Hi, my car went in today for a service and to have the front bushes replaced at my local garage. He had problems removing the bolt for the bushes and was scared for them to break. He called a mate who deals with vw's and he said the subframe has to be replaced cause they are a nightmare to get off apparently.

The mate said he get the subframes from a salvage yard.

Is it a difficult job and how much am I looking to spend ?

Thanks .

Ps he said the subframe might have to be replaced if the bolt doesn't come out ok

Maybe best to get them to get a price on new parts.

The ones from a salvage yard must also have been a nightmare to get off,

or they just keep taking them off until they find good ones.

 

? How much are they reckoning the job done with the Salvage Subframe will cost you?

I'm going tomorrow morning to see the other garage. They'll have a look and give me a price.

If I buy a new sub frame are the bushes already fitted ?

I think you want the console(s), item 2 on this page, which appears to encompass item 2A the console bush, but looking at the part number suffixes, I'm not sure. I had to buy a nearside console for our Mk1 for the same problem, and I was told that the 'D' suffix parts had been superceded to 'J', which definitely include the 2A (1K0407183E) bush pre-fitted.  About £105 (retail)each, genuine from TPS about a year ago, I think. Significantly cheaper aftermarket copies are available, but be careful which bush they come fitted with (if any), you really don't want the ones that Mk1s originally had, with a pair of vertical rubber webs only, rather than the x-form 4-web structure of the 1K0 parts.

 

So, if you buy genuine, you'll almost certainly be offered only 'J' suffix parts, and they will have the right bush pre-installed. If you buy cheaper, be wary of which bushes (if any) are fitted.

Just got car back, they fitted consoles for both sides with new bushes and bolts, £360 for parts and £160 for parts.

£160 Labour

Blimey! I can't find a smiley that really covers how I'd feel about that bill.

Your telling me, if you find a Smiley with his right hand smacking its forehead that's how I felt. I've spent well over a £1000 in the last 12 months , it's nearly 8 years old but only done 38,000 miles. I might as well keep it but this will be my last VW car.

It is a pain in the ar5e job but I did these myself on my mk1 vrs, the bushes (2A in the link in post #06) were around £16 quid each and after learning on the first side the other side took about hour and half the get the cast ally housing off, bushed knocked out, new one in and back on. And before you ask, yes I did line up the dimples on casting to bush.

If I only had a car lift  and a garage big enough.... Cars are rudimentary simplistic contraptions to fix...

If I only had a car lift  and a garage big enough.... Cars are rudimentary simplistic contraptions to fix...

I'll second that, the computer side of a modern car I've never made the effort to get into but mechanically I like to do the work if I can find the time. I'm looking at upgrading springs, dampers, bushes and brakes on my car at the moment and will do all the work myself.

I had reservations about fitting Whiteline RARB reading in few places how hard it was, two people job, crowbars... it took me 30 mins to do using only two axle stands and a car jack .

ECUs are also rather simple when you start looking into it, they are after all very basic computers...

 

This is why it vexes me so much when so called "tuners" load modified maps into ECU's and call it tuning, pathetic!

And then you have plenty of people who treat their word as gospel, $hit scared to ask any question dreading that Mr Big Tuner might take an offence or something lol.