What have you done to your MK 7 today ?

[KieranMc]

Got into car couple weeks back and heard spring go (front passenger)! Done only thing that made sense Bilstein B14 kit! 

Couple of questions unrelated could do with some advice on, brake disc shields am I right in thinking front easy to swap new ones and rear a bit more involved and if so what’s the process! Also aware I have quite a bit of surface rust building up on suspension components any advice on dealing with?

Cheers

[joe6]

Brake discs shields seem prone to early rusting. Front shields can be replaced by removing the discs to get to retaining fixings but rears require hub removal so is more involved. Rears tend to rust most. With suspension rust it depends how much time you are prepared to spend. My 7.5 was only a year old when I got it so what little rust was dealt with by sanding, rust eater to remove all remaining rust and then 3 spray coats of black gloss hamerite as per instructions on the can. Followed this with a coating of dynax uc. 6 years later and still working on most suspension parts. I did buy additional plastic covers for the rear suspension arms. There is a posting from Dave on this mk 7 index about retrofitting these and other bits that is useful.

[Wayne.R]

Well, I had a busy weekend planned, for work on the car, and boy I got what i asked for....

I had brake fluid to do, new wipers to fit, new Gates Oil Pressure Regulation Valve to fit, due to an engine fault on VCDS, new sump gasket, with oil change, and finally drive belt tensioner and belt to swap out.

All was going well. Began with the drive belt and tensioner. Old one off....nice.....new one on, began to torque the bolts, and **Boom** snap.....



Cue...Bad day looming....Now, i've got decent mechanical ability, for the home mechanic, but this was above my ability..

I began freaking out, of how to tackle it, on a Sunday afternoon, and had to bite the bullet, and call out a mobile mechanic.

Within 45 minutes, and with zero damage to the block or the threads, it was out, and without using any EZ Outs...

I was told, that the bolts are Torque-to-Yeild....meaning 1 time use, being aluminium...Of which i didn't realise.

So, off to VW and 2 new ones purchased. All bolted up and good to go.

Aside from that, the rest of the jobs went well.

Sump took some cleaning up, from the oil leak, but having had some poor metal pans, with studs snapping, i opted to keep with the tried and tested OE plastic one.