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Model specific boards => Golf mk4 => Topic started by: Nino on 04 June 2012, 23:04

Title: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: Nino on 04 June 2012, 23:04
Ok been hearing banging over bumps lately so took my car to the garage and he tells me my rear axle bushes are buggered and will cost me £140 if i want him to do it, when i checked how much they cost i asked why is he charging me a good £120 laybour?

He told me the bushes that are gone are the hardest ones to change and require alot of work/stripping to get to them and will be a good 4-5 hours worth of work.
He also said that I shouldn't drive the car really ntill there changed or have anyone in the back of the car.

Is he telling me lies or is there truth in what hes saying?
Title: Re: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: cullygti on 04 June 2012, 23:23
i do believe the rears are harder to do as the whole sub frame as to be dropped etc i paid a lot more than that a few years ago so dont sound to bad to me
Title: Re: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: Granta Gti on 05 June 2012, 01:36
They are hard get out, we charge 3 hours to get them out. Don't know why he said you should drive it, I mean it's the rear beam is not going to fall out or anything, it will just get noisier
Title: Re: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: AD1.8T on 05 June 2012, 06:58
I really dont understand how garages quote so much they are relativley easy to do .... With all the proper tools it can be done in about 1 1/2 hours ! Just get a strong mate a mahoosive g clamp, drill, hack saw and all your sockets ect and give it ago the most time consuming part was trying to hold the axle up ehilst on your back and bolt it all together
Title: Re: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: jamie1989 on 05 June 2012, 10:05
Mate they are easy to do. No need to drop the axle iv done it recently on my mates mk4. Do yourself a favour go on awsome gti buy polybushes instead. It takes about 3 hours on a drive with no special tools required!!
Title: Re: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: Wazzzer on 05 June 2012, 10:19
What rear beam bushes are you looking at for £20?

Don't get standard versions, spend a bit more and buy some Fabia vRS bushes, ECP sell them with some nice forum discount  :smiley:
Title: Re: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: AD1.8T on 05 June 2012, 11:12
Mate they are easy to do. No need to drop the axle iv done it recently on my mates mk4. Do yourself a favour go on awsome gti buy polybushes instead. It takes about 3 hours on a drive with no special tools required!!

Dropping the axle without disconecting brake lines is got to be a hell of alot easier the struggling when in place
Title: Re: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: jamie1989 on 05 June 2012, 11:17
Nah honestly mate I done it literally 2weeks ago on my drive within 3 hours.
Do one side at the time, remove wheel and arch liner. Unbolt the axle bolt, and smash the shot bushes out.
After a good clean and loads of copper grease the new poly bush slides in nice, ready to put together again.

There is no need to disconnect the brake lines they did not get in the way when I did it.
Title: Re: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: jamie1989 on 05 June 2012, 11:19
To make it abit more clear once the bolt is removed the axe drops enough to access it to remove the bush and insert a new one and does not strain the brake lines.
Title: Re: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: AD1.8T on 05 June 2012, 11:45
Yeah done mine begining of last month i done this
Unbolt calipers
Unclip lines
Unbolt beam from everything
Beat the crap out of the bushes
Pop new ones in the put it all back together

Either way the point is its not a hard job at all !
Title: Re: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: jamie1989 on 05 June 2012, 11:49
Yeah done mine begining of last month i done this
Unbolt calipers
Unclip lines
Unbolt beam from everything
Beat the crap out of the bushes
Pop new ones in the put it all back together

Either way the point is its not a hard job at all !

Very true!! Alot of garages are scared of doing a simple job, The key is not to get wound up when your struggling to get the cage out of the axle  :grin:
Title: Re: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: harlemex on 05 June 2012, 12:30
piece of piss. I did mine in 5 mins.  :lipsrsealed: :wink:
Title: Re: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: Nino on 05 June 2012, 19:48
Thanks for the replys guys, I will look into it.

A few of you mentioned I should not replace them with the stardard bushes? why is this??
Title: Re: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: jamie1989 on 05 June 2012, 19:58
Why change the rubbish ones with standard when you can upgrade and hopefully never worry again about changing them in future.
If you change to polybush, if in the unlikely event they fail in future theres no need to get hack saws, chisels and hammers out as they slide out nicely and are VERY EASY to replace when comparing to standard bushes :smiley:
Title: Re: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: AD1.8T on 05 June 2012, 20:07
Skoda fabia vrs bushes are 40 odd and are more than stiff enough
Title: Re: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: Nino on 05 June 2012, 20:17
Thats guys, I only asked because i wasnt sure what the difference was :)
Title: Re: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: JimBR on 05 June 2012, 22:25
Powerflex bushes still take some force to get in!  :grin:

Superpro are 2 piece and much easier. Some people say they're better quality too.
Title: Re: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: Dave_IOW on 05 June 2012, 22:48
One piece poly's did not 'slip' in as previously mentioned in my experience, and £20 for some rear bushes wont be happening either, unless they have come off the back of another car..

Depends what YOU want, polys are stiffer, less comfortable and may even possibly make some noise.
Standard are quieter but subsequently slightly less 'stiff' than poly ones.

I went for poly on my mk4, and now I have some more to do for a mk3 beam for my mk2, I will be going genuine items.

As Wazzzer suggested, Vrs ones seem an ideal replacement, something he knows quite a lot about at the min.... Don't you Wes   :grin:
Title: Re: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: jamie1989 on 06 June 2012, 07:51
Just recently I fitted one piece polybush's to a mk4 and I had everything ready to use to "press" the new bush in the axle but honestly after cleaning the inside of the axle an applied copper grease the polybush literally pushed with very little resistance, it came with a solid metal piece that goes straight through the polybush that crushes the polybush tight into the axle. This was tapped in using a hammer.

I suppose it all boils down to what you buy and where you buy it from really as with everything you buy these days. Sometimes the saying right you get what you pay for.

But what dave have said is right its what set up you want as everyone is different.
Title: Re: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: jamie1989 on 06 June 2012, 08:20
Here is the link to what we purchased

http://www.awesome-gti.co.uk/product.php?xProd=50446&xSec=9926
Title: Re: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: Col5632 on 06 June 2012, 10:04
VW quoted me £250 to do mine  :huh:

Anybody fancy doing mine?  :wink:
Title: Re: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: harlemex on 06 June 2012, 14:32
i'll do em for 150
Title: Re: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: Dave_IOW on 06 June 2012, 16:54
Just recently I fitted one piece polybush's to a mk4 and I had everything ready to use to "press" the new bush in the axle but honestly after cleaning the inside of the axle an applied copper grease the polybush literally pushed with very little resistance, it came with a solid metal piece that goes straight through the polybush that crushes the polybush tight into the axle. This was tapped in using a hammer.

I suppose it all boils down to what you buy and where you buy it from really as with everything you buy these days. Sometimes the saying right you get what you pay for.

But what dave have said is right its what set up you want as everyone is different.

Yeah I ended up pressing mine in, 10ton..

As you say all items are different, and tolerances in the beam could even be different.

My experience was a ball ache, which ended up removing the whole rear beam.

They were cheap and maybe this was the sacrifice I made.

Certainly don't let me put you off, poly bushes are great at what they do, just sometimes too good.
Title: Re: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: Wazzzer on 06 June 2012, 17:16
we gotta try and get the buggers out yet  :lipsrsealed:
Title: Re: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: Dave_IOW on 06 June 2012, 17:25
we gotta try and get the buggers out yet  :lipsrsealed:

The first challenge is actually making it out to WRHQ  :rolleyes:
Title: Re: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: Nino on 06 June 2012, 18:24
hmmm well i see what your saying now, if i go for polly i'll get a stiffer ride but they last longer. if i go for VW ones the ride will be nicer but they wont last as long as pollys so.... to be honest id rather the nicer ride if im honest  :cool:
Title: Re: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: Dave_IOW on 06 June 2012, 18:31
hmmm well i see what your saying now, if i go for polly i'll get a stiffer ride but they last longer. if i go for VW ones the ride will be nicer but they wont last as long as pollys so.... to be honest id rather the nicer ride if im honest  :cool:

How many miles has your car done now til they needed doing? Do you see yourself owning the car for that same amount of miles again?
Title: Re: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: Nino on 07 June 2012, 09:19
hmmm well i see what your saying now, if i go for polly i'll get a stiffer ride but they last longer. if i go for VW ones the ride will be nicer but they wont last as long as pollys so.... to be honest id rather the nicer ride if im honest  :cool:

How many miles has your car done now til they needed doing? Do you see yourself owning the car for that same amount of miles again?

its on 117k and i doubt i'll have this car more than 3-5 years and i only doing about 2-3k per year
Title: Re: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: jamie1989 on 07 June 2012, 09:43
Maybe its worth doing it cheap then but im sure youl need a press to put a standard bush back in.
The link above is the wrong link for the bush we bought my apoligies.
The below link is what we used and descripes exactly how we managed to push in the new polybush so easily without any special tools  :cool:

http://www.psituning.com/product.php/19258/polybush_pack_rear_beam__axle_to_chassis_bush___golf_mk4__bora_2wd_etc
Title: Re: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: harlemex on 07 June 2012, 15:41
polybushes are an awful ride. I would stick with standard.
Title: Re: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: Dave_IOW on 07 June 2012, 16:51
polybushes are an awful ride. I would stick with standard.

I wouldn't say awful, just stiffer, fit for purpose on the track I imagine, but more than likely too hard for daily driving on the road..
Title: Re: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: Wazzzer on 07 June 2012, 17:31
I made my tool, was easy enough  :wink:
Title: Re: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: Dave_IOW on 07 June 2012, 17:33
I made my tool, was easy enough  :wink:

Are you gracing us with your presence tonight??  :wink:
Title: Re: Rear Axle bushes shot!
Post by: Wazzzer on 07 June 2012, 17:36
nah Emily had her MRI today so she won't let me out of her sight lol

I've spent your money BTW  :grin: