Time For New Front Control Arm Bushings

[gregski 0]

The symptom, car thuds upon deceleration, and pulls to one side upon acceleration. I jacked the Carrado upon four jack stands and laid under it for half an hour saying to myself, wow there is really nothing to see down here. Thank you German engineering.

 

I tried to wiggle the front wheels with my hands on the 12 and 6 o'clock position and no wiggle. I tried the same thing with my hands at the 9 and 3 o'clock positions and no wiggle. I turned the wheels all the way to the left and then again all the way to the right, nothing jumped out at me. I even spun them forward and aft just for fun.

 

Then I decided to take out some Windex and some paper towels and just start wiping away 17 years of dirt and road grime from the suspension parts. I am sharing this nonsense with you for a reason. Being a complete amateur car mechanic I like to share things that work for me to help others, as unorthodox as they may seem. As the towels turned black things began coming into the clear. I noticed some notches on the steering tie rods, these must be for us to put the wrench on to shorten or lengthen them, I thought. And just think they did not exist couple minutes ago all covered with dust and grime.

 

Next I cleaned the sway bar [ahem] stabilizer bar and as I was following it I sprayed some Windex on the rear end of the control arm, low and behold I could now make out some cracks in the caked on dirt on the bushings. Eureka, I kept cleaning as the dollars signs began adding up in my mind.

 

I am about to order the front and rear mounting point bushings online from GermanAutoParts.com from New York. Actually it will only set me back $25.48 not bad at all (... if I don't play the mind as well upgrade this and that while I'm at it game! ie ball joints et al, swaybar bushings and links which are rather pricey)

 

These are not the most camera friendly bits, but here's a couple pictures of my shot rear mounting point bushings.

[Purple Tom 0]

Yep, they definitely look like they're past their best!

 

An upgrade is available for these bushes - the R32/TT uses the same diameter bush but it is totally solid (rather than having the cut-outs) and tightens up the handling of the Corrado without noticeably affecting the ride quality. Here's a link to them - they're the fourth bush down.

 

As the wishbones need to come off to change the bushes I would definitely consider replacing the ball joints at the very least if I were you. They're not hugely expensive and do wear so while it's all apart it makes sense. As you've said, you could go the whole hog and replace the suspension top mounts, ball joints, sway bar bushes, sway bar links, tie-rods, tie-rod ends, wheel bearings and CV joints while you're at it but it could work out to be quite an expensive little job!

 

Hope that helps :)

 

Tom

Edited March 6, 2011 by Purple Tom

[gregski 0]

So the bushing arrived, and it was time to get started, gonna do this one side at a time so if I goober something and don't remember how it goes back on I can refer to to the opposite side, I'm not a professional mechanic nor do I play one on TV, lol

 

By the way I don't know about your Bentley manual but mine don't show me how to remove the control arms, it only tells me how to press the bushings in and out, so

 

1. (after 15 minutes of looking for your lug nut wrench/tool from the time you took it out of the trunk to vacuum it) Undo 5 lug nuts, with car still on the ground

 

2. Jack up the car, sometimes there is no substitute for a nice chunk of a 2x4, I'm not sure what the Corrado is unibody or body on pan, but it doesn't have frame rails to jack up under like your grandady's Buick, and if there is a spot, well that's where I want the jack stand to end up not the jack

 

3. Support it with a trusty ol'd jack stand, never just rely on a jack

 

 

 

 

 

---------- Post added at 05:21 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:04 AM ----------

 

first i decided to separate the ball joint from the lower control arm

 

4. Remove three 13mm bolts from the ball joint triangular bracket

 

sometimes there is no better place for loose bolts then where they came from, my memory is so bad I can hide my own Easter Eggs so anything I can do to help me remember how the shizwa goes back together is a bonus

 

just so you know I'm not that big of a doofus, but I do have 2 or three project cars going on sometimes at once so, well you get what I'm sayin'

 

 

 

 

 

---------- Post added at 05:34 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:21 AM ----------

 

the sway bar linkage is the one in the background with the orange stuff on it, no the steering linkage in the foreground

 

5. Remove the single 13mm nut and bolt from the sway bar end / linkage where it connects to the lower control arm, had to use two wrenches, or a wrench and a ratchet for those paying attention, lol to keep the other end from spinning

 

i took the bolt out just to show you what it looks like, you don't have to yank it out, also I just moved the linkage out of the way, I did not have to remove it completely off of the sway bar

 

 

 

 

 

---------- Post added at 06:00 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:34 AM ----------

 

6. remove Big @ss 18mm vertical bolt from rear mounting point of the lower control arm, this is where the rubber donut lives, , I couldn't tell from the manual how this part attached, now I know

 

sorry the bolt is a bit out of focus but it's the best pic I had of this one, not sure why this bolt has some surface rust and the front mounting point one does not, oh well

 

 

 

---------- Post added at 06:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:00 AM ----------

 

7. remove the horizontal big 18mm bolt from the front mounting point of the control arm, this point I get, it makes sense that the bolt goes this way, that allows the arm to move up and down, duh, but the rear one, that's got to be German engineering

 

this bolt was nice and greasy

 

 

 

 

---------- Post added at 06:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:05 AM ----------

 

Then it was time to wiggle out the lower control arm, she came off like a prom dress

 

 

 

Edited March 19, 2011 by gregski

[gregski 0]

here's a picture of how all the bolts go into the lower control arm, I forgot to include the bolt for the anti sway bar, so just pretend it's there, bottom right, slightly higher than the 3 bolts in the ball joint triangular bracket, roughly 5:00 o'clock position

 

my camera sucks, so you can't see through the bushing in the second picture like I could in real life, but the rubber was just hanging on by a thread, I easily tore it out for the third photo opp

 

tomorrow I'm going to upload pictures to show you how I pressed the old bushing out and pressed the new one in, without using a press, clever stuff

 

 

 

[mr.ots 10]

I did this job on my car recently along with the sway bar bushes, links and ball joints and the car now feels superb upfront. Going to do the rear beam bushes next which should be fun.

 

When you come to do the other side bear in mind that the sump will obstruct removal of the front control arm bolt (SLC). You either need to undo the front and rear engine mounts and raise the engine sufficiently for clearance or remove the sump. I went for the first option.

[gregski 0]

 

When you come to do the other side bear in mind that the sump will obstruct removal of the front control arm bolt (SLC). You either need to undo the front and rear engine mounts and raise the engine sufficiently for clearance or remove the sump. I went for the first option.

 

 

Is there a job on this piece of German metal, rubber, leather, and plastic, that does not require hoisting the engine up and out of the way, I am so sick of it. LOL

[Supercharged 2]

Good pics - as you've probably realised you don't need those sleeves in the first pic - not fitted on Corrado's

[gregski 0]

 

 

... as you've probably realised you don't need those sleeves in the first pic - not fitted on Corrado's

 

 

Thank you sir, I searched the floor of my garage, going heck did my old one fall out, I don't recall the old set having them, so I went to German Auto Parts online and checked and their website states

 

"Rear mounting point. One per control arm. Requires spacer sleeve below." then goes on to say "Fits in center of rear position bushing. One per control arm." but heck they were only a buck, so I can toss them.

 

Interesting though, the Bentley manual has them on page 40.2a but not on page 40.17. Welcome to my world! I think the first page is generic, and the second specific to the VR6 so maybe the G60's use them, I don't know.

 

---------- Post added at 04:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:52 PM ----------

 

Well even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometime, that's what I thought when I stumbled upon a washer in my junk nuts and bolts drawer that was just the diameter of the rear mounting point bushings. That gave me an idea would my crank pulley puller work. I rigged up some extra bolts in it to give it some height and whalla it worked. Used a similar technique adding a second puller I had and was able to press the new donut bushing in just fine.

 

The hammer is just there for decoration, I swear.

 

 

 

 

 

---------- Post added at 04:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:08 PM ----------

 

Here is the old one that I removed, and the new one going in. The first picture shows the old bushing in my jig puller thingie.

 

Second picture is the old control arm after a nice bath of dish soap, hey dish soap is not right for car paint, but id does remove grease right, and that's what had to be done here, and it worked, and I rinsed it of with water really well so it will be fine, it's not like I am going to bathe it in dish soap on a weekly basis, it was a one time thing.

 

The bottom of the metal ring is not 100% flush with the control arm ring, but neither was the old one. The top does align perfectly flush with the rim of the lower control arm.

 

 

 

 

[Rob_B 0]

excellent write up so far, its a crap job but is satisfying when complete. The car will actually drive straight now!

[gregski 0]

here's a jig I made to press out the front lower control arm bushing, I swear I spent more time devising the jigs then doing the work itself, but any of you that wrenched before know that if you aint making your own wrenches or jigs, you aint wrenchin' am I right?

 

I basically got lucky and used a 2 bolt puller that I already had, the first pic is my passenger

side, it was shot, the one on the driver side was fine, but replace one, replace them both, right

 

the puddle underneath in the last picture, is from WD-40 I should have taken a picture of the can, that's how important it is to use some to help slide these out, hey worked for me

[gregski 0]

i simply used a vice to press the new bushings in after coating them with some WD-40, the key thing is to use a spacer, which I did, it may not be in the picture cause I first started to press it in a little bit without it, but then I used some spacers to get it all the way in snug, see last picture, yes my vice is a hockey mickey mouse setup that I bought at a garage sale, but it gets things done, and that's the whole point right, get it done

 

the new bushings don't look right to me, they seem like a different type, here's the part number 357.407.182 can anyone confirm that indeed they are the right ones, they ended up fitting, but look how off they look side by side with the old ones, in the second photo

[gregski 0]

i know no one will see these lower control arms, but I can't help it, I clean my parts, when you clean the old gunk off of them you see things, you see, part numbers, you see rust, you see imperfections, heck you may even see hairline cracks, etc, so I clean my parts before putting them back on, I take a wire wheel the the old bolts and clean up the threads too before putting them back on the car

 

so here are some before and after shots of the passenger side lower control arm, both side top and it's belly

 

yeah it was sprinkling a little bit that day so those are some rain drops on them in the pics, I did wipe them down before installation

[gregski 0]

I said this before and I'll say it again, the Germans give you enough space to do the job, then take away half an inch. I kid you not, look at this sh!t, you can't get the passenger side front lower control arm mounting point bolt out without loosening the engine and jacking it up about 2 inches, SOBs, I jacked it up under the transmission bell housing

 

here's some pics to prove it and the two engine mounting points I had to loosen up. (I think there's a third one by the tranny but I left that one be), the front one I had to undo all the way, yes you will need a couple long extensions for your ratchet to get to these bad boys in the engine bay

 

I swear I'm surprised we don't have to hoist the engine out of these VWs to put petrol in 'em - LOL

 

(just so you know this forum uploads your thumbnails in reverse order - joy)

Edited March 21, 2011 by gregski
cause the pictures are uploaded in reverse order

[gregski 0]

why am I writing all this up, is this a big job... no, is this a difficult job... no, but it is a job

 

it took me 2 days to do it, now that doesn't mean two solid 8 hours days, I started after work on Friday, took Saturday off, and finished it on Sunday morning, but I was frustrated enough on Friday night not being able to get the lower control arm back in the same way as it came out, so I feel I will share my pain with you

 

so this is the most important update of the thread, see where the rear bushing sits, see how there is a half circle ridge around that hole, if you can't see it on your car, you may wanna clean that area a bit, in the next picture I shoved the bushing in there to give you a reference on where it goes, it will want to go to the left of that spot, because that space is more of an opening, but that's not where it belongs

 

ok, you don't have to move the anti sway bar out of the way to get the lower control arm out, but you sure have to loosen the anti sway bar and push it down and out of the way to get the lower control arm back in

 

you see the way the bushing has to go in, is at a different angle than the control arm will allow you to pivot with the anti sway bar in the way, so to get it in, start with the control arm above the steering linkage, pus it into the rear mounting point, then push it under and steering linkage and pop it into the front mounting point, it will allow you to do this, because of the give in the rubber bushing you just installed, then push the spindle forward and out a bit and pop in the three bolt bracket into the lower control arm, and Bob's your uncle

 

 

 

 

 

 

---------- Post added at 02:35 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:33 AM ----------

 

I swear this forum has a mind of it's own, two days ago when I posted my updates, they all ended up in one long post, today I did the same thing and they are all separate posts like god intended, (yes I now I used the thumbnails today) but that shouldn't make a difference

 

lets see where this post ends up, on it's own or as part of the last one, who knows

 

---------- Post added at 02:43 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:35 AM ----------

 

 

Well what are the results like?

 

Man the ride is fantastic. The car goes straight as an arrow. It no longer pulls to one side when I accelerate. There is no thud when I accelerate or come to a stop. There is no knock when I pull in and out of the driveway as I dip into the rain gutter. I am thrilled, especially for $25 bucks, wow, what a difference, and here I thought I would need $500 bucks worth of suspension parts... Not!

Edited March 21, 2011 by gregski

[fla 9]

good writeup and pics. Commentary makes it an enjoyable read too!

[davidwort 0]

all good stuff!

done this job a few times (on the 4 cyl corrados), like you say, not massively difficult, just time consuming.

Did you set the camber and check wheel alignment yourself afterwards? or get it done professionally?

I've never really seen damaged/worn front bushes, it's the big rear ones that take all the torque/forces and tear up.

I guess you fitted pattern bushes for that price, I've done the same and not had any trouble but then they may not do the 10-15 years the originals managed.