So here is my story for an '08 HHR SS. I have had good luck with it until...I pushed the factory tires to about 60k miles. I use the car only when I take 100 mile business trips. The rest of the time my wife drives it within 20 minutes. We had to save some money and pushed out the tire change until we really had to. The detail here being that pushing the stock Michelins out to 60k, they wore even and true until the very end. I was impressed. Especially on a short suspension car that sees our backroads. So I wanted to get a similiar set of replacement tires. I decided on Goodyear GT's. Look great and a little more aggressive for snow. When they got changed the kid said to consider an alignment because there was a little uneven wear. I didn't see this first hand, they were so thin I stopped paying attention. Within 2 weeks of just being lazy about an alignment the wife said there was a big springing noise when turning the wheel. I pulled it out of the garage. Turned the wheel for a three point turn and boing...Pulled it back in the garage and parked it until I could work on it. So what I found is the right side coil spring was in pieces. One piece had plenty of rust indicating that a smaller top piece had been gone for a bit. The rest blew apart. Much of the spring split along the nuetral axis. [side bit - I have only seen two coil springs fail, and the other was on a Saab my wife had. We'll leave this one lay for now] After reading on the forum I replace both struts with Monroe quick struts. The only thing was the front end sat high. I actually drove it gingerly for 2 weeks before bringing it in for an alignment to break them in, and rotated the tires before the drive to the algnment shop so the wear was even. I still noticed the front end high, which it is now 8 months later by 1/2" if the fenders are really at the same height. To be anal I installed new rear shocks with a month of the fronts. 8k miles later, I go to rotate the tires and they are trash. The inside corners which are hidden under the fenders, are absolutely gone. Some white spots. Signs of blistering...The car tracks straight, but apparently is plowing its way down the road. The only thing we noticed was a little less traction out of these tires. Brought it back to the alignment shop. He can't find anything really wrong. No loose bearings, etc. He is stumped. We can see what appears to be negative camber when the car sits on the ground and it goes away when frame lifted and the tires are off the ground. He is complaining that the rear control arm busing is just a rubber mount, and there is no way for him to appreciate the right amount of give, so he is recommending replacing it. Then maybe a camber kit - which it didn't need before. I am concerned that I will be playing Russian roulette with front end parts and burning $500 worth of tire rubber at a time. Can the spring break be that there was a deeper problem? Do these rubber flexures give before 70k mi., and wear super even? Could there be a strut problem even though they appeared the same dimensions as stock? I am parking the car for a week to figure this out. Hope someone can help. Tx.