I'm a long time lurker and particularly enjoy reading the projects people have going on here and seeing them progress from concept to completion - those LED upgrades to the dash and wing mirror pool lights are great...

 

But I have something more mundane to attend to; My March '07 Fabia vRS SE has done 55K and the last three MOTs have mentioned bushes and I doubt it's going to pass the next one. I barely do 9k p.a. but the roads to/from work are so bad, it's had a lot of hammer. The wife's 18m old Polo BlueMotion GT goes round corners amazing compared to my Fabia and I can't have her getting home from work before me, so it's time for some upgrades.

 

The console bushes were replaced with the Cupra jobbies last year along with an EGR cleanout.

I've ordered the AP 25mm suspension kit from DPM and an Alpine iDE-178BT to replace the Symphony.

The front RainSport 2s will be replaced with a pair of RS3s and I'd like to get all the other perishable suspension things sorted at the same time. I've got a trusty mechanic lined up who will fit whatever I give him, but this is where I get unstuck.

 

It seems everyone uses different name for the various suspension gubbins; you say shock, I say strut. Then others say damper. I'm an IT bod, not a car mechanic. The only time I've done any work on a car is to change a wheel and an oil service; That's who you're dealing with here. I've searched for an exploded diagram of the suspension and read lots of posts here, but I'm still confused. I got a quote from a local independent garage and one of the line items was rear inner front bush - I wonder where that's meant to go? The quote was to fit my supplied suspension kit and replace any related bushes. That came in at 299+VAT labour and 227+VAT for Uniparts = £631 total 

 

So I had a chat with my friend and this is what he came up with:

 

2x Lemforder top mount p/n 609440320

2x Ocap stabilised link/drop link p/n 650441408

2x Lemforder anti-roll bar bush p/n/ 610442235

2x Lemforder rear sub-frame box p/n 623440115

 

Parts are £88 INC VAT +mechanic's labour 

 

Assuming there is nothing wrong with any of the other suspension bits, is there anything else I should be replacing? This is a bit like the timing belt - you do the water pump at the same time....I realise it will need tracking afterwards.

 

Any assistance from those of you who have done this before is welcome

 

Cheers,

Stuart

Bump stops?

 

Shouldn't she get home before you anyway so, you know, she can put the dinner on and 'slip into something more comfortable'