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Top strut mounts and bearings


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Hi All

 

2010 CR170 FL - are these the correct top strut mounts and bearing?

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SKODA-OCTAVIA-MK2-FRONT-SUSPENSION-2-SHOCKER-STRUT-TOP-MOUNTING-BEARING-KITS/391837934507?_trksid=p2485497.m4902.l9144

 

Is there a preferred manufacturer?? Will these be ok??

 

Message on manufacturers from seller below:

 

Hi, 
Depending on what we have on the shelf at the time of purchase, brands can be of the following: 

LPB , VECO , DRIVEMASTER ,ALLIED NIPPON , ABTEX,TRUE PART, APH, EXCELL, COMLINE 

All our parts are very good quality E approved after market parts and made according to BSE standard and OEM specification. and also they all come with 1 year warranty. 

 

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They appear to be the correct parts, but they are telling you that they are going to provide whatever is cheapest - likely equivalent to the bargain basement option from a motorfactors, or perhaps even below that.

 

I wouldn't choose any of those personally, no. For bearings I tend to buy SKF or FAG (or the dealer part that will likely be one of the two). When I changed my top mounts and bearings on the Octavia I used Sachs mounts and the original VWAG bearings (part 6N0412249C).

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Skoda genuine are £31.13 + vat each for the mounts and £15.53 + vat each for the bearings. Dealer is also 30 mins away.

 

Corteco front mounts and bearings from ECP are £95.96 and with the current code £64.29.

The same parts from Carparts4less are £59.48 and with their code £50.56.

 

Anyone used Corteco?? ECP stuff usually seems ok I think.

 

Where can I get SKF ones?

 

Edited by FatblokeVRS
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Just for reference;

 

Sachs mounts are about £16 each including VAT, see below (fairly confident these are still valid, but do double check Sachs part code matches your application in Sachs catalogue..)

 

http://autopartstechnik.co.uk/27184-01-top-strut-mounting.html

 

I've used MCS a few times for Sachs parts, no problems to report and always seem to be cheapest around.

 

 

And I've only just plugged two quick searches into Google, so again would double check - but it is suggested that the genuine VWAG part number for the bearing (6N0412249C) may translate to SKF part number VKD 35025 - which are ~£16 each on Amazon.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SKF-35025-Suspension-bearing-Single/dp/B00B9B6C6U

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  • 3 years later...

I did wonder if the bearings bolt to the chassis in a particular way.  When I did mine, there were two arrows on the top of the bearing??  Having said that, I would imagine that they would only bolt on one way if it was that critical.  I also had the tabs on the struts break off when fitting (loosely welded on).  Didn't seem to make any difference though as the stabiliser bar wouldn't fit if it was in the wrong position.  Whole job was a bit of a faff - did it over three days at leisurely pace.  Had to get the tracking redone as it was miles out.

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You had it done because you knew it was miles out or is that what the garage doing a free tracking check told you?

 

The job you did would not change the tracking whatsoever, no doubt this will generate a barrage of contrary comments.

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Nope, tracking was miles out.  Steering wasn't great but driveable, and I was with them when they checked it.

 

I wouldn't agree that the job would not put the tracking out as even a major wallop up a kerb can put it out.  Because of the difficulties in getting the old strut out and the new one in, I had to get the whole hub carrier out and reassemble the lot from scratch.  It all went back fine in the end and has had an MoT since.   The place I take it to is decent as they'll do a free recheck and readjust after a few months to allow for a 'settling' period.

 

Heh, see what you're saying though.  

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It will have been out before then, nothing you did during the strut replacement could change anything within any measurable limits.

 

I have my own old school Dunlop tracking guages so have regularly checked all my vehicles plus friends for decades, the steering and suspension on VAG vehicles since the 90's has been incredibly robust, wear of components aside the only time I have ever knocked the tracking out any measurable amount was when driving at night after an eye operation I drove over a chicane kerb, the impact launched the vehicle into the air and the rear wheel followed suit, I was convinced that at the minimum I had wrecked 2 tyres, 2 alloy rims, front wishbone, crossmember and the wheel would have been dragging at the back of the wheelarch.

 

In fact only the front tyre was blown, even the rim was salvageable, the track rod end and steering arm were bent but not massively, a tracking adjustment sufficed until I could replace them, so I know through experience just how robust these vehicles are and what it takes to knock the tracking out.

 

When I use the tracking guages I calibrate them against each other every time before putting them on the vehicle, they are delicate instruments and I take great care of them, I only ever have to adjust the calibration after people have borrowed them & to whom I will never lend another tool ever. Contrast that to the garages and tyre fitting centres where they are dragged and thrown around and where not one single time in over 40 years have I ever seen any of them check the zero calibration of the guages before using them.

 

More than half of the vehicles whose tracking I have double checked despite the owners protests that they have just paid for the tracking to be done after a free check have been set incorrectly, sometimes massively so and usually on one track rod only leaving the steering uncentred which is why I had offered.

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Nope, tracking was fine before.  If it hadn't, at least one of the front tyres would have been knackered in a very short space of time, and it wouldn't have driven as well as it did.  Since I've had the tracking done, it goes round corners like its on rails - didn't do that after the work.  I saw the laser measurements with my own eyes, and they were way out.  In fact, the guys took around an hour to adjust because they couldn't free off the tie rod locking nuts.  Doubt they'd have been too happy if the tracking had been ok.

 

Respect to your comments, but the general consensus from what I've read is to get the tracking checked and adjusted if necessary.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Good morning

 

I'm probably going to have the front shocks changed and - given the current 135k mileage - also the top mounts & bearings, and so I was very interested to find this thread, which is quite enlightening.

 

However there is one area that does not appear to have been addressed, i.e. that the top mount bearings can be either ball-bearing or rubber - so what is the difference (apart from cost) in the two types and why would you choose one over the other?

 

Thanks in advance.

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Incorrect.

 

The NVH isolation mounts are rubber, the bearings allowing the spring to rotate with the strut are ball thrust bearings, without them the mount would fail in torsion and the spring wind up & jerk damaging the underside of the top mount.

 

They are two seperate and different parts, both needed, the more expensive mounts usually have the bearing included.

  • Like 1
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Read the listings carefully, I bought what was described as mounts & bearings from a someone who had bought them and not used them but they turned out to be mounts only.

 

From memory a pair of mounts & bearings were from £34 and a pair of bearings from £15, mounts alone somewhere between the two.

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It's not a bad idea to do the bearings at the same time as springs and struts as the whole lot has to come apart again to change the bearings if they go.  I didn't as I'm very tight and nothing seemed to be wrong with the bearings and it passes the MoT every year.

 

By the way, to go off topic for a second, what is the whining noise I get when I turn the engine off.  Sounds as if it could be a servo having a bit of a hissy fit.  Is this a sign of imminent failure of something.  Everything works ok at present.

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1 hour ago, beezera10 said:

It's not a bad idea to do the bearings at the same time as springs and struts as the whole lot has to come apart again to change the bearings if they go.  I didn't as I'm very tight

 

I didn't either, I was just going to replace the struts as I had always done on previous vehicles, I started the job, got my knickers in a twist thinking that I did not need to release the driveshaft from the steering knuckle (I was thinking of my MK1 and not the MK2 which is the same as the Yeti) in my senile confusion I tried compressing the spring in siut to give me the clearance I needed to lift the strut from the knuckle & then I noticed loads of tiny ball bearings on the floor 😲

 

What really made me angry with myself is that it took me a minute or so to work out where they came from, it would have been in an instant when I was younger and I would also have seen and heard them falling.

 

So I aborted the job, reassembled & carried on driving whilst waiting for top mounts & bearings to arrive, a shame because they cost as much as the struts which were a real bargain.

 

I was lucky to have started on the one that had failed so as not to have had to subsequently remove the new drivers strut to fit the mount and bearing after having fitted it, I always start on what is usually the more corrodede and difficult kerbside, it served me well this time.

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My biggest issue was trying to get the new strut in and the old one out of the knuckle.  Had to take the whole knuckle off with the strut and hammer it with a nylon mallet.  To get the new one to seat properly, I had to raise the car under the tie rod and use the weight of the car, a homemade spreader, and lots of tapping and bashing with the mallet before it settled in with a satisfying clunk.  I did lose the little locating tab on the strut in the process, but lined it up correctly anyway.  Took a total of 3 days to do both sides at my pace (slow and thorough)  then had to get the alignment done whicha was way out.

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I used to use a certain cold chisel that was exactly the right size & taper for opening up the knuckle, the last time I was doing it with my breakdown tools in France, my main toolbox being in the UK so I bought a special socket with an elliptical spreader for the knuckle, it worked really really well and will remain in position while you are beating the living daylights out of the knuckle.

 

It's a pain having to disconnect the driveshaft to get the knuckle low enough, the MK1 Octavia was far easier.

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