Hi all,

 

Had a clunk today while driving and then a knocking noise while steering.

 

Got home and took the front wheels off and jacked the car up to find this! (Both sides were like this!) I'm guessing this could be a culprit of the knocking?

 

Seems maybe the top spring seats have both failed? The bit hanging down seems to have a thin bearing in, which might explain why the car now knocks under steering?

 

Any advice here on whether this would cause the knock and what the fix would be? Thanks!

Broken spring has allowed that top bearing to drop down, needs new spring and top bearing.

Darn, thanks. Anyone got part numbers for these? I'm finding multiple options for top mounts / bearings...

Yeah, so those top seats are held in place by the spring tension so the tops of the springs must have snapped off.

14 minutes ago, AranK said:

Darn, thanks. Anyone got part numbers for these? I'm finding multiple options for top mounts / bearings...

 

You really only need new springs.

Thanks guys. I'll start taking the old springs off and see what I find. Time to battle a load of rusted on bolts...yay

I'd be fitting new top bearings as a matter of course. Makes absolutely no sense to me not to.

 

Bearings are part number 6N0412249C

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VAG-Group-VW-Seat-Audi-Skoda-Fr-Top-Mount-Bearing-Febi-22498-OE-6N0-412-249/382289402928?epid=1512942014&hash=item5902395c30:g:IXsAAOSwruxbIQxD&frcectupt=true

Edited 20 April, 20197 yr by TMB

15 minutes ago, TMB said:

I'd be fitting new top bearings as a matter of course. Makes absolutely no sense to me not to.

 

Bearings are part number 6N0412249C

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VAG-Group-VW-Seat-Audi-Skoda-Fr-Top-Mount-Bearing-Febi-22498-OE-6N0-412-249/382289402928?epid=1512942014&hash=item5902395c30:g:IXsAAOSwruxbIQxD&frcectupt=true

 

I would too but it isn't essential like new springs are.

 

20 minutes ago, sepulchrave said:

 

I would too but it isn't essential like new springs are.

 

Not essential but definitely good practice. Those bearings can turn to crap when they get old.

 

Edited 20 April, 20197 yr by TMB

It's a lot easier in the long run to take the whole strut off with hub for this job. That's what I did...

 

 

 

 

Edited 20 April, 20197 yr by TMB

This sounds familiar haha! The clung will have been the spring snapping. 

 

Like TMB said do both sides, and replace the top mounts as well. If the springs have let go the top mounts can’t be far off anyway.

 

Th struts come out pretty easy just make sure you compress the spring safely before removing it. Good luck! 

Thanks guys. Good point, need a spring compressor

I think that the newer top bearings have bigger and fewer balls than the earlier ones, or maybe it was just that I bought aftermarket ones as my wife's Polo was going to be sold on within a couple of years. These top bearings as said will not outlive the car, I replaced both sides with genuine VW Group parts when the 2002 Polo was only 4 or 5 years old as a spring had snapped in half, about 5 years later I was told that it was making "funny" noises when turning the steering wheel, and sure when it was lifted up on both sides at the front, it was quite difficult to turn the wheels from lock to lock - one of these already replaced top bearings had packed up, as it was the LHS only, that was all I replaced as that one is the easy side to work on.

 

Edit:- I seem to remember in the case of that 2002 Polo breaking its RHS front spring, the top bearing "spilled" some of its bearing out as/when it dropped down as the top half of the spring escaped down into the lower half.

Edited 21 April, 20197 yr by rum4mo

14 hours ago, AranK said:

Thanks guys. I'll start taking the old springs off and see what I find. Time to battle a load of rusted on bolts...yay

 

Bother, what a way to spend Easter - you will not enjoy this job too much!

Did the drivers side myself and needed to cut the trackrod nut off as it spun rounf after initially loosening!

 

Not that difficult a job but watch those spring compressors as that woud do you a serious injury if the spring sprang off under tension......worse job sofarwould be the radiator replacement, yes that had me swearing bloody mary .........happy easter fella

Thanks all. I had a look today.

 

Good news, I fixed my passenger side window.

 

Bad news, I simply don't have the tools to deal with the incredibly rusted nature of the situation...

2 hours ago, cello said:

Did the drivers side myself and needed to cut the trackrod nut off as it spun rounf after initially loosening!

 

 

 

Put a block of wood under the track rod end and jack it up until there is enough tension to stop it turning. Nearly always works for me unless it's a really bad one.

 

I used my Clarkes cheap mains rattle gun on them when working on the ate 2009 Ibiza, no nonsense - they came straight off, which was good!

12 hours ago, cello said:

Did the drivers side myself and needed to cut the trackrod nut off as it spun rounf after initially loosening!

 

Snip Snip.

 

First time that I did that job it was on a 2002 Polo maybe January 2006/2007, I had to cut the nyloc of the top of the nut, it took a long time as I made maybe 5 cuts round the nut - that was after failing to get a nut splitter to crack the nut open, why I didn't just cut straight across the nut I'll never know - probably tried to save the TREs, I think that I was just stunned as to how hard this job was becoming, I'd never ever had that trouble with other makes or models of other cars.  Cleaning up the exposed threads first with a die helps a lot in that situation even although it makes sense to scrap the TREs and replace with new as it does speed up that part of the job, though a rattle gun gives these parts a fright!