Front Wishbones/Control Arms

john-wingnut

Active Member
I have just taken delivery of my new front wishbones - got them at a decent price too.

Front bushings had gone so I figured change ball joints at same time, but as they are incorporated one must change the whole control arm.

Anyway........ just wondered if anyone on here had changed them before and had any tips for changing them.

Some places say the subframe has to come out, but from what Ive seen from looking at the underside, I just need to pop the ball joint out of the hub carrier, remove the screw on the front bush, then tap the trailing arm out and hey presto its removed and reverse for refitting.

Any advice appreciated.

John
 
Sorry, don't know removal procedure - but can't see you having to drop subframe. I replaced the front suspension minus the wishbone at 100k. What price and mileage if you don't mind me asking please?

You'll need to get tracking done as a matter of course afterwards. :D
 
Tracking shouldnt be affected, as arm can only be mounted in one position.

My milage is 110k and I paid around £180 for the pair

John
 
Hi John

I found some sketchy info on wishbone removal and it looks like the 'spindle' end of the wishbone is a press fit in the rubber bush which appears to be fitted into a housing (correct name is Console) bolted onto the subframe. The procedure suggests you need to remove the old wishbone and Console as an assembly then press the wishbone out of the Console bush.

Cheers Spike
 
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Building on Spikes information it might be an idea to scribe the location of the bush housing on the subframe just in case there is any opportunity to bolt it back in the wrong place and therefore lose the alignment of the wheel.

Cheers Andy
 
I paid £76 for one,replaced the aluminum part behind it too roughly same price again.

Dealers have a habit of quoting 300-400 to change bushes and you think its the arms but this is just to press out the old bushes and refit seeing the bushes are about £8 the rest is all labour,they dont tell you they are not replacing wishbones unless you ask what exactly are they doing for the £400!

Big mot failure on a polo too
 
For £400 they could easily change both sides. (wishbones that is).

£76, was it a genuine one - loads on ebay - cheap imitation ones which would probably last 5 minutes.

I attempted this job at the weekend and failed, because getting the ball joint undone required some improvisation - had to make my own tool, as the gap between the drive shaft
and the ball joint nut is tiny and you cant get an allen key torx 40 in there - even though thats what elsawin states...........

So basically spent the day working on a tool to do it. I will be attempting again at the weekend coming if the weather holds out.

Heres my tool:

WP_000043_zpsa980c6e1.jpg


Fingers crossed it'll work. Consists of a cut down T40 bit and a brake caliper service spanner which happened to have a 1/4" hex end on it. Total cost £5

John
 
Yes Mate £76 from Highland Audi for the A2, I also had the carrier behind it as well.receipts somewhere?!
mine Seems to be the nearside in the wars all the time probably as its usually soaked in water/snow/ice/all prior up here.
Had to change the n/s drive shaft cv boot as well,a tiny split,worth checking if your up on the miles mines on 118k now.
 
Well,

having successfully completed this job today I can fairly say I dont want to be doing it again.

The suspension mount brackets do have to be removed off the car / subframe otherwise its impossible to get the wishbone off. My fabricated tool worked perfectly, so the ball joints
were no issue what so ever.

I have also fitted Meyle HD droplinks. I can certainly say the car drives sooooooooooooo much better now. The amount of play in the front bushings was also interesting. The drivers side seem to be a lot worse off than teh LHS.

One thing I will now need to do is take the car to get 4 wheel alignment done, probably in a couple of weeks to allow the new parts to settle.

John
 
i replaced some suspension parts on our polo sdi last year its the same suspension as the a2, the large rubber bush in the ali housing i replaced i made a puller out of threaded bar, bush about £7 each did both sides on car, the suspension arm will come out of the bush with the help of a large hammer, that bush has to be fitted in the correct position so the hex on arm fits at correct angle, put some fairy liquid
on bush when replacing.
 
Well the black subframe on the A2 encloses the front bush, so you cannot get the wishbone out with it still there.

Believe you me, I tried to get it out, leaving everything intact on the car but you cannot.

When you push the wishbone out of the rear bush, teh front bush butts up against the subframe allowing no further movement. I tried pulling the wishbone out to the side then applying pressure to the rear but it wouldnt budge.

So I whipped the suspension mount off the subframe and car and then prised the wishbone out of it - much easier.

Any to be honest, I need the alignment done anyway, hasnt been done for around 2 years.
 
Thread merge

I think I'm having a few issues with my wishbones / control arms.

The wishbones and bushes are still the original, factory-fitted ones, meaning they're nearly 12 years old and have been attached to the car for all of its 157k miles. I've recently noticed a slight metallic knock when I pull onto my driveway (I have to mount a very low kerb) and when I brake suddenly. The suspension, including all nuts, bolts, strut top bearings, drop-links, ARB bushes, etc, was replaced only 19k miles ago.

The car's also shaking/knocking when I drive downhill at speed (60mph), meaning it shakes going downhill on the motorway. If I steer back and forth across the lanes, or continuously accelerate while going downhill, the shaking/knocking stops.

It seems my AMF-based A2 has different wishbones to other A2s. Here's where the questions start...

Is it worth updating to the later wishbone design? Am I right in thinking that my current ball joints aren't replaceable? Could my current ball joints also be worn? If so, updating to the later design would seem sensible, right?

What is the 'console'? Do the wishbones attach directly to the subframe? Do both front and rear bushes need pressing into place?

In summary... HELP!!

Cheers,

Tom
 
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Spike provided the following information in another thread:

Spike said:
From chassis no 8Z-3-019-683 they changed from cast iron to pressed steel (I think) with bolt-on ball joints

Up to the revised chassis no, the wishbones on 'AMF' cars were different (part no) to AUA,BBY & BAD models (don't have a clue why)
With the introduction of pressed steel wishbones with bolt-on balljoints the same part no is used on all engine models This probably coincided with the release of the later BHC and ATL engines so would be done to rationalise parts.

Its strange that the cast wishbones have not been superseded by the pressed steel ones.
 
A picture speaks a thousand words...

Wishbone.jpg

I'm guessing this is the cast type that should be currently fitted to my car. The ball joint would appear to be integrated and therefore not replaceable... correct?
What is the part to which the wishbone is attached? Is that the 'console'?

Cheers,

Tom
 
Thought its worth linking in John Wingnut's thread...

It was worth it, Spike. With the photo above in mind, this post makes a lot of sense...

I found some sketchy info on wishbone removal and it looks like the 'spindle' end of the wishbone is a press fit in the rubber bush which appears to be fitted into a housing (correct name is Console) bolted onto the subframe. The procedure suggests you need to remove the old wishbone and Console as an assembly then press the wishbone out of the Console bush.

So, the part that John describes as the suspension mount is the referred to by Audi as the console. It is the part that houses the bushes in the photo above.
 
John,

You say the new bushes came with the new control arms. Once you had the console off the car, were the bushes easy to change? You didn't need a press or a special winding tool?

Cheers,

Tom
 
Illustrations of the wishbone and console added for reference


Cheers Spike
 

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