Track control arm bushes

[Ginger60 0]

Hi just a message to say I changed the front, lower (rear) suspension bushes as my tracking went mad. It was very cheap to buy the bits from GSF £15 all in!

 

Its made one hell of a difference to the car, if you has medium level mechanical experience its well worth a go. If you need any tips fitting them run me a line.

 

Cheers 8)

[zak 0]

did you need to press them in?

[dr_mat 0]

Trickiest bit is getting the bolts out in the first place. They've often seized in ..

[zak 0]

ive just had a search of the forum, doesnt sound too difficult if all everything comes apart easily enough. don't know if that will be the case given that everything else ive worked on has been difficult to undo. By the time ive finshed with this car most of the fixings will be new so no problems for whover works on the car next.

[Ginger60 0]

Hi there,

 

Yeah you do have to push them in it isnt very hard it can be done with a vice if you havent a press. The bolts on the wishbone are fine if you get them out you will see they are reuseable. When I replaced them I used a spot of grease to protect them in future. The three bolts that hold the flange to the steering bearing are a different story however, they sheared through fatigue & rust.

 

At 70 pence each from VW it was no sweat to replace them, knowing its going to be stronger is a piece of mind! If you havent much experience with cars I would sugest borrowing a torque wrench otherwise you can overtighten these & weaken the critical part of the car.

 

As an added finale I used Morrisons Anchor wax on all the under chassis to protect it against further rust. It is great stuff but remember to get the worst of the rust off before application.

 

Incidentally yesterday I found on ebay new aftermarket wishbones complete with bushes!! :shock:

[Geoffb 0]

I have just bought complete new wishbones from G&S for about £20/side . These include new front and rear bushes so bargain i feel. Incidently are made by Lemforder who supply all the Jag suspension frames

Just got to put them on now. 8)

P.S dont forget you need new expansion tubes for the rear bush thes are about £0.20 each

[zak 0]

i have plenty of experience with working on cars but mainly on the mk1 golf chassis :wink:

 

ive boght R32 bushes to replace the rear CA bushes. When they arrive i'll see if they need a sleeve or not as im not sure if their fitment is the same as standard.

 

GINGER69, the three bolts you refer too... do you mean the 3 lower ball joint bolts?

[Lufbramatt 0]

http://www.rallydesign.co.uk do polybushes for about £35 a set to do your wishbones, fittied a set to the passat last weekend and the ride and handling is much improved. dead easy to press them in too.

 

wishbone bolts were easy, just use a 600mm breaker bar :)

[dr_mat 0]

wishbone bolts were easy, just use a 600mm breaker bar :)

 

Lucky you! On some cars that would just twist the bolt till it sheared and leave you having to carefully drill out the rest from the captive bolts in the subframe ...

[Lufbramatt 0]

wishbone bolts were easy, just use a 600mm breaker bar :)

 

Lucky you! On some cars that would just twist the bolt till it sheared and leave you having to carefully drill out the rest from the captive bolts in the subframe ...

 

:shock:

 

cool looks like i was lucky then, every other bolt ive had to undo on the thing has been a pig! The rear bolt on the passenger side was covered in copper grease so mustve been out at some point, no idea why though. cant find anything in the service history to explain it.

 

i did manage to snap one of the ARB links tho trying to undo it, so wasnt all plain sailing :(

[Ginger60 0]

Yeah thats right the 20p tubes were included in the kit... Zak thanks, lower ball joints, thats the word I was looking for lol

 

At the time I was working as an aero machanic so I had the use of a decent size torque wrench lol.

 

I was advised off the polybushes by my VW campervan mechanic mate because although the ride was enhanced, it makes a rough ride & shaking the rest of the old banger apart! I have enough trouble with the GF getting motion sick!! :shock:

[Lufbramatt 0]

would disagree about the ride being harsh on polybushes, ive got Polysport bushes on mine, which are supposedly a slightly softer compound than the powerflex/polyrace ones and the ride is very smooth, not jarring or crashy at all, noticably better than the worn out oem bushes i replaced. I was expecting it to be ahrsh, but was really suprized at the improvement :)

[Yandards 0]

would disagree about the ride being harsh on polybushes, ive got Polysport bushes on mine, which are supposedly a slightly softer compound than the powerflex/polyrace ones and the ride is very smooth, not jarring or crashy at all, noticably better than the worn out oem bushes i replaced. I was expecting it to be ahrsh, but was really suprized at the improvement :)

 

The problem with the poly bushes is the way they wear, see big article on the vortex about why they are bad here : Polybushes are rubbish

 

Quite a bit of reading but well worth it.

[Lufbramatt 0]

cheers yandards, good link. Hadnt come accross that before. It seems you can read around a subject for weeks and think youve made a good decision and someone somewhere will always have a reason why it wasnt lol

 

I'll see how they go for the next few months, tbh it wasnt that hard a job to change them so if they start going sloppy ill try out the TT bushes :)

[ReekieVR 0]

My local vw specialist refuses to replace my rear bushes with OEM. Its really bugging me. He has a fab workshop but it appears he cant be arsed to make a wind in tool ( out of a bolt and 2 bits of metal ) as has been explained on this very forum before.

 

I really dont want the polys and it stopping me spending £400 with him. Nutts.

[zak 0]

ginger69: the lwere ball joint won't be an issue as i replaced them on both sides quite recently.

 

My R32 bushes are here so if i get a chance i'll get them fitted over the weekend and let everyone know how i get on.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

I have the R32 bushes in my wishbones and they're pretty good. Steering feels slightly more connected and there's less wheel movement under heavy braking.

[Ginger60 0]

Cool thanks for the info guys, If I had known about the TT style bushes I would of stuck them in!

 

The stock ones are still pretty good for the first coupla years.

 

Zak, I look forward to your progress,

 

Cheers

[zak 0]

I had a bit of spare time today so managed to complete the passenger side today,

 

Removing the wishbones was no issue, securing bolts came undone with a breaker bar., Lower ball joint bolts were easy to undo as i replcaed the fixings wheni changed them earlier in the year.

 

Removing the old bushes from the wishbones was simple with the use of a drill, hammer and chissel. Installing the new bushes was straight forward using the M12 threaded rod that i used a few weeks ago to do my rear beam bushes along with varios washers.

 

Only thing i have just realised is that the rear bushes i've installed are not R32 bushes even though thats what i ordered when i was at vw. I didnt know better as i didnt know what i was supposed to be looking at, but looking at the vortex link vw have supplied me with standard bushes. The only difference i noticed between the ones that came off and the ones i replaced is that the M12 bolt was able to move about in the old bushes so they must have been missing the sleeve that was mentioned earlier in this thread. With the new rear bush the M12 bolt fits correctly without the need for a sleeve. Oh well if the new bushes dont last long i'll change them for the correct R32 when the time comes its easy enough to do.

 

I also changed the top mounts for new vag items, tommorow i'll finish off the drivers side and then i can take it for a drive to see what difference it has all made

[zak 0]

Tackled the drivers side today and made a school boy error.... i managed to cross thread the rear bolt that holds the rear of the wishbone though the subframe to the captive nut in the chassis.

 

I'll fix it next week but anyone know where i can order a new captive nut? don't think you can get them from vw?

[Ginger60 0]

Hi Zak,

 

What a bummer mate, its best to clean the bolt thread, grease & finger tighten it as far as it will go before torquing up to 96ft lb. Your best bet is to follow the repair procedure in the Bentley VW corrado manual...

 

They say to use a longer bolt and a cap nut kit. M12 x 1.5 thread, so need M12 x 1.5 x 95 (10.9) Part number ; N 10 161 2.01

 

Basically, support & jack engine free of the car subframe and remove the subframe from the car. Using a well spported drill a straight hole into the cap nut, re-tap the thread carefully then install the new longer bolt which should compensate for the damaged area. Re-install the subframe with new bolts.

 

To be honest its only easy if your competant at tapping treads, as if you cross it again you could snap the brittle hardened tool inside the cap nut! :shock:

 

The tracking then needs redoing before you can use it.

 

Hope that helps, any other help I can be just ask.

 

Cheers

[zak 0]

James, thanks for the advice, tbh i was just going to replace the captive nut

 

have a look at this thread for a repair on a mk2 golf. http://www.clubgti.com/forum/showthread.php?t=73404

 

Atleast the nut will be new and i'll be confident with the repair. I'm going to be attempting it on Saturday so let you know how i get it on. Im looking forward to the drive as the rear mount on the drivers side wishbone was deteriorated quite badly.

[Ginger60 0]

Thanks for the handy link mate, is it the same as a 'rado?

 

Good luck with that!

[zak 0]

from searching this forum people have mentioned there is an inspection hole for the captive nut which is acessed by removing a large grommet in the floorpan. This sounds the same as the mk2 but i'll find out for sure when i lift my carpet up at the weekend.

[Jim Bowen 1]

not that it matters now because i've done it now, but i had to remove my sump to get the wishbone bolts out?

 

is that right? or was i being a plum?