Front suspension replacement

[mekatrig]

My wife’s pug has all the usual front suspension faults, rattles like a demon, the front skipping all over the place on moderately bumpy roads and the understeer wow! It's no longer a pleasure to drive it's turned from a nice little motor into a beast none of us like to drive.

Summer approaches so I am now going to change the wishbone rolls bars etc... I am moderately competent with car mechanics and thanks to all the how tos & previous posts here I am confident I can do this with just a couple of bloody knuckles and a reasonable amount of swearing.

The costs of the parts however is a worry, Lemforder, TRW etc.. parts would cost a fortune so I am looking at good old fleabay, where of course the 'same' parts are about a fifth of the price.
I can see both wishbones, links and track rod ends for the price of 1 TRW wishbone, manufactured by a company called LBP, tempting but I know that the aftermarket parts have a rep for failing and I gather this is a Malaysian or Chinese manufacturer which produces many aftermarket parts for various cars.

We live on the Isle of Wight, no speed bumps and the car does under 2,000 miles a year, so I am asking has anyone had experience with these parts?
If I can get 6,000 miles out of them that’s 3 years and shell be getting a new car then anyway?

Or am i just being hopeful, and this will end up costing me more.
Her comment is the dealers are a rip off and aftermarket parts are all crap anyway, so just put the cheapos on.

Any advice would be welcome.

[gazza82]

Try mister-autos ... they do the better quality ones for a bit less.

Avoid fleabay .. they won't last 6000 miles as the rubber parts tend to harden and crack long before anything wears out!

BTW the CC uses the same arms as the GTi ... don't skimp or the cost will be more ... and expect a lot of swearing. Get a coin box and you'll pay for the arms in no time!

As for understeer ... what tyres have you got (make/type/size/tread-depth/etc)? Could be they are budgets and just not up to the job, or even the wrong tyres ...

[Capncol]

CC & GTI uses different bottom arms to ordinary hatch back, so be careful.
If you get them from local supplier you have local product support- You won't get that through ebay_ After 60 days they don't want to know so you are relying on sellers goodwill.

As for understeer ... what tyres have you got (make/type/size/tread-depth/etc)? Could be they are budgets and just not up to the job, or even the wrong tyres ...

or wrong pressure

EDIT: Gazza beat me to it. Must type faster.

[gazza82]

No probs Col ... I tend to type more slowly (my fingers have a tendency to write gobbledygook if left their own devices! Plus I usually have to go back through the spell-checker!! )

I don't think it hurts to warn people about ebay quality. Yes occasionally you do get some good gear for low prices but the number of threads on various car forums about ebay parts usually just confirm that the quality is reflected in the prices ...

[bertie1]

tbh ive several cars and get parts off ebay i find if you look there is some bargains to be had on ebay have got quality parts for great prces but it pays to look properly for them

[mekatrig]

Thanks guys.
Got the bit about GTI arms, these are the one I have been looking at, and I will call and double check with the supplier before I place my order.

I thought the fleabay deals were too good to be true, I traced some of the stuff offered there back to the Chinese factory, they are selling the arms for about £7.50 each if you buy 100 or more, at that price is there any way they can be decent quality?

The Isle of Wight is a great place to live, but everything here costs that little bit more, so saving money is always a priority, as buying local means paying a premium even for patent parts.

I've checked Mister-Auto as recommended by gazza82 they are about £10 cheaper than Euro car parts (who I usually use), as long as they do free delivery here that may be the best option. I am thinking about using TRW arms & bars, should set me back £150.

The tyres are Westlake SP06 195/55 R15s all round, tyre pressures are 33 psi back & front, the understeer is similar to an old Rover SDi I had with buckled tie rods, (not as bad though, you had to practically do a u turn to get that beast round bends) which is why I thought the arms might be causing the same problem here as well.

I am planning on doing this in early May so have time to gen up on it first so any hints & tips would be welcome.

[gazza82]

Tyres aren't anything I've heard of so I'd assume "budget" ... they may simply not suit the CC.

Personally I pay a bit more for tyres on our family cars and stick to well-known brands ... grip not "ditch-finders" ...

[GrandadMonkey]

Chinese tyres. http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/Westlake/SA-07.htm

Reviews are not good.

Put some decent tyres on it as gazza suggests. I've got Continentals on our 206cc. They've done 32,000 miles so far (except for one which was punctured and replaced).

[mekatrig]

Well, just read the reviews on Westlakes, they seem like cheapo Chinese balloons with a poor rep.
Luckily she doesn't drive the car fast or far enough to put any serious stress on the tyres, but once a month I do a sprint to blow the cobwebs out of the engine, if you take a google street map view of Military road IOW (A3055) between Freshwater & Compton you can see why suddenly realising I had being doing the 'speed limit' on these tyres made me shiver a bit, So the Westlakes are coming off too.
I was thinking of Bridgestones Weather Control as the the roads here tend to be narrow, muddy & carry a lot of water when it rains, any ideas on these?
We are not too worried about tyre noise, the car wont be leaving the island so it won't be going for any long runs, just the 2 mile run to work & back and a couple of shopping trips in the week, I just want a good grip & a decent ride, from the tyres I mean I've given up asking the wife

[mekatrig]

The wife was away for a week, so no one to shout at me for the occasional shouted f*** word, a good opportunity to crack on and get the job done. I ordered TRW parts from Mister Auto I did expect them to arrive on Tuesday maybe Wednesday at the latest (which were bright and sunny,) so the car was sitting on the blocks of wood I use as axle stands with the wheels off and the various nuts soaked with WD40 on Monday night, the parts didn't arrive until Friday evening, so I did the job on a wet gloomy Saturday instead.

Considering all the posts about getting the ball joints out and back in and realigning the wishbones, I found this job went a lot smoother than expected.

I used webbing to tie the suspension struts to the chassis, took out the ball joint clamp bolt, levered the joint down until the pin stuck, sprayed it with WD40, tapped it back in, had a cuppa, levered the pin down again then levered the wheel hub inwards a little, all the pressure on the ball joint was released and it just dropped out of the clamp.
Same for both sides, no banging, giant levers or splitter needed !

Refitting was just as easy, I had locked the front wheels by jamming the foot brake on, and jacked up each side in turn off the blocks using a trolley jack under the brake discs so the weight of the car compressed the springs, I slid the wishbones into their slots and the ball joint pin hung lower than the clamps, so I just pushed it home and put in the bolts, lowered the trolley jack so some of the weight rested back on the blocks, then using a prybar lined up the wishbones and tapped the bolts through from underneath, centre first then the rear one.
I found if I then jacked the hub up slowly, the bolts would drop out by themselves, meaning the holes were perfectly aligned, then I could drop them in from above.
Job done.

The only tricky part I found in the whole process was pushing the centre bolt back in past the drive shafts, gently tapping it with a pin hammer squeezed it in.

Biggest problem was one of the link arm bolts was seized solid and I had to use a nut splitter on it.


Everything double checked & torqued up then I took her for a spin, amazing...
Drove like a little sports car, rattles and shakes gone, wandering gone, understeer gone, from driving it being a chore it is now a pleasure to take for a run, I can chuck it into corners and it holds the road like its glued on and I hadn't even put the new tyres on yet!

[GrandadMonkey]

Try it in the wet!

[gazza82]

Not on the Westlakes though ;-)

[mekatrig]

Not in a million years

Putting some Bridgestone A001 all weather boots on, I'll see how it goes when there's half an inch of muddy water flowing across the road after it rains. Usually we only use my 4x4 in bad weather but if she can make it to work & back in the Pug now it will be a bonus.