Upper Strut bearing change out.

I'd hazard a guess and say that the procedure would be similar to that of a Golf of the same year.

Invest in a Bentley manual... it's well worth the ~$50.

Yes. First, you purchase a Bentley repair manual for the vehicle. Then you get the proper spring compressor and all other tools required. Then, you get all the parts you need. Unfortunately, you may not know exactly what you need until you have disassembled the strut. Even then, visual inspection may not tell you if a part is worn out. Before doing the procedure, I strongly suggest you actually watch a trained mechanic take one apart.

Why?

Disassembly of struts is perfectly safe if you have been trained, have the proper tools, and do it correctly. You can be SERIOUSLY injured or possibly killed if you get it wrong. The springs are under tremendous compression in an assembled strut and improper disassembly can send this rather weighty assembly in motion coming at you with enough force to easily split your head open, break your arm, etc. Hopefully, you get the picture.

The manual, compressor, and tools will cost you more than most mechanics will charge to do the change. My suggestion is that you don't try to do this yourself unless you are quite experienced with doing mechanical work and you work safely (meaning you don't just "try stuff out" to see if you can do it). Also, the economics don't work out unless you plan to do the operation a couple of times to similar vehicles (spring compressors are not "one size fits all" - even though some folks use "universal" compressors improperly all the time). Even renting one is a crap shoot on whether or not you get a suitable one.

How old are the struts? Most people replace the struts, bearings, and bumpers all at once because it is easier and cheaper to do this somewhat involved procedure only once.

By the way, once you remove and reinstall struts, you need the front end aligned. My advice is to pay the price and get the struts, bearings, bumpers, etc. all replaced and the front end aligned, all by a competent shop.

Good Luck, Mike

Paul and Amy wrote:

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|Generally speaking, Take the strut assemblies out of the car, remove the |bearings, put in the new ones, put strut assemblies back in.

Lets be sure to mention the part about the spring compressor, lest our novice injure himself or worse.

Rex in Fort Worth