Hey all,

 

After fitting my front suspension with a friend last weekend and having a nightmare with rusted and seized bolts, I took my car for tracking and alignment today. 

 

Unfortunately, they can't adjust the rear camber due to a completely rusted bolt. I'm not worried in the short term as I had the toe adjustment bolts and bush replaced last year so toe is ok. However it's something I'd like to sort at some point as camber seems to be on max acceptable adjustment. When talking to them about it they said the whole subframe would probably have to come down due to its location near the boot floor, the part sourced and the old one ground off. 

 

 

Due to this, it made me wonder if the later 3.5 (facelift) rear end will fit the pre-facelift. If the entire rear subframe has to come off, and with my current one being rustier than I'd ever expect an 8 year old car to be, I figured it could cost just as much as trying to replace the original bolt, as long as the subframe I replace it with is in far better condition.

 

It would have the benefit of adding track width so I wouldn't bother with spacers too. 

 

Does the 3.5 fit the 3? Does it have to be an estate version or is the saloon the same? Is the mk7 GTi rear end the same?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Doug

We have done a LOT of full rebuilds on these PQ35/46 rear ends and to reduce downtime we often buy in a used system to rebuild. Cars with the ally hubs rather than cast iron are more stressful as the bolts rot solid in the ally and are a sketch to get apart. We have the frame powder coated and order in a big pile of Febi, Meyele, genuine and Sachs/Boge  bits, build the unit up and fit it in a day.

 

 

 

Induction heating a seized bolt in an ally hub

 

 

 

50 minutes ago, Crasher said:

We have done a LOT of full rebuilds on these PQ35/46 rear ends and to reduce downtime we often buy in a used system to rebuild. Cars with the ally hubs rather than cast iron are more stressful as the bolts rot solid in the ally and are a sketch to get apart. We have the frame powder coated and order in a big pile of Febi, Meyele, genuine and Sachs/Boge  bits, build the unit up and fit it in a day.

 

 

 

Induction heating a seized bolt in an ally hub

 

 

 

And what does something like that cost? The car still has alot of life left in it and would be worth it.

The pile of parts usually adds up to around £1k without and brakes or wheel bearings, the killer is the labour which can double that plus alignment so if it is DIY then we’ll worth the investment keeping an older car going.

7 hours ago, Crasher said:

The pile of parts usually adds up to around £1k without and brakes or wheel bearings, the killer is the labour which can double that plus alignment so if it is DIY then we’ll worth the investment keeping an older car going.

Ouch, deep pockets needed. 

 

I did manage to find out that the difference between the MK3 and 3.5 is the rear hubs. They stick out further on the 3.5 so I assume a different part number. I remember from another post it's 19mm each side.

 

I suspect my best bang for buck would be a good condition 2nd hand 245 rear subframe, clean it up and replace anything needed whilst it's off. This would give me something hopefully newer and less rusty and seized along with the wider rear track. I'd potentially take off the concentric bolt and bushes for the Toe adjustment from mine as they are well known to seize. But it's not an easy job and from what I understand involves derouting a brake line? And thats if all the bolts come off easily enough. I definitely wouldn't be doing the work myself so I'll need to save for the labour. 

My text was slightly misleading when I said “which can double that” when it should have read “which can BE double that”… i.e. £2k not £1k, it is very labour intensive extremely time consuming work.

 

If you have the time you could strip down a used unit and rebuild with all Powerflex bushes instead of new arms with rubber bushes. Taking all the stripped parts for powdercoating costs a lot but lasts.

1 hour ago, Crasher said:

My text was slightly misleading when I said “which can double that” when it should have read “which can BE double that”… i.e. £2k not £1k, it is very labour intensive extremely time consuming work.

 

If you have the time you could strip down a used unit and rebuild with all Powerflex bushes instead of new arms with rubber bushes. Taking all the stripped parts for powdercoating costs a lot but lasts.

 

Yeh I figured you were implying £1k for parts and £1k+ for labour. 

 

To be honest, if I bought a good second hand subframe Id be content with taking all bolts out and greasing to ensure they can be adjusted, maybe checking all bushes arnt literally falling out and putting it in as it is, as long as it's not majorly rusty. I'm not building a track car or a show car, so as long as it can be adjusted now and in the future without the potential of 'corroded subframe' coming up on its MOT advisory list I'd be happy. 

Feeling better about grubbing around under the back of my car a couple of weeks ago Kurusting anything on the rear subframe that looked a bit rusty.

1 hour ago, Dooge said:

Id be content with taking all bolts out and greasing to ensure they can be adjusted

If any bolt is released it MUST be replaced, all are TTY one time use only.

6 hours ago, Crasher said:

My text was slightly misleading when I said “which can double that” when it should have read “which can BE double that”… i.e. £2k not £1k, it is very labour intensive extremely time consuming work.

 

If you have the time you could strip down a used unit and rebuild with all Powerflex bushes instead of new arms with rubber bushes. Taking all the stripped parts for powdercoating costs a lot but lasts.

To be honest, in car maintenance terms, £2k ish for that amount of parts and work is pretty good in my opinion. 

6 hours ago, Crasher said:

If any bolt is released it MUST be replaced, all are TTY one time use only.

 

Good to know. I was hopefully only worrying about the toe adjustment and camber adjustment bolts. There's nothing else to worry about adjusting is there?

 

3 hours ago, classic said:

To be honest, in car maintenance terms, £2k ish for that amount of parts and work is pretty good in my opinion. 

Very true, I just dont have £2k to spare 😂

😀 Tell me about it ! Just had to shell out £1300 getting one of our cars (a Ford though not Skoda), serviced, cam belt and mot….

22 hours ago, classic said:

To be honest, in car maintenance terms, £2k ish for that amount of parts and work is pretty good in my opinion. 

 

£3 ish old boy...😄

4 hours ago, Crasher said:

 

£3 ish old boy...😄

I'll take 3, here's a tenner, keep the £1 😁