I thought I would post a sticky up in here for this common fault as it gets asked alot, more so recently.

The Fabia front anti roll bar is quite often prone to 'failure'. However this is not dangerous but can be considered an MOT failure as a suspension part is not secured.

The symptoms

Knocking noises going over bumps and/or when cornering.

The fault

The anti roll bar is secured to the front subframe using bushes and a u shaped clamp. There are two stops fixed to the anti rol bar which keep the bar centralised on the car. These stops corrode and crack, they then become loose and slide up the bar thus allowing the bar to shift side to side. If it slides far enough it wil then foul on the subframe causing the knocking noise.

The cure

Skoda sell a complete anti rol bar, it comes with new bushes and brackets. Usually entails dropping the subframe so four wheel alignment will also need to be carried out.

Ditto

Quoted £40 for the repair .. booking it in soon

Note

* garage equipment, skoda parts, leister hot air tools, workshop equipment, ravaglioli

* WB620 - 6Q0411314N 18mm £1.80 +Vat

* WB621 - 6Q0411314F 19mm £1.74 +Vat

* Delivery - £8.99 +Vat

Hope this helps.

Hi,

This topic is confusing me slightly and I would appreciate some help with it.....

The front offside collar has cracked, slipped out and fallen off the antiroll bar on my 2002 1.9tdi Fabia.

In fact the collar displayed in the image in the thread header.

My questions are this:

1. Do I have to replace the whole ARB?

2. If not, can I repair this problem without dropping the subframe?

3. Where's the best place to get the necessary parts?

4. Local dealer quoting

Thanx alot, This is very helpful ndeed, been having this knocking noise for sometime, one of the local dealers in here couldnt fix it!!.. I'll get it fixed soon, but this isnt dangerous and doesnt cause any suspension failure or wheels going off does it? :P

:turtle2: Drove my sdi 19 with bust only thing i found was it was a bit soft when turning left fast and going over speed humps broke for three /four weeks till m.o.t failed:turtle2:

THE TURTLE IS MIGHTER THAN THE RABBIT

My local skoda servicing centre has advised me that my front anti-roll bars on the fabia need replacing and the "console", as the bars are rubbing against it? They have quoted £239.98 to do the work...which seems astronomically high.

Can anyone advise me on what they are talking about when they say the "console"?

Many thanks in advance.

Andy.

if the anti roll bar is not broken, you only need the new bushes. these are less than a fiver from a skoda dealer!!! it is not bad to do , see the article I posted a while back, mick collinson

Hello, I've been there and done that! The part identified with the blue arrow IS the collar, up to 2003 or 2004 Fabias + Polos + Ibizas were fitted with ARBs that had plastic collars - the ARB's paint cracks with the ARB twisting, water gets in causes rusting of the ARB under the plastic collar, that means that the "metal" under the collar expands and breaks the collar. The later, and replacement ARB is fitted with metal collars - you can check which you have using a magnetic pick-up thing. My Polo's o/f road spring broke at half height a couple of days after the VW dealer charged me a lot of money to fix it - but I just replaced that myself - could not be bothered with yet more trouble. Now the the flexi section of the exhaust is leaking £500+ for parts alone - so I'll try to get the exhaust repaired instead. In my experience these Fabia/Polo/Ibiza cars are utter rubbish - need special tooling when dropping the front cross member. I wish that I had stayed with Ford rubbish its easier to repair and they don't ask for £70+vat per hour for the pleasure of providing a fix. The consoles are the aluminium parts that locate the ARB brackets and the wishbones - that brings me to another moan, the front wishbone rear bushes are voided and mine are u/s after 40,000miles and 4.5 years from new - seems that the going rate to fix is £280+ this is not a DIY job needs a press - I might remove the consoles and get the dealer to remove/fit the new bushes - if I can retain the front cross member's correct location - otherwise that means a four wheel alignment - more money. In my mind these Fabia/Polo9n/Ibiza6k cars are utter rubbish unless you only keep them for 2 years 20,000 from new - so not really cheap motoring, I should have stuck to crap Ford as they are easier to fix.

I wouldn't be using a press on console bushes..lol

Hi Lummox, any clues as to how to change these bushes? EKTA talks about using using a press and specific adaptors to press out the bush and fit the new one - after removing the consoles from the car.

My anti roll bar was knocking too - Skoda main dealer quoted over £250 to do it, local garage replaced it for just over a hundred.

I dont get a knocking when cornering, but i do get one when braking, could this be this problem?

stone in brake callipers

From a couple of comments in this thread, it sounds as though there were originally some pictures accompanying Lummox's post. Anyone know if they're still around? Being totally unmechanical, I don't even know what an ARB looks like

I whacked the old bushes out with a chisel (doesn't matter if you wreck them as you are replacing them any way. I pressed the new ones in uses my vice and soft jaws. Cost about

Ricardo vrs, I don't want to be a boring old sod, but did you replace the vrs voided ones with the non-voided cupra bushes? Also have these bushes an outer steel sleeve or just "rubber"? Is it reasonably easy to remove the wishbone peg from the console bush and to refit it? Finally, did you need to drop the subframe a bit to release the consoles? I've still got this job to do very soon on my wife's Polo 1.4SE. I've sprayed the wishbone ends with yellow paint so that I can return them to the original positions.

Could be a 4-wheel alignment is money well spent - what with potholed roads etc.

Rum4mo - I have a 1.9 TDI Fabia, my vRS is the Octy. Therefore I don't know if the fabis vRS has special bushes. I just went to the main dealer and bought like for like replacements for the 1.9 fabia. They only cost about

Ricardo vRS, thats for all that info, I might just go ahead and buy the non-voided cupra bushes fitting the wishbone peg back in might be easier on the non-voided bush, also I might try to assembly the wishbone back on to the console while they are both "off" the car. I've never had much luck splitting the swivel joints for reuse (on other cars). If I am sensible with the console/bush and vise and line them up correctly then it sounds like I should get them fitted in okay. Oh and I've made up a pair of stepped hardwood blocks to locate on my axle stands so I will be supporting the car at the side rails near the jacking points.

Thanks again.

Anyone got a part number for the Cupra bushes? I am getting a loud rattling when the wheels are locked and after a quick look am presuming its this.

Ta.

I don't know what might be causing the rattle - maybe broken ARB plastic collar letting the ARB walk across and touch one of the consoles, knackered wishbone bush, in my case, just means getting the feeling of lots on fore<>aft front wheel movement accompanied by lots of sheared rubber bits rubbing against each other as the inner part of the rear wishbone bush will have partially broken free from the outer part. Have you considered fitting powerflex bushes - they are meant to last a lot longer but are a lot more expensive >

Rum4mo,

can you give more details of the hardwood blocks you made to support a car on axle stands , and where they fit splease?

thanks

Andy

AFAIK this is still the current Cupra , none voided , bush part number

6LL 407 183

got 2 to fit , but waiting for the roll bar and drop links to turn up , so it can all be done at the same time

Ric04vrs, I would have thought that you vrs guys would be going the whole way and either fitting cupra wishbones AND cupra rear-front bushes AND cupra strut top mounts. I've just got a Polo 1.4 SE (putt putt) and was taking the cheap route out of having to replace the wishbone bush every couple of years as now I realise that these crap voided bushes has been anoying me since I picked this car up when it was new! I am still tempted with the Powerflex wishbone bushes (front and rear) as they might give better front wheel control while being quieter than the cupra bushes - just a hunch so don't mind if someone tells me otherwise, plus if I go down the Powerflex route, I might even include the ARB bushes as some forum people seem to have been advised that they need changed every two years to keep them quiet!

AndyPandy, the stepped blocks that I have made up are so that the car can be supported at the side rail "car jack" identified points on axle stands without damaging the rail or other bits of the body. The need here, is to provide an adaptor to spread the weight of the car over this "strong point". I think that the car jack just locates over the welded "lip", but my adaptor places most of the load on the strong point just inside the "lip" at this point while allowing some weight to be on the "lip". Essentially the adaptor has three heights, one for the inside strong point then a narrow cut-out to locate the "lip" then an third area to allow the car to rock over onto the outer sill without falling over! I've screwed plant mounting "rubber" feet over all the upper surfaces to further protect the car, also I've included an M8 bolt "peg" so that these adaptors will always stay located centrally on my axle stands (stands have a 10mm hole in the top surface). I was one of these sad b*****s that fitted four Audi TT jacking point protectors to the underside of this car - they are very handy if you use a trolley jack with a small "cup" as you quickly find where to place the jack and, on the Polo, do no damage to the body when using a trolley jack. The guys on the B5 forums fit them to Passats then complain when the body distorts - really!

We have a knocking niose at the front of the car. Am getting service dept to investigate. Have suggeted to them that it may be the ARB and bushes. Will know more later next week.

Cheers,

Fabby.