OK, I've done some searching on here & I think I understand the situation but I was hoping that someone could just confirm I've got it right:

- There were two types of ARB on the mkI RS Octavia.

- Early models had a 19mm plastic sleeve fitted & 'P' type bushes with a 19mm hole.

- Later models had no sleeve & 'S' type bushes with a 17mm hole.

- You can fit the later 17mm bushes to an earlier car if you remove the sleeves.

- If you buy a replacement ARB it will be sleeveless & you need 17mm bushes.

Is that right?

I assume that you cannot buy & fit the plastic sleeves if yours are broken.

My Octy has started making a clunking noise from the front end (a couple of weeks ago actually but I've been busy/ill/cycled to work). I checked it today. Nearside seemed OK but when I grabbed hold of the offside droplink I was able to move it up & down. It looked like it was the ARB itself that was moving.

I jacked the car up & took off the wheel. There is rust around the ARB bush & the plastic sleeve is broken. I could not move the ARB with the car in the air though. I assumed this was because the suspension was now extended. Dropped the car back down & I still cannot move the ARB about like I could before. Car still clunks though.

I guess I need 2x new 17mm bushes & clips; remove plastic sleeves & fit & see how it is then.

Cheers

Darren

OK, I've done some searching on here & I think I understand the situation but I was hoping that someone could just confirm I've got it right:

- There were two types of ARB on the mkI RS Octavia.

- Early models had a 19mm plastic sleeve fitted & 'P' type bushes with a 19mm hole.

- Later models had no sleeve & 'S' type bushes with a 17mm hole.

- You can fit the later 17mm bushes to an earlier car if you remove the sleeves.

- If you buy a replacement ARB it will be sleeveless & you need 17mm bushes.

Is that right?

That is correct. Most of the time the old bars have the sleeves either broken or removed that causes the knocking so by fitting 17mm bushes cures this.

I assume that you cannot buy & fit the plastic sleeves if yours are broken.

That is also correct as the sleeve less ARB replaces that old style.

My Octy has started making a clunking noise from the front end (a couple of weeks ago actually but I've been busy/ill/cycled to work). I checked it today. Nearside seemed OK but when I grabbed hold of the offside droplink I was able to move it up & down. It looked like it was the ARB itself that was moving.

I jacked the car up & took off the wheel. There is rust around the ARB bush & the plastic sleeve is broken. I could not move the ARB with the car in the air though. I assumed this was because the suspension was now extended. Dropped the car back down & I still cannot move the ARB about like I could before. Car still clunks though.

I guess I need 2x new 17mm bushes & clips; remove plastic sleeves & fit & see how it is then.

Cheers

Darren

Chances are that your drop links may also be worn as the knocking of the ARB could have ended the life of the drop links. A way to find out is put your hand through the front wheel and grasp the drop link whilst someone bounces the car up and down from the front end of the car( bonnet open and leaning on the wing or front panel). You will be able to feel the play in the drop link or identify that it is only the ARB at fault.

Thanks!

I recently replaced both front springs (O/S was broken) so I'm guessing that the broken spring combined with disturbing the suspension has done my ARB sleeve in.

The car has only been driven about 10 miles since I noticed the knocking, so I'm hoping the drop-links will be OK. They feel ok just grabbing them.

I think I might just swap out the bushes & try it. This will give me a better idea of whether the drop-links need doing as well. I also need to do the bottom rad mounts (discovered as part of this fault-finding!). :rotz:

Cheers.

I have (just) removed my old bushes & plastic sleeves & replaced both 19mm 'P' type bushes with 17mm 'S' types.

It was a bit of a pig getting the 17mm bushes on, even though I cleaned up the ARB thoroughly. I had to use silicon grease on the inside & outside of the bushes in order to get them on.

I have driven the car & the clonking is definitely gone. It seems to roll less through the corners as well, as you'd expect.

My only concern now is that the plastic sleeves had moulded in end-stops on them. There is now nothing to stop the ARB moving laterally as well as up & down. I am not too concerned as I moved the bar around when both bushes were off & it can only move an inch or so each way before hitting the subframe; which is not enough to foul the suspension.

I was just wondering though; do the new style ARB's have stops built-in to them or was it decided this was unnecessary?

yes they have a metal lip to stop these moving about

I have driven the car & the clonking is definitely gone. It seems to roll less through the corners as well, as you'd expect.

Good result glad you fixed it.

My only concern now is that the plastic sleeves had moulded in end-stops on them. There is now nothing to stop the ARB moving laterally as well as up & down. I am not too concerned as I moved the bar around when both bushes were off & it can only move an inch or so each way before hitting the subframe; which is not enough to foul the suspension.

The ARB can move as the drop links have ball joints so will also allow the ARB if not fixed in place by the stops. To get around that, you can fit jubilee clips around the ARB to the inside part of the ARB(before the brackets). I know a few folks have done that. You may have to remove bracket/bolt to get enough space to fit the clip onto the bar. A tip to fitting new rubbers / bracket is to use a longer bolt to allow for the stronger bush to tighten the bracket down to the subframe and then remove it and fit the original bolt. This will allow the ARB to sit in place better.

I was just wondering though; do the new style ARB's have stops built-in to them or was it decided this was unnecessary?

The new style bar does have stops that are fixed to the ARB that sits exactly where i was suggesting you put the jubilee clips.

Good result glad you fixed it.

Thanks.

The ARB can move as the drop links have ball joints so will also allow the ARB if not fixed in place by the stops. To get around that, you can fit jubilee clips around the ARB to the inside part of the ARB(before the brackets).

Doh! Why didn't I think of that. I guess it's back up on the jack then! :(

A tip to fitting new rubbers / bracket is to use a longer bolt to allow for the stronger bush to tighten the bracket down to the subframe and then remove it and fit the original bolt. This will allow the ARB to sit in place better.

Thanks. That's what I did after a bit of cursing. I was outside in the rain. Thought it would be a quick job & not worth the 2hrs it would take to clear the garage out & it was; took me about 3hrs start to finish. I was getting stressed near the end though as I was cold, wet & had to pick the wife up from work & my gear was strewn all about the pavement. Made it with 5mins to spare!

Cheers for your help

Darren

Darren,

no worries, i too learnt from experience when i changed my bushes. A simple job took much longer than expected.

Darren also found the old post that is now in the technical guide section i did when fitting new ARB. May be on some interest to you. You can see the stops on the ARB pics.

found here:

http://briskoda.net/octavia-i/r32-arb-diy-fitted-few-bits/148293/