Hi all

As its a nice sunny day in the north east I decided to have a quick look under the car to try and find out where the knocking Is coming from its whenever I hit a slight bump.

Checked the droplinks they look ok

anyway below are a few photos of the arb+bushes and some bushes. I think the arb is due for replacement?

tbh for now I just want to stop the damm knocking. Please excuse the quality of the photos

http://imgur.com/a/JzOWq

so what ya think.. Orrr could it be something else?

100% it's your console bushes, the tear top and bottom is obvious in the first two pic's, if you want an easy install and not to have to do them again then buy Power Flex console bushes http://www.briskoda....ment-diy-guide/ show what's involved, if you fit the Power Flex versions when it mentions ratchet strap or special tool's read have a cup of tea and a biscuit as it turns the job into an hours worth of time with minimal tools and a cup of tea in between doing both sides.

ARB shows corrosion round the bush which suggests the ARB has rubbed/rotated and worn through the paint, it's difficult to tell how much wear has happened (technical guides has a great photo showing someone's when they stripped it with noticeable wear) so they may well need replacing, not sure how much an ARB runs to from Skoda, they did revise the ARB at some point, my '01 had a new version on when I got it, the genuine bushes and plates come in at under £10 though. As for the drop links mine looked fine and I left them and quickly realised while the louder knocking had stopped I still had a knock when going over bumps, I swapped the drop links (very easy) and it fixed it.

Thanks for that Avalon.. Ugh I thought as much £30 for the powerflex aint that bad. plus £15 for the droplinks. I do plan on changing the car next year so not that bothered about shelling out quite a bit of cash for the arb

Anyone have an idea of the est cost for getting it done ?

As Avalon has mentioned above change the bushes for power flex ones however if you have the cash i'd also replace the ball joints/wishbones and the anti-roll bar bushes. If you do the work yourself you can get it done for less than £150.

If you want prices for everything then i've just done the job and it cost me £50.30 for wishbones, front bushes, ball joints and drop links, £47.90 for Power Flex console bushes, and i've read someone post recently that it's £8ish for ARB bushes and plates from the dealer. All that I can see you need is the console bushes but trust me you will find it a hell of a lot easier fitting Power Flex than anything else even if you have the correct tool. If the drop links do need doing it's dead easy to do them afterwards and as you point out they are cheap. As far as Power Flex goes it's worth the £25ish premium for an easy life if you do the job yourself. Dealer rate is £140-170 for supply/fit of console bushes, indy will tend to book it at 1.5-2hrs + parts and most indy's seem to be charging upwards of £40/hr.

All in it cost me under £100 to do everything but I didn't need to do the ARB and could have easily spent £40 less and just done the drop links and console bushes but £40 for new wishbones, ball joints, and front bushes seemed like a no brianer and unlike you i'm keeping the car for a while (I want to get the benefit of the work i've just put in!). Coincidently the car thanked me by requiring a new wheel bearing only a few thousand miles later (£35 and fitted for free by a local indy who owed me a favour).

thanks again Avalon..

Then plan is to upgrade the car to a newer skoda (cheaper roadtax + petrol). Busy saving up now.

Car has had quite a bit of work done. cylinder head/Ball joint/pads/disks/sensors/to name a few. Its prob going to be a local indy (just nice to know what to expect)

And yep I will be getting powerflex for an extra £20 its just worth it. The guide does make it look easy but still over what I would consider my DIY level atm http://www.powerflex.co.uk/i/product_images/3-85-602.pdf.

Read: http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/92625-fabia-wishbone-bush-replacement-diy-guide/page__view__findpost__p__2752375

It's quite an easy job with the PF bushes, I'd say 25 mins per side if working on a drive with minimal use of harsh language, the extra 5 mins per side is reserved for tea and biscuit. A half decent indy will have it cracked in well under an hour on ramps, for the sake of £15 it's probably worth doing the drop links but as it's only two bolts you could easily do them later.

As far as saving goes you might find that it's not all it's cracked up to be. I do about 2,000 miles a month in my mpi and average 41ish mpg which translates to 15.2p/mile a 50mpg+ TDI fabia comes in at about 13p/mile (similar to the Leon I have), so that would save me £40 a month roughly or your average 12k a year motorist £20 a month or £240/year. Factor in the timing belt every 4 years/60k and the higher service/insurance costs (I can service the mpi fully for less than correct oil costs me for a TDI) and while you can save you've got to be doing a lot of miles to save relatively little especially after you realise the depreciation on your own car by selling it. I'm not saying don't switch but don't be blinded by the big numbers sounding like they'll make a massive difference to your pocket, they probably won't.

I might have a trip to eurocarparts on friday. And give this a go myself after reading the guide a second time and Ignoring the steps I don't need to do. It looks like its a quite easy job.

Edit anyone know anywhere in the north east that stocks them and does not want £60 for the bushes

Edited 22 May, 201214 yr by kevinm79

Demon Tweaks will do Power Flex for the same price I quoted delivered via eBay.

Thanks again Avalon. Just finished replacing the wishbone, bushes (with powerflex), and the ball joint. Your way was 10 times easer.

I will admit the first side I was on 2 hrz.. second side about a hr

But cars still knocking while driving.. Going to replace the drop links Is there anything else it could be.

3hrs? That's either a lot of cups of tea or something didn't go to plan.

My bush on one side was knackered and used to knock while cornering, changing them removed the knock and sharpened up the cornering. I still had another knocking when going over uneven ground or bumps and that was the drop links. They really are a very easy/quick job (2 nuts to remove per side, use a jack to lift the shock and remove tension with the car supported by axle stands).

You need a new style arb. That one is knackered and is prolly knocking on the driveshaft. Mark up the subframe fully before dropping it do it drives straight afterwards

few things did not go to plan. the wishbone bolts had some sort of locking agent on. Ball joints meh came off in seconds. After doing the first side. I kinda expected what was gonna happen on the second.

Oh its driving a lot better now.. Well apart from the tracking is off

Edited 30 May, 201214 yr by kevinm79