Hello,

 

Just been to Skoda to investigate a creaking noise I hear when going over bumps. Turns out the front lower suspension arm bushes are worn and they have quoted me £750 😱. Not sure if this is just for the bushes or the entire arm as someone has mentioned to me that sometimes you have to order the complete arm on both sides. Has anyone else had this issue, also had to fork out £750? Sadly not covered under the approved used warranty as it's deemed wear and tear. I am beginning to wonder what is actually covered. But after paying £11k for a car only a year a go from Skoda, it is a little infuriating that I may need to spend an additional £750. I'll be getting quotes elsewhere I think. 

The arms complete including bushes and lower ball joint. are about £65 each - so £120. - £130

Replacement bushes are about £20 a side in total, but take time to press out and press in new ones, hence more labour charges. Many garages simply swap complete.

 

On a lifting table the job shouldn't take more than 2 hours MAX. So probably £250 MAX.

 

Find a decent independent garage. No need to pay dealers rates, there is nothing specialised about the job, any half decent mechanic can do them. On previous model I've done mine on axle stands.

I have had my Octavia Mk3 2014  2.0 SE for 3 years and had same problem going over speed bumps. I keep hearing this all time just over speed bumps but 3 Mots later they never found any play in wishbones bushes.

All tyre tread depths all same depths with no uneven wear. If you can put up with the little creaking noise and wait until you have a MOT or uneven tyre wear then my opinion is not to change them.

My bet is more like anti roll bar bushes.

I tend to find Skoda add to jobs and replace parts that are not needed as the Octavia such a reliable car that they never get much Mechanical work through there work shops.

Try some washing up liquid or silicone grease around anti roll bar bushes and see if creaks go away.

Edited 14 February, 20206 yr by CJW1973

There is a bulletin about the cracking it’s the same fix as Mark 7 golf they remove and grease Lower control arm pivot bolts 

Thanks for the help, interesting about it possibly being something else other than the suspension arms. Will also try the grease trick. I’ve got the the car booked into a local garage Who I happen to know personally. So will get an honest answer from them and no doubt a much lower repair bill. 

On both cars hear it was a like a creak sound at low speed front suspension movement.

lower arm bushes don’t seam to wear out on mqb platform 

Greasing rubber to metal bonded suspension bushes is at best a total bodge and at worse may cause the rubber to deteriorate, cars have been fitted with them for 80+ years now and they were invented to be maintenance free and to do away with the requirement of greasing of suspension points.

 

Dealers grease them to hide the fact that they are distorting and allowing metal to metal contact which they should never do.

Edited 16 February, 20206 yr by J.R.

This is a tpi bulletin from vag not a bodge made up by some random dealer 

35 minutes ago, J.R. said:

Greasing rubber to metal bonded suspension bushes is at best a total bodge and at worse may cause the rubber to deteriorate, cars have been fitted with them for 80+ years now and they were invented to be maintenance free and to do away with the requirement of greasing of suspension points.

 

Dealers grease them to hide the fact that they are distorting and allowing metal to metal contact which they should never do.

 

I am well aware of that but its still a complete bodge.

 

There is no relative movement between the bolt and the metal sleeve in a correctly assembled and torqued up rubber to metal bonded bush assembly, the rubber alone distorts in compression, elongation and torsion, there is absolutely zero requirement for lubrication, the inner and outer metallic parts should never come into contact unless the bush has failed or the joint is over-articulated, the bodge of adding grease I believe is to stop the noise that bears witness to this.

 

Show me any vehicle made since the 50's that requires any greasing or lubrication of steering and suspension joints.

 

You can exclude anything with aftermarket polyurethane bushes from the above, they are a compromise in themselves to reduce compliance for track use by intoducing movement and wear into an otherwise maintenance free system.

Ooh dangerous! 

Morris Marina for one?  Morgan as well. 

Dad's Holbay Rapier had creaky rubber bushings in the leaf springs. A splash of brake fluid sorted that. 

After reading through a few other forum posts it appears to be a common issue. But repairs mentioned work for some but not all.
 

Also interesting to hear some had it fixed under warranty. Where as I got shut down pretty quick on that by the dealer, although mine is approved used.

 

I’d certainly be pretty annoyed if I had spent £750 on suspension arms only for the creaking to continue. Dealerships must think we have an endless supply of money to throw at these things.

8 hours ago, J.R. said:

Greasing rubber to metal bonded suspension bushes is at best a total bodge and at worse may cause the rubber to deteriorate, cars have been fitted with them for 80+ years now and they were invented to be maintenance free and to do away with the requirement of greasing of suspension points.

 

Dealers grease them to hide the fact that they are distorting and allowing metal to metal contact which they should never do.

It’s not metal to metal contact that is causing the creek it is  insuffisant Clearance within the bush construction This is a quick cheap fix and will work for most 

So its a rubber to rubber squeak then?

 

Fix noted in case I ever experience it

 

If I need to do it I wont be calling it a "fix" though, I will stick with "bodge"

 

I have nothing against bodging, am a master of the art and am nicknamed le bidouilleur however when a manufacturer does it to overcome a design failure then it should be known as and seen for what it is.

 

Thanks for the TPI.

 

Come to think of it I think that I did hear it on a couple of occasions on my MK1 Octavia which then seemed to heal up. It was definitely coming from those bushes, I bought new ones to fit when I bought it but they were never used during the 15 years, never any significant movement or play but in hindsight I did hear a noise twice in cold winter conditions.

11 minutes ago, Scout151 said:

It’s not metal to metal contact that is causing the creek it is  insuffisant Clearance within the bush construction This is a quick cheap fix and will work for most 

Do you happen to know the name/type of grease used? 

6 hours ago, gregoir said:

Ooh dangerous! 

Morris Marina for one?  Morgan as well. 

Dad's Holbay Rapier had creaky rubber bushings in the leaf springs. A splash of brake fluid sorted that. 

 

Did the Marina still have the trunnion set up of the Morris Minor then?

 

I owned one but dont recall having any nipples to grease.

 

Caterhams had them till about 1990 when they switched to an unsealed Rose jointed lower swivel which lasted all of 5 minutes, usually the play was where they could not even control the tolerances of the locating bore in the lower wishbone.

 

I bet Morgans still have grease nipples.

9 hours ago, J.R. said:

18 minutes ago, JimmyN said:

Do you happen to know the name/type of grease used? 

 

I just squirted silicone spray on all the bushes, squeaks, creaks and groans gone instantly and (placebo?) feels better to drive.

The Marina still had the Minor type trunnions, which needed greasing. 

My 2015 scout had this TPI about 2 yrs ago. The ‘squeak’ is starting to return, so I planed at some stage to have the whole arm replaced.

So hang on, the hole was too small to allow full clearance and the answer is to wack it full of lithium grease?

 

Why can’t they just design a new bush revision with greater clearance or no hole as appropriate and then just fit that to provide a lasting fix.

 

The grease sounds like a quiet until  you’re out of warranty then make the user pay for modified bushings.

 

As the marketing went, if only everything in life was as reliable as a golf hey  

Edited 18 February, 20206 yr by cheezemonkhai

5 hours ago, cheezemonkhai said:

So hang on, the hole was too small to allow full clearance and the answer is to wack it full of lithium grease?

 

Why can’t they just design a new bush revision with greater clearance or no hole as appropriate and then just fit that to provide a lasting fix.

 

The grease sounds like a quiet until  you’re out of warranty then make the user pay for modified bushings.

 

As the marketing went, if only everything in life was as reliable as a golf hey  

Solid bush transfer more vibration to subframe so there not inclined to do this on a more comfort orientated cars.back it mk4 golf days they only yoused the solid set up on the Audi TT and more sporting models on that platform . Like all manufactures they will only do the minimum the have 2. Bushes are not going to fail any mot with this problem so it’s not a safety concern . It’s a cost per complaint more than likely there is already a revision to the bush .