1999 Protege ES front end and suspension

180,000 miles and I doubt anything has been done on the car exept what I've done. Trans rebuild (by a shop) with clutch replacement and a few other tiny things is all. I got it about 30K ago and it feels (especially in the cold) like I'm riding right on the road. I was going to attempt to change the shocks, but I've never done anything like that before.

What else would you recommend replacing in the front or rear while putting shocks on?
What else might go soon that it would be best to go ahead and replace while it is apart? Joints, Bushings, details please as I've never been in a front end.
Has anyone seen a good guide for shocks?
There's a jingle sometimes while the engine is running that I think is the rear motor mount. How hard is this to replace (doesnt look easy to get to)?

I've done some engine work (mild valve stuff), timing belts, accessories like alternators and water pumps, lots of brake works, but never messed with suspension and know nothing about it so anything you can suggest is helpful. I do have a teardown book to the car that I have not referenced yet.

Thanks for any help or suggestions! Getting a feel for what should be done before it warms up. It's going to wait until spring.

Definitely replace the struts. Mine had 210k on the oem struts and when I swapped them it made a world of difference (granted, I went to full coilovers). While you're there you can check ball joints, and make sure they're not ripped or anything. I recommend doing endlinks while you've got everything apart, getting the bolts off is a huge pain and there's a good chance you'll have to cut the links off if they're still the original links. Sway bar bushings wouldn't hurt either as they can contribute to noisy suspensions, the front isn't the easiest to get to but it can be done, rear is simple enough.
Here's a nice guide on how to do it. You may be able to skip the steps for the ABS stuff since ABS was optional on the 99-00 ES. Aside from that the front should be the same. The rear will be different, you'll have to fold the seats down, pull off the rear shelf cover (take off the brake light, IIRC by pulling towards the front of the car and then upwards, remove the plastic clips and the child seat anchors, and then pull the entire thing towards the front of the car and upwards. You'll be able to see the strut mounts up top then.) Once finished of course make sure you get it realigned.

Rear engine mount is the hardest to get to IIRC. Here's a sort of quick step-by-step, no pictures though.

Should I replace the CV axle while I'm taking everything apart? It does have a lot of miles on everything. The ball joint and control arm as well? Might as well do it right. I was going to replace the strut mounts as well. If I'm going to take it apart I'd like all the wear parts to be new. In that sense, am I missing anything in the list below?

Front:
Control arm (with ball joint) and bushings
Strut and mount (is the bearing included in the mount?)
Stabilizer bar link and bushings

Rear:
Strut and mount
Stabilizer bar link and bushings (why are different lengths between 8 and 9" listed?)

Should I do other things while this is apart? Tie rod ends?

I was just reading up on 99 Protg suspensions, and came across this thread. I was wondering if you go any further? I have my 99 Protg es up on jacks to replace motor mounts, then decided to work on other stuff too.

Dadio34, Sorry it took me nearly a year to get back to you. I keep putting off this project. I decided to just do the struts and see where I'm at before messing with the control arm or taking off the end links. Struts seem hard enough haha. I ordered a monroe kit for the front and another for the back that comes with hopefully everything I need. Total price with shipping about $300. I'll report back if the car doesn't kill me trying to fix it.

Alright. Finally prepared to do this job this weekend. Got under there to hit some of the bolts with PB blaster to make sure 15 years of stuck will eventually come free and found some MAJOR problems. So i purchased 4 struts, with kits. 2 lower control arms (come with the ball joints and bushings attached), 4 sway bar links (2 front and 2 back) and 2 inner and outer tie rods. Basically the whole everything was shot once I started looking. My next question is should I replace the control arm, then the tie rod, then the strut? What seems like the local order to take this stuff apart and still get it back together in the end? I'm doing all 4 tires in hopefully 2 days then on day 3 getting some new tires and an alignment. Do I need a grease gun for anything or do the joints come packed? Should I get a tub of grease to rub on the connecting joints?

Finally, after ages of planning, and a pretty severe pothole in January that destroyed the strut and everything else near my driver tire, I did this job. I did one tire at a time. I replaced the lower control arm on the driver side, then the inner and outer tie rod end, and then the strut and sway bar linkage.

The control arm sucked to get lined back up (getting the bolt in the rear vertical bushing to line up was an inconvenience to say the least). But it went on pretty smooth over all. I did not need a grease gun or any grease at all. I did put some blue loctite on the horizontal bushing bolt, because it had some on there when I pulled it out so I went ahead and replaced it. The tie rod inner and outer were a breeze. Everything lined back up nicely and went right back together. Cotter pin came out easy and I have a harbor freight inner tie rod tool ($40) that made getting it off no trouble. The only difficulty with that the lock nut on the inner (where the outer meets) was pretty stuck, but it eventually came off and the boot clamp that is basically a long wire on the inner side was finnicky. I probably wasn't supposed to reuse the wire, but didn't have a replacement, and it is tight so no dirt should get in.

When I got to the strut, all the bolts came off fine except for the strut linkage bolt. I broke my 5mm hex key trying to break that one (you have to hold the shaft with a hex key and break the nut loose with a wrench, so no air tools for assistance). I finally gave up, since I was replacing it anyway and cut it off with an air grinder as close to the sway bar as I could and just pulled it through. Had to do that on all 4, none came loose in the front or rear. Lucky I bought new ones. I bought the kits for the struts, so I had new mountings and bearings and boots for them. They went together easy. The front ones rotate after they are together so you can line them up, but the rear don't. There is a peg sticking out of the mounting that you can line up with the bolts on the strut to know it is going together correctly. This is important and took me a while to figure out because otherwise you are not getting the strut back on the spindle and in the holes up top all at once in the rear if it isn't lined up.

The only thing I couldn't do was the passenger lower control arm. I was on a tight schedule and the bolt in the spindle where the ball joint connects was bent (along with the spindle clamp being a little off). Also, one of the subframe bolts that has a nut welded to the subframe was a problem. The nut came unwelded so the bolt just spins. I gave up and put the new control arm in the car and had big O put it on when they did the new tires and alignment. They were a little iffy about putting on a customer part, but did it anyway after some convincing. They managed to get that subframe bolt tight after some work, but I would be hesitant to ever remove it again, might need a new subframe if that happens. For 3 tires (one was only 2 months old that was the pothole one from january, it had been recently replaced again with the road hazard warranty, so it was almost new). So, 3 tires, an alignment,and a control arm put on all for $530, not bad. Total I had about $1000 in everything and 13 hours of my time. The worst part was honestly trying to go back on rock auto and figure out which part numbers went on which tire because it isn't on the boxes haha. The car drives like new and doesn't shake violently when you press the brakes anymore!

http://youtu.be/RFfrmqL-9vU WATCH THIS VIDEO! This is what my front left strut looked like when it came off (the ball joint and tie rod end were just as bad). This is what potholes can do haha. That hole bent my rim and destroyed a tire also. I submitted a cost for replacement to the state tort claims, but they ignored it