Anyone suffered from worn front suspension bushes on the Fabia. I've been told by three seperate tyre fitters now (not that I'm taking any of their cowboy opinions as gospal!!) that the front suspension bushes are worn on my 2004 Fabia VRS (around 32'000 miles) but first noticed at 14'000.

I've asked about it on here before, and it wasn't really heard of. I asked the dealer to check it out and they said it seemed okay.

Its just when grabbing a hold of one of the front wheels when the cars sitting on the ground and shaking it back and forward there is a fair amount of play. You especially notice it (as tyre man did) when you tighten the bolts on the wheels.

Anyone want to get their hands dirty and go and give their Fabia wheels a shake fore and aft? A little bit of play is normal, but I keep getting told mines has too much play, and it does feel a bit too wobbly especially after long journeys.

If I push the front wheels in and then pull back towards me theres no play but a fair bit of groaning and squeeking - is this normal?

Any finally, when cornering relatively slowly (like round a roundabout or negotiating through a bendy car park) I'm getting a squeeling coming from the back of the car, particularly on the passenger side, but it depends on what way I'm turning.

I'm going to describe them to the dealer to diagnose but just wondered if these sorts of problems were common - especially the fore / aft bushes one?

Cheers

Ross

PS - After getting all wheels balanced and tracking adjusted today the car still pulls to the left! Tyre man says it could be other factors effecting it - like sticking brakes or worn suspension but it only happened after the new tyres were first fitted a month ago.

PS - After getting all wheels balanced and tracking adjusted today the car still pulls to the left! Tyre man says it could be other factors effecting it - like sticking brakes or worn suspension but it only happened after the new tyres were first fitted a month ago.

This seems to be a Skoda trait, although interestingly when I had mine lowered and the tracking adjusted, it practically dialled it all out. I don't think it's anything to worry about unless it pulls really strongly to the left and then it could be sticking brakes or worn suspension....

Chris

My bushes which sit in each console on the subframe, were shot on my TDI which may have explained some of the dodgy handling problems as I was having. Replaced now with two new consoles complete with bushes.

Apparently now though powerflex are getting into the Fabia bushes now too, so if I find my new ones wear out very quickly, I'll be looking into PU bushes from them.

Its not unheard of... i rekon mine are shot too, as the car torque steers more than normal.. the suspension setup has built in "flex" almost half an inch each way.. but if the car drives ok, its probably not a problem

This is a common problem on the Audi A4s, the bushes are part of the track control arms and don't seperate so when the whole lot need replacing it costs around

Hi to All

Dont know about the Fabia bushes, but Vauxhall Omega lower arm bushes suffer from going soft. They look fine, dont split and will pass an MOT no problem, however, the first obvious signs are accelerated wear of the inside edges of the front tyres (caused by splaying of the front wheels under braking). I was notified of the Omegas problem by a tyre fitter / alignment technician.

Once you fit new ones, you realise how shot the old ones were. Completely transformed the way the car drove.

How do the powerflex bushes affect road noise / ride comfort on the Fabia? I expect to be doing around 30-35,000 miles a year so might just stuff powerflex ones in at 30K.

Chris

I had PowerFlex bushes on my old car and they were fantastic. I didn't really notice the claimed reduction in road noise, but the ride is a lot less wobbly and the steering is obviously way tighter. PowerFlex just finished the design for the Fabia, so I'm going to get some fitted...

The wheel should move fore and aft to some degree, the wishbone is designed to do this as it has a vertical bush and a rear pin on the rear.

The bushes can split a little but not usually at that mileage in my experiance.

Just so you know what it looks like.