Right then, time is to sort out my bushes. I'm fitting Audi TT items in the front arms and stock rear beam bushes. I've only recently changed the fronts for the 2nd time in almost 70k of driving since I've had the car. I've not done the rear beam bushes yet which is scary as the car is now fast approaching 140k. I'm realy hoping it will transform the way it behaves on the road, especially the rear end as I'm convinced the rear end has gradually deteriorated and that I've not noticed things getting worse. Anyway.......

FRONT

Photo below shows the state the front bushes get themselves into. They are basically voided bushes and about 50% of them is rubber. Great for nice squishy cruising but rubbish for handling and a long life. As above, I go through these at an alarming rate !!!

Photo below another on how bad they get.

Photo below shows what I used to bash the old bushes out.

Photo below showing the lower arms with bushes removed.

Ok now the tricky bit, drifting the new bushes in. I used a 1 and 7/8's AF socket with the 25mm plywood packer along with my trusty old "Record Nr.5 Bench Vice"

I sort of took the pictures after I started but what you need is to provide a packer that stops the bush getting distorted while you draw it in with the vice, phtoto below showing hole saw just bigger than the bush / bush housing in the lower arm.

Photo below showing plywood packer ready to go.

The next three photos below show the bush being drawn into the arm...

Once you've got the bush started off the vice (with gentle use of a hammer on the socket) then offer it up to the vice and wind it up. You need to apply considerable force to do this as you can see by the state of the distorted piece of ply.

Photo below showing the TT bushes in my Golf lower arm ready to fit to the car....

Below are some pictures of when I fitted the set that are on the car and taken from this thread.....

 http://uk-mkivs.net/forums/2/692760/ShowThread.aspx#692760

ct.p:

Changed them today and here are the pictures. They really were shot, one dangerously so.

 

Jack up + axle stand for safety.

Second jack in place to take pressure off droplink to allow removal

Lever  / fold droplink out of the way

Balljoint bolts to undo, viewed from underneath

Balljoint bolts and cage removed

Knackered flat bush

New bolts, a set of 4 costs about £5 from VW, stupidly I forgot to get the nuts for the flat bush mounting but the green thread locking compound is on the bolts anyway or you could even use some lok-tite.

Second jack used again to install droplink

 

You'll notice no pictures of me fitting the lower arms themselves as quite frankly, it's a bit of a struggle. An easy way would be to undo the hub nuts and let the hub off the driveshaft to allow the location of the balljoint into the arm but as hubnuts have to be replaced, I prefer the hard way !! Out of interest, how do you lot get over this bit ? Do you wriggle and struggle like me ?

REAR....

Photo below showing new rear beam bushes.

Photo below showing what I intend to use to draw them into the rear beam.

Photo below also showing how I intend to draw them into the rear beam.

Any comments from those who have done their own rear beam bushes and what they used to get them in most welcome !!!

Hopefully I'll update this when all is sorted with some dirty shots of the rear end !!

Good stuff... I used 2 pices of wood with just 32mm holes on them which was just enough to alow the center of the bush through... quite easy really ..

And I also struggled getting the arm out myself though wound one side is much easier than the other... .. it can help if you apply full lock a certain way (cant remeber if its left or right...) anyway try both one of them makes it really easy 

andymac:

Good stuff... I used 2 pices of wood with just 32mm holes on them which was just enough to alow the center of the bush through... quite easy really ..

And I also struggled getting the arm out myself though wound one side is much easier than the other... .. it can help if you apply full lock a certain way (cant remeber if its left or right...) anyway try both one of them makes it really easy 

I'm a bit of a veteran at swapping over the lower arms but agree they can be a bit of a struggle, especially getting the balljoint bracket back into the arm... Grrrr !!

BTW hows the new R doing, there is / are a distinct lack of photos and info about it on here !!

The r is great BUT some of the jealous sniping I got peed me off when I first got it. So I am still wary about posting anything about it.. I am hopefully helping tabs fit some cruise control soon, so may ask him to do a few pictures..

whenI get time I want to do a full and proper review... instead of posting tid bits and tid bits there.. 

Thank you for such a good "how to". I've been looking into bush replacements for a while. Might even give it a go myself now.

 Cheers!

Well, today I swapped over the lower arms with the old (new) ones with the TT bushes in them. I also got the car 4 wheel laser aligned (again).

The front end certainly feels tighter and not at all harsher but there again, I've not driven it that far. I'll report back for those who may be interested on how it goes.

Now for the rear beam bushes....maybe next weekend, maybe.

PaulGT:

nice little write up there! looks like a proper pain but you've done a pukka job! i just paid a garage to fit my TT bushes! lol. does feel much better, but something's still not right on mine

How so ?

 i know this is an ancient thread.... but i only joined this forum yesterday... I picked up my first bora yesterday.. tdi 130 sport... I love it, the engines solid and well serviced/loved, but theres some suspension niose from the front, i guessed its probably just bushes and that i'd do it my self? how long should i allow to do this? is there any other bushes that could be making noise? it just the classic speed bumps and rough road nocking type noise and associated looseness.

looks like a nice forum here, thanks for the pics so far,

owain

 is your frnt suspension banging wen goin over bumps??? sounds like shocks or strut top mounts

i just replaced a the inner cv boot on the side that was niosey, seems quieter now??? could that have been contributing and i now i've shoved tonnes of grease in there its damping abit?? maybe i'm just being superstitious...... anyway its still there.... the cars done 115k so i thought it might be shocks, also the bushes looked ok on quick inspection whilst doing cv boot.. i have a set of bilstiens that are waiting for me to have the cash to buy eibachs, so they'll go in soon... we'll see then??

when i had to take the lower arms out to the bushes i had the complete front of the car jacked up so both wheels were off the ground which makes the job easier allowing quick access to both but a big advantage when working with the droplinks as the front of the car is off the ground there is no pressure on them so you are able then to just unbolt them

And When i done my back bushes it was brute force with a hammer and must say that set up you have to do them is very smart wish i had thought of that lol cos at times hammers dont like fingers lol

When I changed the RHS front arm on my 2000 Mk IV TDI, everything was going fine until I went to refit it - and the front bolt into the chassis rail just kept turning around because the nut welded inside had become detached when I undid it at the begining of the operation!

Cost me a lot of dosh to get it fixed - by cutting into the lower outside of the sub-frame, folding back the metal, welding another nut in place behind the hole, and then folding the sub-frame metal back in place and welding that as well (has gone through 2x MoT like that with no problem)!

As for the LHS, a garage did that about 6 months later, and they apparently had a devil of a job to get the equivalent bolt out of that side - lots of penetrating fluid, heat, and time, etc. Glad I did'nt tackle that!

As for the bushes, I used the Cupra ones, and the ride is still quite reasonable and there have been no problems in about 15k miles.

OTOH, I would always use standard ARB bushes as they provide vibration insulation from the ARB to the subframe and bolt = not so harsh.

The big improvement comes from using Powerflex bushes in the ARB droplinks - and they last an awful lot longer (but you break drop links - I think it is 3 metal ones so far for me!)

i take it that the tt bushes are better than the standard bushes cos mine are up now againg for changing its going to be fun

Hi...

Nice write up... just what I've been searching for..

Can you tell me how many bolts I need to replace with new? ,which bolts do I have to replace... do I need nuts as well? and a possible part number?

Sorry for all the questions, ;)

Many thanks

Dan

Just for info, got my car back from VW service and they gave me a list of 21 things that are wrong (although most of them not real problems)

They quoted me £67.85 to get anti roll bar bushes done and £244.37 to do the rear axle bushes.. no thanks! Think i'd rather source parts myself and see where it goes from there.

What exactly are the anti roll bar bushes? I guess they're the bigger bushes on the front arm but i dont know And if they are, would it be cheaper just to get new front arms? Pretty sure i read that somewhere but just want confirmation.

Thanks in advance

Doug

The ARB bushings consist of the sets of bushes at the top and bottom of each of the drop-links to the front lower arms - dead easy to replace the links which you can buy as complete bushed items. I think they work out at around £30 a pair.  Make sure you buy the metal links and NOT the plastic ones!

OTOH, you can buy the bushes separately and they cost less than a tenner. However, the originals do wear out fast, and you might want to fit Powerflex or similar polyurethane bushes as these virtually never wear out (>50k miles on my TDI estate) but cost around £30-£40 a full set. Also, to remove the old bushes from the droplinks you will probably need a strong, well mounted vice and a drift and large hammer !

Just possibly, the garage might be refering to the bushings between the ARB and the sub-frame - I think these will cost your around a tenner each.. These can be a bit of a pig and you need to release the ARB droplinks to allow you to force the ARB back and forward to get the new bushes in. You will probably need a "wobble" socket extension to get at the securing bolts and a BIG lever for the ARB itself!

 No.

The inner ARB are quite easy.

The difficult part is compressing the bush enough to get a start on the securing bolt for the clamp. Use some long long nosed pliers to do that and it is a doddle. Do one side at a time and as above release the drop links first.

One thing you need to be really careful about however is the captive nuts that are tack welded to the subframe can sometimes come loose. If this happens, you will be in spot of bother. You will not know about this until you attempt the job, they will either hold or fail !

As a precaution, a few weeks before you do the job, spray the securing bolts as best you can with penetrating fluid.

ct.p:

 No. The inner ARB are quite easy.

Maybe for you, but with the larger (25mm) ARB on the TDI, I needed a bodging bar to force the ARB forward enough to get the bolt back in - and that only worked when I used a bolt that was approx 5mm longer than the one that came out!

Same problem both sides!

John

jeallen01:

ct.p:

 No. The inner ARB are quite easy.

Maybe for you, but with the larger (25mm) ARB on the TDI, I needed a bodging bar to force the ARB forward enough to get the bolt back in - and that only worked when I used a bolt that was approx 5mm longer than the one that came out!

Same problem both sides!

John

It was on a GT TDI

You don't need a lever and you don't need longer bolts.

All you need are some long needle nosed pliers to squish the clamp down enough onto the bush to enable the bolt to get started in the thread.

 thanks for the tips and advice
my dads an ex car mechanic so hopefully with his experience, your tips and me to stop him taking shortcuts it'l get done soon