I came to work in the Octavia today because SWMBO has a day off and its raining :( ANyway, I've noticed just how wobbly the suspension feels on the Octavia.

When last on the rollers, I also noticed that under acceleration/gear changes there is quite a bit of front to back movement of the wheel relative to the wheel arch when compared to other Octavias.

When cornering on a bumpy road, you can almost feel the wheels flopping around and also hear some clonkign noises.

When MOT'd in October Phil (piv34uk) noted that some of the bushes were split. That was 14k miles ago.

How many bushes etc. are there which, are easy to DIY change ? - not getting anything other than OEM as that'd be pointless.

The easiest I can think of are the ARB links.

this is quite an involved task for a DIY'er. which involves completely removing the track contoll arms from the car. you will need a ball joint splitter for this too

there are two bushes on each control arm. it might be worth checking the anti roll bar droplink bushes as well.

and you'll need a hydraulic press to put in and take out the track control arm bushes.

Could be wheel bearings.....

My guess is wishbone bushes - but as Jon says, could well be play in the wheel bearings.

Either way, if only the missus drives it normally and she hasn't complained, it can wait until MOT time

I'd rather get it done before the MOT TBH

The wheel bearings aren't droning like I would expect them to if they were on the way out.

Steering rack bush?

Possibly, but the way the wheels moved back and forth in the arch when on the RR pointed towards something that holds the wheel/hub assembly (so I thought)

Sounds like front wishbone rear bushes to me. The bushes are cheap enough but there's a reasonable amount of labour involved and you will also need the wheel alignment checking/adjusting. Also as Tef Tom said it's not really a DIY job, and requires the use of a press.

Lower arm bushes Mr Gooch; i would think. Its normal for the wheel to move front to back under load, just depends wether its excessive or not. I would be inclined to change both lower arms aftermarket ones generally come with the bushes already pressed in

Phil

I did that when I needed both sets of wishbone bushes replaced, bought two new wishbones with the bushes already in as it cut labour costs

So if I go for aftermarket arms with the bushes in there, is it stil not a DIY job ?

Pressing bushes in isnt too much of a problem as we have a fly press at work I can use.

So if I go for aftermarket arms with the bushes in there' date=' is it stil not a DIY job ?

Pressing bushes in isnt too much of a problem as we have a fly press at work I can use.[/quote']

you can buy track control arms with the bushes allready fitted from german and swedish but it is a waste of money becuase you probably only need the bushes.. iirc the bushes are about £4 each....

and dont use a flypress to put the bushes in because if the dont go in straight you'll end up ****ing the bushes up. i find the best thing to do is use a little bit of white grease when pressing them in to make them go in a bit better.

So if I go for aftermarket arms with the bushes in there' date=' is it stil not a DIY job ?

Pressing bushes in isnt too much of a problem as we have a fly press at work I can use.[/quote']

Phil, using replacement arms save the time/hassle of pressing new bushes in you will also get a new bottom ball joint and with the mileage your car has done that is no bad thing:P The job is pretty straight forward, the hardest bit is removing the bottom BJ....Didn`t you have problems doing this before?

Phil

Phil' date=' using replacement arms save the time/hassle of pressing new bushes in you will also get a new bottom ball joint and with the mileage your car has done that is no bad thing:P The job is pretty straight forward, the hardest bit is removing the bottom BJ....Didn`t you have problems doing this before?

Phil[/quote']

Phil.

As you may remember, my arms have 3 bolts on the end of the arm that attach the ball joint assembly to it. In this instance I guess that the arm will not come with the ball joint and I'll be able to bolt the current joint to the new arm via the 3 bolts.

Never did find that knocking noise I had previously and it never came back:confused:

Phil.

it's deffinatetely worth getting new lower ball joints if you are going to all that trouble because they aren't expensive anyway especially on a high milage car.

Thinking about it, the ball joint can be removed without splitting it. The lower half is on a small bracket fixed to the arm with 3 bolts. The top half is on a stud that passes through the hub assembly and held in with a nut.

Thinking about it, the ball joint can be removed without splitting it. The lower half is on a small bracket fixed to the arm with 3 bolts. The top half is on a stud that passes through the hub assembly and held in with a nut.

yeah but because of the tension in the suspension spring it would be nearly impossible to reassemble it afterwards if you took it apart this way

yeah but because of the tension in the suspension spring it would be nearly impossible to reassemble it afterwards if you took it apart this way

Wrong!

Done it before. Its easy.

ok, make sure you use new bolts though!! sometimes the bolts get rusted up pretty bad are are a pig to remove.

TBH the biggest balls ache last time was getting all the dirt out of the socket in the top of the stud. Not sure if it should have a cover but mine diddnt.

On my Audi A3 I had horrible loose steering, just the same, and had replacement front wishbones put in. The independent I used did not want the hassle of just new bushes, and I didn't see a real need to go with poly bushes.

After the new wishbones, I needed to get tracking done, which is what I expected, and the car felt SO much better after doing all this: the front sat up a bit, and felt tighter and purposeful, instead of loose, like the wheels were skittering left and right when accelerating into roundabout exits, etc.

:bump:

I've decided to finally get this job done.

Anyone got part numbers for the replacment parts ?

I assume these are what I'm after:

AVS Car Parts - www.vwspares.co.uk

and:

AVS Car Parts - www.vwspares.co.uk

and:

AVS Car Parts - www.vwspares.co.uk

Not sure if it is any use to you but i found this

eBay.co.uk: SKODA OCTAVIA BRAND NEW FRONT SUSPENSION WISHBONE ARM (item 280077204618 end time 02-Mar-07 16:30:05 GMT)

and this

eBay.co.uk: GOLF BORA A3 LEON OCTAVIA BEETLE LOWER WISHBONE ARM NEW (item 220021113329 end time 21-Feb-07 16:26:54 GMT)

Rob