Cabriolet Front Suspension

Help & Advice please. I have a 1995 "old type" Cabriolet - 2.6 V6. The rubber bushes on the lower front suspension "wishbone" have completely gone and must be replaced. Is this a DIY job ? On the face of it, it looks fairly straightforward as the lower ball-joint can be unbolted from the "wishbone" and the two inner bolts are reasonably accessible. However, I can't tell how easy it is to get the bushes out and install new - is it a job for a hydraulic press and specialist tools, or can it be done with 50% common sense and 50% large hammer? Would it be possible and/or easier to buy a new "wishbone" and bushes and just replace the whole lot ? All advice gratefully recieved. Cheers.

Reply to
DavidV
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The latter is the easiest way to go. What I did was go a freindly garage and ask them to presso the old ones out. \The new ones can be hammered in.

Good luck!

Ronald

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reply

Its possible to change the bushes, but will take some effort and a wice to hold the wishbone when removing bushings and forcing the new ones in place... Dismantle the wishbone from the car first.

Remember to wait with torqing the two bolts till the car is standing on the floor with wishbone in normal angle. Otherwise your new bushings will need early replacemeent as the rubber/ metal will be under strain at standstill and not only when driving on bumpy roads..

cheers

ottar t

Reply to
Ottar T

Some things I forgot to mention:

-If you buy wishbones at a scrapyard, try the S2 ones made of solid aluminium.

-If u use new/used ones you have to align your car with special tool for camber, otherwise alignment is not needed.

Ronald

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Thanks for the help and advice. Managed to do the job this morning. For what it's worth for anyone else contemplating the same : I got a new wishbone from "German French & Swedish" complete with fitted bushes for just over £40.00. That's probably not much more than the Audi dealer price for just the bushes, and saved a great deal of time and effort. Big problem was removing the rear retaining bolt - there seems to be a bit of front subframe in the way. Finally got it out with the help of a hammer, and replaced it the other way round - with the bolt on the inside and the nut on the outside. Added advantage is that it's then possible to tighten with a proper ring spanner. It's a bit of a fiddly job, but took about three hours overall. Cheers.

Reply to
DavidV

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