Firstly, my sincere thanks to those of you who suggested my bushes might be worn, as I am convinced you've hit the nail on the head (the shockers don't bounce any more on one side than the other) and I recall looking at the front nearside rear wishbone bush and thinking :eek:

So my question is...

is there any benefit to getting powerflex suspension bushes? Or other PU bushes (and if so where?)

Or will standard ones do?

And finally, would I be better off doing the whole wishbones, or just changing the bushes?

...and finally finally, are the wishbones the same across the entire Octy Mk1 range as ebay sellers are tending to suggest?

Godddammit sometimes I am so thick!:P

Can someone please edit the title to say "powerflex" so I don't look illiterate?

thanks:D

Yeah all the wishbones are the same across the range.

If you want complete wishbones (if your lazy like me!), then you have 3 main options.

1)Skoda ones £58 each

2)OE (Lemforder) ones from GSF (identical to the ones from Skoda) £45 each

3)Budget ones from GSF for £28ish (I wouldn't bother because their probably made from cheese)

If you've got the time then maybe press out/in new bushes. Then your options are:

1)Powerflex front/rear

2)Superpro front/rear

3)Audi TT rear with whatever in the front

4)Standard - A bit pointless if your going to the trouble of pressing things in and out

Changing just the wishbones is easy, as long as you have a big torque wrench, and some new bolts from Skoda.

I went for the cheap Febi complete wishbones from AVS with new balljoints (they were the reason for doing it in the first place - wandery car and knocking as per other thread). When I took the original wishbones off the bushes didn't look too bad, but the new ones have improved the feel of the car a lot. I was going to do the whole pressing bushes etc with TT ones but I didn't have much time (or inclination) so thought I'd try standard first and if no good take them off later and do the TT thing. The hard part of doing the swap was getting the old ball joints off. Needed to use mole grips to undo them. One was knack*red and other not good either so they might be worth a look.

The whole lot cost about £100 including buying a Haynes manual, had been quoted £300 and £200, so reasonable saving for rolling around in the drive in the rain and a hurricane

Thanks folks,

going to Cardiff later in the week and my dad in law is an engineer/toolmaker so I'm going to order the powerflex set and do the whole pressing thing (he has presses and all sort of other weird and wonderful tools!!)

Update next week I guess... (assuming I don't lose any more digits in the process!)

Jonny, you could think about fiting tt wishbones instead, i just picked up a set including tt bushes and adjustable whiteline castor bushes much cheaper than i could have bought it all new. Keep an eye on ebay or on the mk4golf forum, as soon as its done i will let you know i get on!

A lot of the golf and seat boys are fitting tt stuff rather than the powerflex ones due to isues with them coming out, search on this forum for more info, just a thought though. tt stuff is much cheaper too.

Edited 21 July, 200916 yr by sweedish

Jonny, you could think about fiting tt wishbones instead, i just picked up a set including tt bushes and adjustable whiteline castor bushes much cheaper than i could have bought it all new. Keep an eye on ebay or on the mk4golf forum, as soon as its done i will let you know i get on!

A lot of the golf and seat boys are fitting tt stuff rather than the powerflex ones due to isues with them coming out, search on this forum for more info, just a thought though. tt stuff is much cheaper too.

Don't you have to fit TT uprights too, if your using the TT wishbones?

I went for the cheap Febi complete wishbones from AVS with new balljoints (they were the reason for doing it in the first place - wandery car and knocking as per other thread). When I took the original wishbones off the bushes didn't look too bad, but the new ones have improved the feel of the car a lot. I was going to do the whole pressing bushes etc with TT ones but I didn't have much time (or inclination) so thought I'd try standard first and if no good take them off later and do the TT thing. The hard part of doing the swap was getting the old ball joints off. Needed to use mole grips to undo them. One was knack*red and other not good either so they might be worth a look.

The whole lot cost about £100 including buying a Haynes manual, had been quoted £300 and £200, so reasonable saving for rolling around in the drive in the rain and a hurricane

I did the same! Febi wishbones £55 for the pair with all the bushes and ball joint. I WILL refurb the originals and get the TT bush at the rear and a superpro or powerflex on the front ready for when I get round to doing coilovers.

IT was nice and sunny in Bridgend when I did mine on Saturday though :rofl:

Jonny, you could think about fiting tt wishbones instead, i just picked up a set including tt bushes and adjustable whiteline castor bushes much cheaper than i could have bought it all new. Keep an eye on ebay or on the mk4golf forum, as soon as its done i will let you know i get on!

A lot of the golf and seat boys are fitting tt stuff rather than the powerflex ones due to isues with them coming out, search on this forum for more info, just a thought though. tt stuff is much cheaper too.

There is one thread on there about a 4motion where the guy changed the whole subframe for one off an R32 so included the ARB and the quickrack. Looks like a realy good way to go.

just ordered a set of powerflex wishbone bushes and a dogbone bush - £96 for the lot...

Now all I have to do is collect them and then get the fitted without breaking anything!

how you mean tt uprights?

am basically sourcing a full r32 front end (subframe/rack/front arb/wishbones and hubs if i can get them for a good price, and will swap over everything in one go...

how you mean tt uprights?

am basically sourcing a full r32 front end (subframe/rack/front arb/wishbones and hubs if i can get them for a good price, and will swap over everything in one go...

I'm not jelous at all

how you mean tt uprights?

am basically sourcing a full r32 front end (subframe/rack/front arb/wishbones and hubs if i can get them for a good price, and will swap over everything in one go...

Uprights as in hub carriers. But looks like you've got it covered!

I understood that the TT cast wishbones won't fit octavia hub carriers.

That's a good idea getting the whole lot still attached to the subframe. Need to find a TT in a scrap yard and rape it!

did you hear they wont fit the octavia specifically or just non r32 spec stuff?

There is a slight mod required to make them fit, however this has been done on the mk4 forum by a few owners and def works on their setup which as far as i can tell uses the same hubs as ours so should work.

It seems to make sense to do it this way as otherwise you will either have a car off the road for ages if you are doing yourself whilst you paint stuff up etc or cost more in labour for a mechanic to swap bits over, this way you get all parts tidied up as required and in theory a quicker refit time.....we shall see:rolleyes:

It was that the R32/TT cast wishbones don't fit directly to standard golf/octavia hub carriers. I'm assuming the ball joints are different, but from what you've said I guess there is a way to modify them to fit.

The TT hub carriers have lower pitman arms also, so you can lower the car more without putting a crazy angle on the track rod ends!

Definately a great plan to get everything ready beforehand, and slap it on in a weekend! I tend to be limited by time as I work so slow! Cleaning and stroking every component before fitting it, and generally fannying about. I'm a fiddler!

Yes you are right the balljoints are different, they have a different taper however using a washer under the nut sits the balljoint in the right place in our hub.

This is i think what i will do short term till i get some new hubs. As you said on the tt hub the mount is lower meaning the tt wishbone is a truer 90degs to the ground and sits less angled thus improving the overall design.

Lol, i hope the fiddling is kept strictly to the car....only joking! Know what you mean, i am a perfectionist too and it takes me longer than it should sometimes as i will fit and refit till i am happy. Well this seems the best way for you to do it too then, you can assemble everything first then fit over a weekend!

You tempted to do it too?

Well, all fitted now and although I haven't had a chance to really push the car, it definitely feels better.

Had to make up a special "squasher" to compress the donebone together sufficiently to get the bolt back into it though. Anyone else have this problem? (Good job I was visiting the Outlaws in Wales - father in law has his own toolroom where we made up the presses and stuff!;-) )

yes the nut is difficult to put back on when you have changed to poly bushes, i managed to push mine in by hand (with a lot of swearing).....just!!

yes the nut is difficult to put back on when you have changed to poly bushes, i managed to push mine in by hand (with a lot of swearing).....just!!

it helps if you have the captive nut aligned the right way round!!!! (I didn't at first...)

I just stuck the whole dogbone in the vice.

Easy.

Does anyone have a pic of the mod you have to do to get an Octy hub onto a TT wishbone/ball joint?

Also, are the R32/TT wishbones the same? I heard the R32s are alloy but I have seen TT ones with rust on them...

there arent any pics as that i have found as very few people have done it, it just uses a washer to sit the balljoint in the right location (this is to use our hubs with a tt wishbone).

you can use full tt stuff ie wbone/hub etc that then dont require this mod.

tt wbones are cast but i dont think its alloy....its heavy thats for sure!

That's what I thought, I have been told the R32 ones are alloy so they might be a different part.

I'll have to wing it with the hubs, I can't use TT ones as I am going to use H2S ones and they are designed to go on a Golf (std, not R32), there might be issues anyway with the 2 inch drop in the relative position of the mounting point for the ball joint.

The plan is: R32/TT wishbones with H2S spherical bearing bushes, H2S hubs, Ground Control camber mounts and Compbrake 335mm 6pots.

That is an expensive plan but I will get a professional with a GSP9700 to set my car up when I'm done and we should be golden.

sweet plan!

the r32 are the same as the tt ones iirc, though dont quote me.

The h2s stuff is nice but expensive, why this route over doing the tt swap as at least if you do tt/32 hubs, wbones etc etc it will all fit like it was designed to without having to spacer the balljoint (which is not ideal considering the amount this setup will cost). Just a thought anyway, but i think once right it will be a mean bit of kit that you will have!

Yes you are right the balljoints are different, they have a different taper however using a washer under the nut sits the balljoint in the right place in our hub.

This is i think what i will do short term till i get some new hubs. As you said on the tt hub the mount is lower meaning the tt wishbone is a truer 90degs to the ground and sits less angled thus improving the overall design.

Lol, i hope the fiddling is kept strictly to the car....only joking! Know what you mean, i am a perfectionist too and it takes me longer than it should sometimes as i will fit and refit till i am happy. Well this seems the best way for you to do it too then, you can assemble everything first then fit over a weekend!

You tempted to do it too?

Maybe down to years as I have used the early MK1 TT ( 1997 to 1999 ) stock wishbones with new balljoints (my own ones from the VAG range) on a number of MK1 Octavias,Golf MK4's And Audi A3's with good results ( best way to correct camber after lowering) for a number of years with no issues.

If anyone wants this set up or prices just call me on 07873749616

Images on request ;-)

Yeah, but with the H2S stuff the wishbone will be totally level with a significant drop in ride height and the correct camber already.

Then the Ground Control Top mounts will let me dial in as much camber/caster as I want.

I have read that the ARB might not even be necessary when it is set up correctly.

The Compbrake stuff is powerful but no heavier than the standard brakes, I like that.

If the R32/TT stuff is the same then it is a lot heavier than the standard pressed steel wishbones and I don't like that.

We'll see.