preperation for rear axle bushes

[joby 0]

Hey all have been preparing the garage for the dreaded axle bushes and have jacked up the car and placed the axle stands and sprayed all the bolts with wd40 but the car doesnt seem high enough, should i take it as high as possible by putting some strong timber blocks underneath the stands, A bit of advise from someone whos done the job would be handy, Are the dealers the best place to get the bushes from and all the nuts and bolts, Also noticed a lot of surface nasty looking rust around the beam itself ! A good clean up and hamerite should do the trick and a little advice would be handy as i am dreading doing the job, but hey felt the same when i did the heater matrix and then felt pleased as punch when it was finished, all part of 17 year old corrado ownership i suppose.Wish me luck!! :D

[davidwort 0]

If you're not in a rush it's not too bad, clamp up the brake hoses to stop loosing all your fluid, unscrew them from the calipers and the remove the whole rear beam.

I cut out the old bushes and pulled in the new ones with a home made puller(long nut and bolt and some big washers) and some pieces of metal packing to fit the curved shape of the new bushing edge. The beam just sat on a pair of axle stands for this so I wasn't crouching over it lying on the floor.

The febi bushes I bought seem fine though the genuine VW sourced parts may well last the longest, my originals were still serviceable after nearly 15 years.

I burnt out the old rubber to pull the centres out of the old bushes then carefully hack-sawed out the outer parts, bit of grease helped the new ones pull in.

Despite what I'd been told about the possibility of pulling them in too far (I under-did it then offered the beam up to the car to make sure) it looked unlikely that they could have been pulled in too much, just make sure you have a pic taken for reference as to the correct orientation for the new ones.

 

Admittedly I had the luxury of a 2 poster workshop lift to put the car on, but you should be able to do the job with the car on axle stands, the only way to do it with the beam in-situ is a workshop lift and the proper VW hydraulic puller though.

[joby 0]

Thanks davidwort for you detailed reply, a good bit of advice there! I want to replace all the bushes and rubbers around the car then the shock absorbers, At the moment its got bilstein shocks with eibach springs and feel they are a bit stiff for my liking so was thinking of standard shocks but retaining the eibach springs suposedly a good combination as the car only gets used in the summer really and like a bit of comfort :lol:

[davidwort 0]

Thanks davidwort for you detailed reply, a good bit of advice there! I want to replace all the bushes and rubbers around the car then the shock absorbers, At the moment its got bilstein shocks with eibach springs and feel they are a bit stiff for my liking so was thinking of standard shocks but retaining the eibach springs suposedly a good combination as the car only gets used in the summer really and like a bit of comfort :lol:

 

 

I've had eibachs on my valver for 11 years!

to be fair the standard shocks are not really the best match for them and the rear bump stops will just be destroyed if they haven't been cut down to suit the lower eibachs.

I've had a number of shocks with them and although it's the most expensive option the koni sport (yellow) top adjustable dampers are by far the best, they work really well with the eibach springs which will always be quite stiff regardless of what you put with them. The payback is the stability at high speed and handling on dry flat road surfaces :D

My car is a year round daily driver and I like comfort too, can only repeat what I've said, after years of trying different dampers the koni's make for a very pleasant ride.

[joby 0]

davidwort could i use the standard bump stops with the koni adjustables and also where is the best place to get the konis from as i have looked and only found a complete kit with springs! and only need the shocks and what setting do you tend to use

Thanks again :D

[davidwort 0]

davidwort could i use the standard bump stops with the koni adjustables and also where is the best place to get the konis from as i have looked and only found a complete kit with springs! and only need the shocks and what setting do you tend to use

Thanks again :D

 

I simply cut down some standard new bump stops, making sure you can still attach the dust/splash covers, the GSF splash covers I got were shorter than the original corrado ones (mk3?) and better fit for it.

I bought my konis separate, but I reckon you're better off buying a kit (keep an eye out for some of the mail order places doing discounts) and then sell the springs on on e-bay etc. think I payed as much for the separate bits as a whole kit in the end!

I've tried various settings and it seems happiest on the softest both front and rear, perhaps winding up the fronts a little more in the summer.

- David.

[joby 0]

Cheers David :D

[fla 9]

The febi bushes I bought seem fine though the genuine VW sourced parts may well last the longest, my originals were still serviceable after nearly 15 years.

 

how do you rate these David? Would you suggest getting the VW ones? They are massively cheaper than vw though.

[boost monkey 0]

Mine are febi... ask me in 27 years when the Plum is back on the road :lol:

 

joby, you can find rear beam prep advice in my build thread. :salute:

[davidwort 0]

The febi bushes I bought seem fine though the genuine VW sourced parts may well last the longest, my originals were still serviceable after nearly 15 years.

 

how do you rate these David? Would you suggest getting the VW ones? They are massively cheaper than vw though.

 

well they've done about 20K now and no issues, bit of surface rust after a few winters but the rubber's not coming unbonded from the metal or anything, handles fine.

I think I would probably buy VW ones if I did it again though, but only because I never plan getting rid of the car and the VW ones are likely to last the best.

If I was paying someone else to do the job then it would probably be a false economy due to the labour cost being a fair whack if it had to be done again because of the cheaper bits