Questions for st205 Owners Options

[jordisonjr]

What's up guys. I finally have all my student loans paid off, and was starting to think maybe a 205 would be right for me.
However, I have some concerns, and some questions for current st205 owners.

My main concern with purchasing a gt four would be the super strut suspension in the front end. From what i've read, when it wears out, its pretty hard to find (correct me if im wrong) if you live in a country that the gt four was not produced in (im in canada). and also, if you can find the parts, its really exoensive.

How have you guys found the super strut on your cars. Are they hard to diagnose issues, when parts wear out? Has it been extremely difficult to source parts when needed? and how was the cost on doing work on the front suspension?

My next question would be mods. Of course, I wouldn't be able to keep it stock. From my understanding, theres no coilover manufacturer that makes coilovers for SS, except for Tien, but those are either discontinued, or once again, extremely hard to find. Is this true?

I know there was a mod floating around here, where you can cut and weld BC racing (I think) coilovers, to work with the super strut suspension, however, I don't really have the knowledge to do this. Running lowering springs on the stock struts would probably cause them to blow out quickly. Is there any replacement struts that work directly on the SS suspension?

Has anyone ever had issues with dealerships/shops refusing to do work on their car (timing belts, clutch jobs etc.) because it is RHD ad has not been produced in that country? Thats another thing I would be worried about.

I guess the super strut is really the only thing putting me off from bringing one in, as I don't want to be stranded without a car for long periods at a time, while trying to source out parts.

Hopefully some of you st205 guys can enlighten me on this, and I'm sure ill have a couple more questions to post up in here.
Thanks!

[azian_advanced]

I've had my gt-four for almost 11 months. The front suspension is definitely a pain to work on compared to McPhersons, but as long as you have the right 'special tools' like ball joint separator tool for the top ball joint on the knuckle and 3-jaw puller for the figure 8 link, its really not that bad. Also, front suspension parts are not difficult to source (tcbparts.co.uk is awesome btw), but they ARE expensive.

Diagnosing is a bit difficult since prefer to remove most of the front suspension to accurately test for worn bushings and joints individually. Wiggling the wheel horizontally or vertically isn't enough for superstrut. Right now, I've identified an inner bushing that needs replacing on the front lower control arm on the RH side. Also, I know I have some knocking on my rear passenger side and now I'm not looking forward diagnosing since I don't have a garage anymore.

Clutch or timing belt replacement should be no different on a RHD or any alltrac

The thing about suspension parts wearing out is that you can keep driving even if your struts are blown or bushings/ball joints are worn so waiting for parts to arrive should be no issue.

This is somewhat off topic but I'm curious on where you plan on getting a GT-Four if you decide on getting one. If you need help importing one yourself (like what I did), I can give you some pointers.