Hi,

i've finally traced the knock from my front end to the driver side inner anti- roll bar bush, when i grab the bar and shake it there is lots of play between the bar and the plastic sleeve that fits around it, is this sleeve part of the bar or does it come as part of the bush?

if i fit a new bush around the sleeve, will the sleeve then be held tight against the bar? or will i have to replace the sleeve or worse the whole bar itself?

i suppose in a way if i do have to replace the bar i can at least bring forward the planned R32 bar and bushes, although don't really have the funds for this at the moment!

any help/advice appreciated

cheers

Like this?

2011-01-25-14-47-26_465 by wheddonandrew, on Flickr

I removed the plastic then got a washer the correct size which I split open and welded in place where the collars should be

I then bouts smaller bushes to compensate for the missing plastic!!!

Hey presto no more knocking make sure you copper grease the new bushes

2011-01-20-15-47-06_460 by wheddonandrew, on Flickr

2011-01-20-15-47-23_461 by wheddonandrew, on Flickr

2011-01-20-16-41-37_462 by wheddonandrew, on Flickr

I bought a v6 4 motion ARB to do this it was 22mm instead of 19mm I think! The plastic bushes were already knackered so the ARB Was cheap,

The washers cost about 50p and I welded it myself the bushes were about £6 a side so was v cheap

The only caution I would give is don't heat the bar up too much when welding as it is spring steel and could knackered it if you get it too hot

Superpro poly bushes. Very popular on here very trusted brand. Very well priced too. yet another thing i have sitting in my boot waiting for me to fit!!

Hit us up if you want some prices on them.

That looks far too much effort to me!

If i do remove the sleeves will i be ok to use bushes without the sleeves?

Doing a bit of searching i am led to believe my arb is 19mm (54 plate vrs) so removing the sleeves will mean i need to use slightly smaller (17mm) bushes?

What are the purpose of the sleeves?

My under standing is that the sleeves would stop the bar from sliding from side to side!?!?

I know it's attached at either end but there's quite an amount of flex built in

If there is nothing to stop the bar from sliding be it the washer I used or the completely inadequate plastic collar it would be pretty detrimental to the handling,

If pretty sure the after market ARBS have lips moulded in but I may be wrong!?

I certainly wouldn't just take the collars off, that can't be ideal.

And if you have a spare arb then it's not that hard work, a garage could easily do welding for a few pennies cash,

If you have to funds go for super pro bushes as mentioned

yes i would like to fit poly bushes at some point, in conjunction with an r32 bar, but at the minute i want to just change the one worn bush to stop the knocking!

cheers for the help

You would be fine removing plastic bush sleeves from the ARB, and replacing the std bushes with 17mm ones to compensate.

Yes the STD VRS is 19mm bar due to the bush sleeves taking up some thickness.

Most if not all aftermarket FARB do not have any sleeves or collars. As the ARB is very tight in the bushes and brackets and the drop links keep the bar in place the stress is more front on.

It is a very common mod to remove the sleeves as they crack, even the dealers do this.

cheers Bowders1, thats cleared that up!

got the part number for the 17mm bushes from the sticky at the top of the octy section, ordered from tps and were delivered today, fiver each, thought i may as well replace the pair while i'm getting my hands dirty!

cheers again

So, i replaced the bushes on friday, fairly easy and straight forward to do (once i'd undone the drop link from the end of the arb to gain clearance) the plastic sleeves just fell away in pieces!

greased the new bushes up and were a nice tight fit on the arb, used a longer bolt to squash the bush up a bit then re-fitted original bolt and hey presto, no more rattle/knock!

massive improvement in handling and feel now so well pleased!

thanks for all the help and advice!

So, i replaced the bushes on friday, fairly easy and straight forward to do (once i'd undone the drop link from the end of the arb to gain clearance) the plastic sleeves just fell away in pieces!

greased the new bushes up and were a nice tight fit on the arb, used a longer bolt to squash the bush up a bit then re-fitted original bolt and hey presto, no more rattle/knock!

massive improvement in handling and feel now so well pleased!

thanks for all the help and advice!

good news buddy

first using longer bolt is so much easier right.

Can anyone confirm if they fitted 17mm superpro pollybushes and they were ok without sleeves? (On a mk1 VRS with standard FARB).

 

I am looking at buying some from awesome and the options are 15mm, 17mm, 19mm, 21mm anti roll bar bushes, but I don't know if that takes this under-sizing into account. I have asked them, but they say to just buy 19mm for a front anti roll bare, so I am not sure if they are thinking with or without a sleeve. No response to my folow up question yet :(.

 

 

Thanks,

 

Rob

 

 

P.S. - anyone know if it's normal that my mate's Leon would have a 18mm FARB? Seems odd it's smaller.

Leon cupra r and octavia vrs run 19mm unsleeved arb's! When sleeved this is 21mm!

Always use 17mm bushes and if you have sleeves fitted just knock them off!

Other leons (non cupra r) run 21/23mm farb's that go over the driveshaft and connect to the wishbones

This is an octavia vrs farb

(19mm)

And this is the original bush (originally a 17mm bush as its stretched over time)

So buy 17mm bushes! I used the 17mm superpro ones

Thanks, in all of the posts I looked in I could only see standard bushes being used, wasn't sure if there would be an issue in getting a more solid bush in.

 

That said now I search the forum for the part number SPF2593-17K I can easily find it, but never mind.

 

 

Edit: Forgot to mention it was a Leon Cupra R, which is why I was confused.

Edited 12 October, 201312 yr by Powell2.0