Hi All

Hopefully someone can provide me an answer to this !!??

I have a skoda fabia 1.4 16v 100hp 2006 from new the car has been great with hardly any issues, however recently there has been a horrible creaking / squeeking noise from the front on gear change, general driving bumps etc. When i push the suspension down when stationary there is no noise.

From research it appears to be console bushes. I am looking to purchase powerflex or cupra ones however is there 1 bush for each wheel or are there two for each side front and rear of the wishbone??

If so which ones from experience need replacing or shall i get them all done??

Thanks guys

just one per side, I have just had the same problem and am changing the lot:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150842945622?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2648

here is the power flex one from the same seller:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-x-VW-POLO-FOX-SKODA-FABIA-LOWER-WISHBONE-ARM-and-REAR-BUSH-POWERFLEX-PFF85-602-/150821607021?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item231dab166d

It's usually only the rear bush of the front wishbones.

Get it inspected and replace as necessary. The uprated Skoda part is fine.

yea it was only really the rear bush that needed changing on mine but thought might as well do the lot rather than leave the rest to chance as it would mean more labour if the front bushes or ball joints went, plus makes the job 'easier' for the garage to just change the lot

Edited 31 October, 201213 yr by Shann

Yep i though noise was coming from all corners. Just had the front rear wishbone bushes aka console bushes changed one per side and is quiet as a mouse now.

I had my Console bushes (i.e. the rear ones) replaced about 6 weeks ago.

Whether it was related to the removal/refit process, or something else, but my front ones then started playing up and I got these replaced 3 weeks later.

In hindsight, i'd probably have got both done so only paid for stripdown once rather than twice!

I have Powerflex front and rear now and it tightens things up nicely.

I had my Console bushes (i.e. the rear ones) replaced about 6 weeks ago.

Whether it was related to the removal/refit process, or something else, but my front ones then started playing up and I got these replaced 3 weeks later.

In hindsight, i'd probably have got both done so only paid for stripdown once rather than twice!

I have Powerflex front and rear now and it tightens things up nicely.

exactly why I'm getting the whole lot done at once

Sounds reasonble, but what quality assurance is on those wishbones bought from ebay ?

If the aftermarket bushes indicated there are anywhere near as good as OEM I will be massively surprised, my concern when looking at those was that they were cheap chinese knock offs which is increasingly popular with places to front them like ebay.

In contrast I'm hopefully getting my bushes replaced with the OEM uprated bush at Unit 18 next week

However if they are of sufficient quality etc then I will be gladly proven wrong, I did see them and wondered if it was worth a punt, but for the sake of an assured quality job and a quiet life given the long service the car has already given is it really that expensive to just have them done properly.

I don't think there is much difference TBH once you consider those parts cost over £100 and then need fitting, with just having the bushes refitted.

the rear bushes in that first set are mayle-ha which are German and come with a 4 year warranty: http://www.meyle.com/EN/Spare-parts/MEYLE-HD.html

those are the ones I went for as the original OEM parts seem to be the problem (They have changed their design since but mayle still claim to be better and you don't get a 4 year grantee on OEM parts) and A-Z Motor factors LTD (who own that ebay page) are on the Mayle-HD UK distributors list and when they came the bushes looked good quality and was in branded packaging so I am pretty sure they are not 'Chinese knock off's'

I did my checks as I naturally don't trust anyone.

as for the wishbones I had Look at them before I took them to the garage with my car for fitting and they look just the same as the ones that are already on the car.

I could have took it to ricci concept (VAG specialist in hull) but just to replace the rear bushes with OEM parts they wanted to charge 2X more that what I am paying in total and I have replaced the lot.

just hope the same dosen't happen to you that happened to stevenh

Great cars, Fabias, we have 5 in our family. Seems like console bushes are the most common fault needing serious money spent on them.

No 1 son has 2006 Fabia 1 HTP 1.2 litre estate with 100,000 + miles and has had front discs, console bushes and radiator fan sender - that's all apart from service items.

No 2 son has 2001 Fabia 1.4 Elegance hatch bought at 40,000 miles with lots of previous short journey work and console bushes already changed. It consumed oil like there was no tomorrow but, having given it regular use including longer journeys, seems to have settled down nicely without using anywhere near as much oil. Top up around once a month, now.

Hope you get the advice you need ref your bushes -a great bunch on this forum and very knowledgeable!

Thanks everyone for your helpful imput. I shall probably order the meyle ones kindly linked by shann

hopefully that will be the end of the most annoying noise ever !!!

Picked mine up today and it's so much better!

£80 labour and £40 for alglinment.

And I also had the arb, arb bushes and droplinks replaced

I just want to say that regarding the ebay ad, I just seemed vague to me like so many motoring ads are (not an obvious seller or shop I have heard with, no claim made on the manufacturing quality or brand of the wishbone itself, I wasn't talking about the bush itself which clear quality suggestions are indicated).

Well done if you have done your homework and happy with the items. all I was saying is I would expect more information on such a product before I would aim to purchase myself albeit other than that was quite interested in it as an option. But you pays your money and takes your choice. I still maintain that a part constructed for probably retail of about £20 cannot be identical to an OEM one which is probably at least 10x that but you are welcome to continue the argument.

I'm taking to Unit 18 who can determine if there is anything with the front bushes - the majority don't actually need anything done to them so I am sure it will be fine but if it does they are capable of identifying that and resolving it.

Of course they key thing is everyone has much better handling once they have their bushes fixed of course !