cloverleaf

Yup, I'd say that those are almost certainly the cause of your issue. I had the same thing and swapping them out for some powerflex's sorted it.

Given how much paint's been taken off the front doors, sills and arches from driving around without them I'd be an advocate of fitting them. Then again, I drive on country roads a lot so if you're a motorway muncher or town cruiser then you're probably not going to have the same issue!

This might be something unrelated but is it worth trying to tighten the rack up? I've not had to do it on mine but I'm sure there's a thread on here (and definitely on ukmkiv's) about a way to tighten up slop in the rack. Like I say, it may not be the issue but it could help..

In comparison to the number of cars out there there aren't that many DMF failures. Sure, there seem to be more than for standard cars but not so that I would be overly worried - remember, most people talk about the problems they have on forums rather than what's working on their car. If it needs done then it needs done down the line then it needs done but don't stress over something that hasn't happened as chances are, it won't!

The nearside of my car gets a pasting from the backroads - all the bushes on that side have been worse than the offside when I've replaced them. Kinda surprised at just how bad the bushes in these new ones are though given that vwspares wishbones (ie Febi) have generally seemed pretty well talked about. I'm guessing whoever's fitted them hasn't driven many rough and twisty roads to punish them much. I doubt it would pass an MOT there's that much play in them as it stands just now!

I got a pair of these at the start of the year and only got around to actually fitting one of them a month or so back. The problem is that there is now so much play in the rear bush that it's worse than the one on the offside that's the original and has done 120k! It's creaking, clunking, cracking and if I put a small pry bar in there's massive amounts of movement. Pretty poor in my eyes. I know some Ebay ones are a bit crap but I always thought Febi was a reasonable pattern part manufacturer...so far my experience would indicate otherwise! Is this normal??

Thanks for the advice guys and yeah. I've actually got a whole setup ready to just swap over, top mounts, bottom out bumpers and all - it's literally going to be a removal of the old strut and replace with new job. I may have imagined it but I was fairly sure that without compressors your couldn't quite get the old strut out of the hub (when still attached to the wishbones)?

The time has come to replace the front struts on the vRS, along with the wishbones. Now, not being a fan of using spring compressors, nor actually owning a set, I was wondering if removal of the wishbones provides sufficient clearance for the struts to be popped out of the hub without the compressors being used? Any help is appreciated!

That last post's spot on; you only crystallise the loss when you actually sell it. If you keep it for four/five years like I have, the fact that you paid c£7k for it and it's now worth somewhere sub £3k means that at £1k average a year depreciation you can't complain. Sure, a VW golf would be worth more now but you'd have had to spend a lot more to get it in the first place - percentage wise the loss would probably be similar but the actual monetary value would be less on the Octavia. So I'm not worried that my car's not worth much, I know it's not worth much - if I keep it another year it'll cost what, maybe £500 in work, lose another £500 in depreciation? What newer car are you going to get that only loses you £1k in a year with another 20k on the clock??

If you weren't doing it on a flat and level piece of ground then that could explain why it was difficult to do the bolts up. Personally I feel that it's an all or nothing upgrade; ie do both bushes or just replace with OEM. With both replaced (I did the rear one last year and the front last weekend) things have improved over just the rear. I think that the rear only being done pushes too much force into the OEM front which then can't cope with the added abuse and just shakes around madly. It's true that they do soften with time although not enough IMO if you want a smooth and quiet car at idle. Also, the amount that you preloaded the bush with can have an impact as the greater the preload, the greater the force to compress and so the smaller frequency vibrations are dialled out as much as they otherwise would be.

Thought I'd update this a little - it took me until now to finally change the circular bush after it started to die at the tail end of last year. It was an easy swap with the aid of an oxy torch - heat the thing up for a few minutes on a high flame, stick it in a vice and then smack it with a BFH. One strike and it popped out in one piece. A spray of WD40 and the new bush pressed in easily with the vice - although a tip, if it starts to go in squint, is to push down on the bit that's not going in with a large file/screwdriver etc and continue to wind up the vice. It'll just slide right in. A quick opening of the bracket hole with a round file and it's all ready to bolt back on. Maybe fifteen minutes all told? Back in the car there's not really any more shudder at idle than before and I think this is in anycase down to it needing new plugs/coilpacks than the mount massively as once at 850rpm it's smooth and silent. Clutch action is once again smooth as a result of the engine no longer rocking around and vibrating every time you pull away or re-engage it after a change. Possibly a little more under engine braking from 3.5k rpm and above but nothing massive, and it's more of an audible sound a couple of octaves deeper than it used to be. I reckon in retrospect the best option is to either replace neither bush and go OEM, or do both at the same time as it seems smoother now with both fitted than it did when I just replaced one - probably because just replacing one puts too much stress on the original bush and just leaves it to flap about and get out of its depth. If you can't be arsed with the oxy torch you could always just go for the superpro two piece bush that drops into the cavities on the existing one - this would probably be a good compromise.

I just cut my losses with my OSR one and just threw a new one on there with a new handbrake cable which was also a bit fubared. The difference was huge, to the point that I'm going to put a new one on the other side. For the fifty quid that they cost I can't be arsed with the hassle of trying to free one up - as soon as it's started seizing you're fighting a losing battle.

Hey, don't worry about that, it doesn't in the least bit bother me - as soon as a pic goes up online it's pretty much free for all unless it's got a copyright logo on it. I just spotted it and was like 'I recognise that'! Took me a moment to remember why...

Slightly O/T but I just spotted that your avatar pic there Longyear is of my car...I saw someone on ebay'd used it too a few months back, ironically when I was contemplating trying to sell mine again!

At the end of the day it's a car, I mean mine is on 115k and an 05 plate and people last year weren't interested at 3k (when it was at 100k). Full history, all the servicing, proper parts, premium performance tyres. Don't get me wrong, it's not showroom but it's a genuine car and all I got were jokers. I think the value depends hugely on where you live and what sort of buyer comes along - some will go for good money and others'll go for peanuts. It's not as if they were expensive brand new, I mean what were they, sub 14k? Losing 75% of the value in 6 years isn't great but in terms of the actual monetary value lost it's pretty damn good compared to many other cars - and the great thing is that they're not going to fall much further than where they are as even if they lost another 75% in the next couple of years it's pretty cheap motoring.