A word of warning

[nofeeling]

Well its MOT time again and a quick pre check revealed a few things , o/s track rod end ,but changed both as they were cheap enough ,and the o/s rear w/bone bush .
Now considering trhat the whole console was replaced last MOT and the cars done less then 10k miles I was amazed at the state of the rear bush ,an elastic band had more strength !!!!
The console complete with fitted bush came from ECP .
If anyone buys from ECP ,buy the uprated bush too and fit before fitting the console .
For the mileage its done and the cost (£60 ish) I`m very disappointed .Might even complain next time I`m in there .

[RUM4MO]

Yes, I could believe that, when my wife had a 9N Polo 1.4 75PS from new in late 2002, I got a VAG indie to fit Seat Ibiza Cupra rear bushes when that car was only about 5 years old, that transformed the feel of the car and when it was sold in August with 104K miles on it, they seemed to still be as good as new!

Some ECP stuff is good but I've never been tempted by buying the complete consoles, was it Lemforder?

[alexperkins]

If it was lemforder I would be surprised as generally speaking the quality of those is as good as oem

[nofeeling]

Q drive is the make of the console . If its anything like Project Drive that Rover brought in then its no wonder it didn,t last .
Do the poly bushes affect the ride quality very much ?

I was surprised how easy it was to change the bush without removing the console .When the bushes were changed just after I got the car I removed the consoles and used a vice .
This time ,I got a mate to make some steel discs and made myself a cracking little tool with a bit of threaded bar .
The hardest part of the job was removing the large wishbone bolt ,took a while to say the least .

[RUM4MO]

Out of interest, which console bushes did you fit this time?

[nofeeling]

Lemforder was fitted . Just after purchase both bushes were replaced with the uprated Lemforders. The N/S bush is fine after 23k miles .

Nearly forgot .Changed front pads n discs a few months ago .Pagid parts were used .Just the weight of the discs alone was surprising .Will deffo use Pagid again .

[RUM4MO]

I don't know what to say about the Lemforder bushes failing though they need to be fitted in the correct orientation to work properly/live long.

I also tend to use Pagid brake bits, VW and Audi do tend to use TMD Friction (Textar/Pagid/Mintex) pads at the factory, it used to be Pagid for fronts and Textar for rear, now even Pagid sell the discs coated - though probably they just re-box them or get them supplied in their liveried packaging. ECP also sell refurbished (branded by Pagid?) callipers if or when the need arises - fitted one of them to rear of old 2000MY Passat 4Motion.

You might find that the inner track rods could be next to cause trouble at MOT time, they seem to run out of life at about 90K - well start getting commented on at MOT time, they are easy enough to replace, again from ECP using the better quality option of ??? which is a ZF company (forgotten the name)

[nofeeling]

The Lemforder bush did not fail .It was the Qdrive console bush that went ,it came fitted with a non uprated bush .The n/s bush ,a Lemforder uprated ,is still going strong 3 years on .
The o/s rack end was changed last year at 120k ish .The n/s was changed before I got the car .
Cam belt is next on the list .Which water pump to fit though , plastic or metal impellar ?
TPS can supply everything for less than £100 ,plastic impellar I think ,and its an exchange unit .

[alexperkins]

The TPS plastic impeller version is absolutely fine. Two year warranty on it anyway