bar did.. Started to cut right through the link.

 

You said it, not me this time

So you got poly sway end links? Energy Suspension?

As for your trailing arms, I would not replace just the bushings, get all new arms. Matter of fact, you might want to consider upgraded arms, like UMI Performance ones (or there are other companies that offer the same quality W-body trailing arm). Here's a link to my page when I swapped to the UMI Performance:
'04 Monte Carlo SS - UMI Trailing Arms

 

Sweet, thanks I'll look into them. I used the same sway bar links (lifetime so I am swapping them out) and bought a pack of energy suspension sway bar link bushings. Looks sweet underneath!

 

OH.... I went down that road. The ES bushings are thinner then any other bushing kit I've seen. To compensate, I shimmed mine with extra washer, handled fine but now the Monte creaked like an old battleship when making turns. I found ES does make a kit that is like spot on perfect for the Monte (but they don;t list it). I know you just made the swap, but incase you end up re-visting, I have a link on my site about my experience (I'd post it, but apparently my site is currently down, I will have to fix it when I get home).

EDIT: Here is the link about the bushing stuff I did on my Monte:
http://crzyz28.sytes.net/mycars/2004..._Bushings.html

 

I've been replacing a lot of bushings in my suspension over this week and painting everything I just went with stock stuff, looks like u replaced the link in time

 

From the looks of that link your new bushings will probably have a shortened service period. If the link is worn like that then there is also wear (elongation) of the eyelet. The stabilizer bar is going to move around and wear out the bushings. They'll last for a while, but I would be looking into a new stabilizer bar in the near future.

 

Wow nice catch, it was pretty well chewed up.

 

Yea, I was thinking that might be it. When I got the car I found out I had a broken sway bar link (still had those pencil thin factory links) & It probably bent the sway bar just a bit. When I was inspecting under the vehicle I noticed the sway bar didn't sit even on both sides yesterday..I'll be changing out the two sway bar bushings first, see if one of them is squished, if not I need a new bar ):

This link has only been on the car for 10 months, 15,000miles.. So yea, something is up.

 

If you change the sway end linkes, get the ES kit 9.8122r (it's listed for a Ford Escort, but fits perfect on the Monte, I have them on my Monte now).