[Sir Tilus]

Has anyone attempted or actually refreshed their control arms up front? How difficult was it and is there anything I should know beforehand?


Thanks in advance,

KT

 

[rreyes]

You can try this:
Control arm replacement and steering knuckle removal -B5 Passat and Audi | VW TDI forum, Audi, Porsche, and Chevy Cruze diesel forum

 

[ylwagon]

Has anyone attempted or actually refreshed their control arms up front? How difficult was it and is there anything I should know beforehand?

By "refreshed" I assume you mean "replaced", and I'd expect that thousands of people have done this themselves. I have too, and will caution that it can be a long and sometimes frustrating job, especially for our East-coast friends with their rusted bolts. Make sure that you have all the tools required, including jack stands, before starting on it.

 

[ylwagon]

Has anyone attempted or actually refreshed their control arms up front? How difficult was it and is there anything I should know beforehand?

By "refreshed" I assume you mean "replaced", and I'd expect that thousands of people have done this themselves. I have too, and will caution that it can be a long and sometimes frustrating job, especially for our East-coast friends with their rusted bolts. Make sure that you have all the tools required, including jack stands, before starting on it.

 

[AndreasPassat]

In the process of doing that right now on my '04 GLX.
I am actually converting to coilovers.
During this conversion I am trying to develop a definitive 'how-to' on a complete front end control arm replacement.

If you have any questions, others here can help you out. I can supply pictures now but my complete step by step instructional for the forum is not yet complete.

 

[2002GLXV6]

 

[captain_video]

Has anyone attempted or actually refreshed their control arms up front? How difficult was it and is there anything I should know beforehand?


Thanks in advance,

KT

LOL. I think the better question is who here hasn't replaced their front control arms. It's pretty much a fact of life with Passats and Audis. The biggest obstacle you'll run across is getting the upper pinch bolt out as they tend to get rusted in place and can be a bitch to remove. There are lots of different methods that people have tried, but I personally like the one where you cut off the bolt bead using a Dremel tool at the slot nearest the head (it will break off using a socket wrench once you cut about halfway through it) and then jack out the bolt from the other end by tightening the nut (use additional spacers when you get near the end of the bolt threads). Use liberal amounts of anti-seize compound on the shaft of the new bolts when installing them and you'll never have to deal with seized pinch bolts again.

 

[PZ]

Being from Las Vegas, there might not be any rust and the pinch bolt may come out with just a little twisting.

 

[cubedfreek]

I replaced mine with the adjustable UCA's from ECS, and it was about a three hour job (first time doing that job in particular, plenty of past experience with suspension, including the vehicle in question). However, after just a month, I was noticing some bumping sound on full lock turns (mostly right hand) and it took me a while to figure out what it was...what is happening is the top of the joints at the outer end (left side) is hitting the fender well at the top, which blows my mind, seeing as how one of those three hours was dedicated to adjusting the UCA's to the correct length. Also, all of the outer bushings on these UCA's are shot...not happy about that.