Control arm bushings and wheels bearings... A how to

[kaneda]

Jay n myself ordered some replacement control arm bushings from ECS a little while back and had a chance to install them over the weekend , so we took a few pics of the work so that it might help others thinking of doing the same.

First things first I have a GTI and Jay has an R32 so a couple of small differences between the two but the process is very similar and il try n explain when i get to those steps. Also while I was tinkering with the GTI i decided to change the wheel bearings so il tack that on to the end .

Tools you need are relatively basic and you can improvise on a bit of it so things like spanners,sockets,jack and stands,hammer ,press or vice ,beer fridge and audio device will cover most of it.
Im going to assume that if your willing to undertake this task then you have a general idea about mechanical goings on and safe practices like not getting under a vehicle properly supported n so on.

Bits that i am installing


First step is find a nice flat surface and jack the car up and place on stands and remove the front wheels


Il start with the sway bar on the GTI as the R32's is not mounted to the control arm so you dont have to worry about it.
I think its a 16mm bolt from memory and just lift the drop link up out of the way.


Next I did the bottom of the ball joint which is the three small bolts grouped together although i did use a paint pen on these to aid in putting them back in the same spot on re-installation .

Rear control arm bolt has a nut on the top of it so you will need to hold that when undoing it (I used a 3/8 drive bar with a 18mm socket for the top and rattle gun on the bottom)
Bottom view

Top view with socket holding top nut

Now for the front bolt on the control arm.... This is where its easier on the GTI.
You can see in the pic that there is heaps of room in front of these bolts so its a simple removal job (even the longer bolts i have for the aftermarket brace on mine)

For the R32 (I assume this will be the same on the bora v6 ) the sump is in the way so you can undo the bolt but cannot extract it....
To get around this you can lower the sub-frame which is easier than it sounds
I dont have any pics but firstly you need to support the frame with a jack and undo the 2 bolts on the gearbox to the dog bone mount. Then undo the 4 bolts that hold the sub-frame in place and slowly lower the jack allowing it all to come down just enough so you can remove the bolt from the front of the control arm and once out we loosely reconnected teh sub-frame until re-installing (Im sure jay can add to this if i have forgotten a step)

[kaneda]

With everything undone then its just a matter of convincing the control arm out of the car.
Tada!!!!!!

GTI control arm, note the crapy pressed steel design with the R32 being cast and S3 having cast alloy.

Next step is to get those dodgy bushes out......
lots of ways to do this from drilling ,cutting ,bashing ,pressing and calm prayers to Buddha or the like . As long as you dont damage the control arm then your set.
We used a combination of a press,vice and big hammer with sockets of different sizes to use as drifts.
this is a bit of heavy wall pipe i had that rested on the center and just bashed it out resting on the vice.

Socket in the press for the large end (could have done it in the vice)

new vs old

Next I gave the control arm a quick clean up to remove any debris and burrs .

Now for the fun part.... getting those dam bushes into the control arm.
Simply press in and admire your handy work


large end

and all in and ready to go

[kaneda]

Now if i left it there I would have to be an evil evil person

They dont just slip into position
Now not having done this before Jay n I tried a few different ways until we found an easy method.
With the large bushes instead of pressing it in flat we slightly tilted it to aid the lip on the end of the bush to enter the hole and once that lip is in the hole then your home n hosed.
The smaller bush (they come in a 2 piece version which is a walk in the park as you just put each half in one at a time) i put a hose clamp on the end and used that to compress it enough to make it easier for the lip to go into the hole , and once in removed the hose clamp and pushed it the rest of the way home.

Once you have the new bushes installed its just a matter of reversing the steps to take it out taking care to get the ball joint location back to how it was.

[dylan8]

Great right up! Not that i need to do it, but one day im sure! Thanks

[kaneda]

This next bit is for the wheel bearings so at this point i didnt re-install the control arm.
Basicly you need to remove the carrier so off with the brakes , tie rod ,strut,drive shaft nut and abs sensor.
No pics of this but 2 bolts on the back of the caliper and off it comes (dont let it hang from the brake line , i used a block of wood )
Small screw in the front of the rotor and its off.....
Abs sensor you can unplug or remove it altogether (allen key)
Bottom of strut is a 18mm bolt and nut but remember you need to spreed the carrier to remove it .
Nut on the drive shaft is a 30mm and a rattle gun comes in handy here.
Once you have undone everything its just a matter of sliding out the drive shaft from the carrier .

Carrier outskies

When you have the carrier out you need to remove the splash guard (3 little bolts) hub and abs ring assembly so off to the press to push it out from the back of the carrier (once again you could use a vice if its big enough)
I dont have a pic of me doing it but here is the result

notice the inside race of the wheel bearing is still on the hub so this will require a puller of sorts to remove it.
There is a large circlip holding the bearing in so dont forget to get that sukka out.

Then to get the bearing out....Having some large sockets helps here.

Old out


Installing the new bearing is a reverse with lots of lube and making sure everything is cleen.
New bearing going in

I turned a drift up at work but large sockets or similar make it happen

The wheel bearing kit that i purchased came with all new nuts for the instal so that was handy as most of them are single use lock nuts.
Installation is a reverse of removal ........
Thats about it ,Im sure ive forgotten a few things but il fix that when/if i remeber and Im sure Jay could add a bit too.

[Mr. JLT]

Steve nice DIY-- Some information that may be handy for the R32 guys/gals before you remove the subframe hardware it is best to get a paint marker and run/trace around the hardware while it is still installed- that way durring the reinstallation you can line up the new hardware with the with the circles that you traced-more for the rear mounts. You should replace the hardware but I'll leave that up to you guys...

After tracing around the hardware place a jack with a 12" 2x4 or what ever you have in your garage in the center of the subframe and loosen them or remove all 4( i left the steering rack hardware installed in the sub frame) and lower the subframe down enough to get the one forward bolt out that the oil pan/sump was blocking.

As far as tooling for the fwd control arm bushings: I drilled the rubber out around the center piece of aluminum and then pressed/hammered out the center aluminum piece that was in the center of the bushing and then used a socket+hammer combo to get the outer part of the bushing out. The new Ecs fwd bushing where easy to install as they are 2 piece bushing. I just lubed them up and pushed them in by hand.

the install was pretty easy and my old bushings where pretty worn out so the ..::R feels nice and tight and more responsive.

I was told but have not check it out yet- I heard that powerflex makes the larger rear bushings that are 2 piece..

[Dyldo]

i was so embarrassed i almost didn't look at this thread.

I did a stage2 ECS refresh and full suspension install (didn't even touch wheel bearings lol) and it took me about 2 full weekends cause i am a muppet.

[JustCruisn]

Added to DIY and stickied for a while

[qsilverza]

Yeh I did this I dropped the subframe for my v6, easy enough. better on a hoist or a second person and I battled to get the control arms back into their mounts...

[dylan8]

Can anyone give me the part number or suggest where to get the control arms without bushes? (already have some upgraded bushes and my old control arms are damaged)
Or is there a OEM upgrade to the ones in a FWD mk4?