1. Home
  2. Volkswagen, everything else
  3. Shot front strut bushings. Short-term shadetree ideas?

Shot front strut bushings. Short-term shadetree ideas?

Put my car ('86 GTi) up the lift yesterday, and figured out that some of the clunking noises I've been hearing is the front struts shifting around due to play introduced by shot bushings on top of the strut towers. Not life threatening, just occasionally loud, and while I'll fix it when I eventually get arount to replacing the suspension, I'm curious if anyone's got (or perhaps done before) any shadetree noise reduction ideas for a similar situation.

I was toying with the idea of finding some heavy duty rubber tubing or casings and lifting the car with a jack just enough to put some space between the metal frame and the now-shot bushing and slipping it between them to take up some of the slack (or at least reduce the noise) when the suspension shifts. For what it's worth, I'm also going to try using one of the those plumbing claw cables run up the exhaust pipe to remove some of the rattleing pieces of the now disintegrating catalytic converter honey-comb that's been banging around.

When responding, keep in mind that this is a car I bought for $200 that has some oil leaks and such, but has so far been pretty much dead reliable once I replaced the thermostat to cure an overheating problem, and it already has a clear smog 'til about April of 2005. I'm not shy about spending money on important safety and/or preventative maintenance stuff (like the timing belt I'll be doing in the next month or so), but this car is above all else cheap.. I'm not going to spend $150+ on a cat until 2 years when the test comes due, and the shocks will happen when I find a screaming deal on some replacements, no sooner. Just to keep the ideas in perspective..

Reply to
Giambi
Loading thread data ...

Jim B.

Reply to
jimbehning

Hold on a second! The bushings on a A2 are tapered and just push up into the towers and are held there by the weight of the car. Also the same on A4's and I assume A3's. What that means is when the car is lifted and the front wheels are off the ground the bushings and strut assemblies will "fall out" untill the plate on the top, visable from the engine compartment, rests on the top of the shock towers. Not saying yours are not bad or the ball bearings are not eather but what you discribed could be normal. Also there's a fancy nut visable after you take the stop plate off with the car resting on the ground, that could be loose and part of your noise.

Joe

Reply to
Joe R

Check that it's just not the slotted nut that needs tightening. I just replaced my stock a2 mounts with vr6 mounts (the cost of doing that is almost half what you paid for the car, though). The old mounts were making a lot of racket and were real sloppy because the bearings were absolutely shot.

Reply to
John Rutledge

It would probably just as easy, if not easier to just replace the strut mounts than try to figure out a way to quiet them down.

You can get 2 mounts for about $30.00 (eurowebparts.com) and get a free loaner spring compressor from a local parts store. Then it's just remove the nut on the top and the 2 bolts that connect the strut assembly to the spindle and the whole thing comes right out. I did both of mine (also '86 GTi) in under 2 hours.

By the way, with the front wheel off the ground, there is some free play up and down. Don't let this trick you into thinking the mounts are bad. But they are so cheap and easy to replace, it might be worth doing it. Especially if it's getting up there in miles.

Another thing that causes noise(clunking) in the front end is if the rear control arm bushing if worn, or torn. You'll hear this mostly when accelerating and when you let off the gas. It's kind of hard to check and easier if somebody helps. Jack the wheel off the ground and watch the rear bushing while moving the wheel straight back and forth from front to rear. You should not be able to see any significant movement in the bushing. If there's obvious movement, it's bad and needs to be replaced. It's not an expensive fix. I did both the bushings and the ball joint on both sides and only spent about $40.00. This repair is a bit more difficult because you'll need a press to get the bushings out and back in. If you don't have access to a press, just remove the control arms and bring them to a shop and have them do it. But make sure you, or whoever does it gets the rear bushing in correctly. It actually matters which way it's installed. The Bentley shows which way is correct.

Reply to
MrEddy

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.