[fishugly]

Easy enough for the backyard mechanic with a floor jack and basic tools?

 

[AndreasPassat]

The FWD car is easy peasy. 4motion should be the same effort wise. If you're in the rust belt, be prepared for stubborn bolts.

 

[VAGguy]

Super easy. Maybe an hour total if you have all the tools and good bolts.

FWD is just two 13mm bolts up top and one bolt at the bottom. 18-19mm, I believe.

 

[Tobias]

Before you do the job, see if you can determine if the yellow bump stops at the top are still intact. If not they are cheap and worth replacing when you do the shocks. At about 3:40 in the B5 version video, you will see the tech use two specialty tools to remove the shock's shaft from the mount. Two notes about this. Not all aftermarket shocks are the same. Bilstein's shocks are slightly taller 1/4", and the tool used to release the shaft of an OE shock will not fit on them. So what to do? Use vice grips at the top of the shaft above the travel of the shock itself to hold firm while removing and installing the nut.

On the B5 all the bolts are one time use. Get new ones they are cheap. The guys who do the videos I linked below never tell you if you need to replace them. They also never give you the torque specs.

B5

2-Nut

• Always replace each time after removing

3-Bolt

• 50 Nm (37 ft lb) and turn 90° further
• M10 x 90
• Always replace each time after removing
• Only tighten when vehicle is standing on wheels.

Sorry, I can't find a reference for the 5.5 Maybe @VAGguy has them.

Its an easy job even on my B7 where I have to lower the rear wishbone and pull the spring to get to the lower shock bolt. I spend more time jacking the car up and down than I do replacing the shocks.

B5

B5.5

 

[Urlik]

I only recommend you double check the bottom bolt torques after a week.

 

[VAGguy]

If you are new to wrenching, definitely use the torque values and maybe new bolts. I've reused the top bolts every time over the last 17 years on mine. I think the bottom bolt too, but it's cheap to replace.

 

[Hirnbeiss]

I would recommend replacing the top bearing (number 8) at the same time. They wear with age and cause clunking.

 

[Wahobbert]

If you're re-using the springs from the old shocks, you'll need to deal with that and the janky obround hole in the top of the shock shaft. Otherwise the only other issue is fighting with the stabilizer bar mounts and limited space to free them up because you can't get a ratchet in there, and a box wrench gets trapped on the bolt if you get out of sequence. A small bottle jack or porto-power jammed in there to force the lower arm down is pretty helpful to drop the shock out too.