Ikos60

Hi Guys, my 2012 New Beetle had the same problem! My opinion is that the issue here is the silly, rediculous, rubbish design which is no where near adequate to stop these bolts spinning when the so called captive nuts break away from the top mount. Not only do the welds break but the nuts, which do have 13mm flats on, them are not accessible. They protrude down about 1mm and are too close to the springs to get a socket on. Whats the point of having flats if you cant make use of them and why the hell are the welds so rubbish. If the welds did the job end of story. The real cause of the problem is not overtightening but corrosion of the bolts where the thread protrudes down into the wheel arch. Obviously it does help not to overtighten the bolts but once the bolts get corroded its very likely that you will have a problem with the welds breaking. Anyway the solution is to drill the bolts out. Put a spanner on them to stop the drill spinning them and then centre puch the centre of the bolt head and drill a hole slightly wider than the diameter of the bolt thread, starting with a pilot hole and gradually widening it out. Its very effective if your drills are sharp and not old and blunt. You will then need to fit a new strutt top mount/bearing as any welds which have not already broke will likely do so when you come to tighten them up. You will also need to fit new bolts to replace those you have drilled out. They are not too expensive and its not a bad idea to replace them to avoid getting the common knocking noise due to bearing wear. Hope this helps. Best wishes Ian.