[Bombay83]

This weekend I embark on a long journey of fixing the car... below are some pics of all my new parts. Meyle upgraded control arm kit and upgraded Tie Rod Ends, AUG timing belt kit with water pump and all the works, PBR Rear brake pads, Hosetechniques vacuum hosing. I'm thinking 12 hours both sat. and sunday and I should be set...

 

[99blackmagic]

i suggest a buddy with a car to fetch anything needed and a camera for archiving purposes. good luck. :thumbup:

 

[YetAnother20V]

i suggest a buddy with a car to fetch anything needed and a camera for archiving purposes. good luck. :thumbup:

You beat me to that. Also, make sure you find out what you need before noon on saturday since most places close early on saturday and aren't open on sunday.

 

[rtenke]

Band-aids, lots of band-aids. Just kidding - Good luck with the work.

 

[ms12339]

Make sure you have all the correct bolts for the control arms. My upgraded Meyle set had the correct number of bolts, but I was missing the bolts for the shocks. I had an extra set of bolts for the upper control arms. Also, the bolt that secures the 2 upper control arms (ball joint end) is difficult to remove if you live in an area that uses salt on the roads. I put penitrating oil on for several days and still had to heat it up with MEPP gas to remove this bolt. The threaded bolt on the tie rod ends tend to rust and one of mine was frozen to inner tie rod. You need a 38mm or 1.5in crows foot (donot get a 12 point, it will not work because the nut has rounded edges, I tried a 12 point from work and it did not work) to remove the inner tie rod if your outer tie rod is frozen to the inner. I had to use MEPP gas again!! When I did my control arms I drove my car up on ramps, jacked up one side, removed tire/ramp and supported that side with a jack stand. The car was high enough so it was not to difficult to change the control arms. Make sure you have a breaker bar to brake loose rusted nut/bolts. I did the control arms in this order: Rear lower (remove/install), front lower (remove), uppers & shock/spring (remove/install), front lower (install). The new HEAVY DUTY tie rod ends really helped my car alot. I can feel the road!!

good luck

Tom

 

[m1mason]

So, if someone buys the control arm kit, would that permanently solve the problem? Or do people still have the same issues after a while?

 

[Sharky]

Only tighten the bolts holding the bushing end of the control arms with the car completely on the ground.

 

[m1mason]

Only tighten the bolts holding the bushing end of the control arms with the car completely on the ground.

Is it that simple?

 

[Sharky]

Only tighten the bolts holding the bushing end of the control arms with the car completely on the ground.

Is it that simple?

Well, it is kind of a pain to get real torque on the upper ones, much less actually torque them, but ya, it is a pretty easy job.

You realize you'll have to pull the entire strut assembly out to get the bolt out of the upper front arms right?

Anyway, it isn't difficult. No real special tools, etc.

Before you tighten the bolts like I was talking about, you want to back the car up or otherwise roll it so that the front suspension is completely at rest; just taking it off jacks isn't quite good enough. When you lock those bolts down, you want the bushings to be clamped exactly at normal ride height.

 

[Bombay83]

so sharky, are you saying put everything together hand tight, then drop the car down, start her up, roll back a couple feet, roll forward a couple feet, then jack her back up and tighten everything to speck?

 

[Sharky]

so sharky, are you saying put everything together hand tight, then drop the car down, start her up, roll back a couple feet, roll forward a couple feet, then jack her back up and tighten everything to speck?

You have it right except the final jack up.

When you tighten the bushing end of the control arms, the bushings can no longer move as the arm moves up and down over bumps in the road. And and all movement actually twists the bushing.

This is why they wear out so damn fast on B5s. They actually just twist the guts right out of them.

So, when you tighten them, you want them to be completely free of twist. Sure, they will twist when the suspension moves past sitting still, but you want them to be unloaded when the car is motionless, such as when sitting in the garage.

If you tighten the bolts while the front suspension is dangling, and then set the car down, they have to twist for the car to just sit there. That couple of inches the suspension moves up under the weight of the car will be there forever, putting undue pressure on your nice new (and expensive) parts. Doing it as I describe minimizes this.

 

[ms12339]

The CD-rom tells you to measure from the center of the tire rim to the fender. You do this when the car is on the ground. Mine measured 15 inches, I think? Then they tell you to use some special VW tool that raises your suspension to that same distance. Then tighten to torque spec. I drove my car up on ramps, jacked up one side, removed tire/ramp, and supported that side with a jack stand. After changing all control arms, I used my large floor jack with a thick foam pad to lift the suspension to the normal compressed height (15in from center of hub to fendor). It was easy to torque because the wheel was removed. Do not lift suspension using rotor unless you bolt it in place. I lifted directly behind the rotor.

Good Luck!

Tom

 

[PZ]

Since you are working in your garage,run the car up on ramps.Measure the height from the upper control arms to the mounting plate.
Stock is about 1.75". You can then set them to that height before installing the mounting plate again.

For the lowers,run the car back up on the ramps after install and tighten them then.

 

[Bombay83]

well it makes me feel better i'm getting more advice on the control arms than on the timing belt because i was more worried about doing the timing belt...