Wishbone bushes need replacing

[cheba]

The existence of the gaps in the rubber portion of the bushing isn't a VW vs. Meyle thing, it is a difference between VW part 1J0 407 181 (standard bushing used on most models) and VW part 8N0 407 181B (mk4 R32/mk1 TT bushings). Both VW and Meyle supply both the version with gaps as well as the gapless version.

As the spare parts sold by Meyle and other suppliers are "OEM spec", they are supposed to be an exact replacement of the factory part and are supposed to fill the same function. So it is no surprise that parts from Meyle and similar suppliers look very similar to the factory VW parts, often with only minimal differences.

[RUM4MO]

The issue maybe with the small front bush, in normal use, if the rear bush is replaced when it needs to be, then I think that the front bush will still be intact, conversely if the rear bush escapes the attention of the MOT tester then the front bush will have ended up being abused a bit more. Also anyone doing this job not out of the need to replace a worn/damaged rear bush, but as a performance upgrade probably ends up getting the front bush replaced with something other than OEM, it always has been this way maybe driven by the fact that VW Group never have listed a replacement for that small front bush, normally, within the dealership circle, when they find a car with worn small front bushes, the official fix is to replace the wishbone assembly, just the way it is.

[veteran]

These days, the parts dept of my local VW dealership always demands the vehicle's basic description and VIN no. before they'll supply or especially order in any part of this kind, so looking ahead some years I think I might have some trouble in getting a set of 8N0 407 181B bushings from my VW dealer. With that future prospect in mind, I thought I'd google today for alternative, but hopefully trustworthy, suppliers of 8N0 407 181B. One that's turned up (or apparently so) is Febi Bilstein, selling via Amazon UK. See here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/febi-bilstein- ... 8N0407181B

I'd be interested in others' opinions, but due to the angle of the image on that webpage and there being no showing of the other hidden side of it there seems to be no way of telling whether this is the mk4/TT type bush, ie. no gaps whatever in the rubber (from one side of the bush to the other), or whether it's just the factory-fit replacement. However, scrolling down that page to the details of the item, it's stated that it's equivalent to 8N0 407 181B. Clearly, if buying an 8N0 407 181B mk4/TT-type bush from a third party, you need to be 100% certain you're actually getting the more-solid bush, rather than just a straight copy of the OEM one that has the gaps.

If you go to that Amazon page, you'll see that Febi have provided a link to a video at top-left, on the subject of these sorts of bushings. I'd urge members to view that video, as it contains some excellent information about the whys and wherefores of these and similar rubberised suspension parts. Indeed, it rather confirms what I suspected, that if you swap the rear wishbone bush for one with more-solid rubber infill you'll almost certainly harden the ride and also cause more roadnoise to be conducted upwards into the car's shell. Febi point out in the video that if you use replacements with a different rubber profile, you'll not only inherit these side-effects but you might also cause additional strain and wear on other suspension components.

Now, I myself cannot obviously refute this one way or another, but Febi usually know what they're talking about. After all, they sell many good-quality, VW-approved parts and have a good reputation to uphold. Thus, I'll just leave members here to draw their own conclusions after viewing the video.

[RUM4MO]

Any of these voided bushes are voided all the way through, so as the image on that link is showing a solid bush I'd take it as being solid.

The way of dealing with VW or any other marque's official parts outlets are in my mind:- Option 1 - get them decide the part number by only offering them your reg number or in some cases they might still require your VIN, so if there is any issues with wrong parts being supplied it will be their problem. Option 2 use motoring forums and/or other sources to find out the part number of the parts you are choosing to fit to your car and request that they sell you over the counter or order in that or these parts, if there are any issues with the supplied parts being unsuitable then it will be your fault and if you really don't want them they might accept them back but charge you a handling fee (been there done that due to a silly error on my part). What I would never ever do is to ask for parts by number then start rabbiting on about which car I was planning to fit them to as they might just try to stop me wasting my money.

On the subject or there being a probability that replacing a compliant part with a less compliant part will cause some extra transmitted noise and harshness - that is logical and most people that fit uprated parts accept that risk, as far as transferring more wear onto other areas, yes I agree a probability, but until there appears to be a trend of people finding this happening I'd still opt for fitting these TT bushes if or when I find that the original ones are getting destroyed quickly and frequently - as I've said before, this particular bush has been in use for many many years with what it seems is without any revisions being done to it, so on the face of it, it does look like it is good enough for this application unless damaged by potholes etc, but for me, time will tell and I might need to rethink that and use the TT bushes.

Edit:- I used to worry a bit about fitting the Cupra console bushes to ordinary cars like Polo SE, I seem to remember worrying if the pin end of the wishbone might get snapped off as it was being located into a solid Cupra bush instead of the floppy voided bush - but that never happened to me.