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Well.... I thought my console bushes were getting sloppy again (they've lasted 3 months this time! )
Went to take my tt comps off and put my winter wheels on, the bushes have worn so badly and given so much play on the wheel, that the inside edge of the tyres have scrubbed off, almost down to the cords. So... that's my toyo proxes f****d with 5k on them.
Ah well.... Cupra bushes this time... wonder how long these will last.
The O/S/F tyre on my Mothers 9N seems to have been suffering from more wear on the outside edge. And it has me puzzled - because the tracking is spot on, the tyres have been rotated, re-balanced etc. and I have been wondering why this may be so. This thread has got me thinking...
About 6 months ago the bushings on the N/S were changed by VW due to a knocking noise we had. And it never occurred to me that perhaps I should have asked them to change the bushings in pairs. I now think that maybe the O/S suspension bushing is failing/about to fail and this is causing the tyre wear...
tbh, the coilovers etc. don't help my situation, but still, under 5k and the bush has failed completely and f****d both of my tyres.... taking the p***. Got half a mind to throw my f****d bushes at the cars on their forecourt.
ihpj wrote:This is interesting...
The O/S/F tyre on my Mothers 9N seems to have been suffering from more wear on the outside edge. And it has me puzzled - because the tracking is spot on, the tyres have been rotated, re-balanced etc. and I have been wondering why this may be so. This thread has got me thinking...
About 6 months ago the bushings on the N/S were changed by VW due to a knocking noise we had. And it never occurred to me that perhaps I should have asked them to change the bushings in pairs. I now think that maybe the O/S suspension bushing is failing/about to fail and this is causing the tyre wear...
So off to check the bushes tomorrow
You could be right there - what did you find? Check my reply to the "knocking" posting to see if that points to bush failure. Personaly, I'd just get an indep VAG specialist that knows all about these cars to replace the TCA rear bushes again on both sides with the Ibiza Cupra equivalents (6LL starting part number - get a pair from Seat garage). After this work has been done the car will need a full four wheel re-alignment - reasonably expensive but worth while. I got the Cupra bushes fitted to my wife's 52 Polo and would expect them to last for a long long time!
panda wrote:tbh, the coilovers etc. don't help my situation, but still, under 5k and the bush has failed completely and ****** both of my tyres.... taking the p***. Got half a mind to throw my ****** bushes at the cars on their forecourt.
I'd hope the Cupra bushes would last a long long time - and maybe if the car gets a full four wheel re-alignment while it is in its present configuation (coil overs etc) after the bushes have been changed, you might just get a few more miles out of the tyres - this platform is notorious for causing high inside edge wear on the front tyres - especially if you fit wider wheels and tyres.
tbh mate, I had the bushes changed, then full alignment done, with the 17's on the car. I checked it myself, it was spot on.
The bushes wearing has caused the premature tyre wear.
RUM4MO wrote:
You could be right there - what did you find? Check my reply to the "knocking" posting to see if that points to bush failure. Personaly, I'd just get an indep VAG specialist that knows all about these cars to replace the TCA rear bushes again on both sides with the Ibiza Cupra equivalents (6LL starting part number - get a pair from Seat garage). After this work has been done the car will need a full four wheel re-alignment - reasonably expensive but worth while. I got the Cupra bushes fitted to my wife's 52 Polo and would expect them to last for a long long time!
Sorry, should have posted back much before...
I jacked up the O/S/F and had a fiddle and look. Nothing really to suggest bushes were wearing; but I am know mechanic.
The car is under VW Warranty so is going back to them tomorrow to see what they can find. I spoke to them at length about the fact they replaced the bushes on the N/S/F not so long ago etc. and the premature tyre wear on the side they didn't change - I know they will come back with that there is nothing wrong - so we'll see then. I hope they will change the bushings without a fight
RUM4MO wrote:
You could be right there - what did you find? Check my reply to the "knocking" posting to see if that points to bush failure. Personaly, I'd just get an indep VAG specialist that knows all about these cars to replace the TCA rear bushes again on both sides with the Ibiza Cupra equivalents (6LL starting part number - get a pair from Seat garage). After this work has been done the car will need a full four wheel re-alignment - reasonably expensive but worth while. I got the Cupra bushes fitted to my wife's 52 Polo and would expect them to last for a long long time!
Sorry, should have posted back much before...
I jacked up the O/S/F and had a fiddle and look. Nothing really to suggest bushes were wearing; but I am know mechanic.
The car is under VW Warranty so is going back to them tomorrow to see what they can find. I spoke to them at length about the fact they replaced the bushes on the N/S/F not so long ago etc. and the premature tyre wear on the side they didn't change - I know they will come back with that there is nothing wrong - so we'll see then. I hope they will change the bushings without a fight
Maybe as you are M-K based, have a look at www.unit18.co.uk and so for your own convenience (time is money) just get Cupra bushes fitted there and then get your VW dealer to carry out a four wheel re-alignment - you could badger them with that idea as they will want you to "just go away" and become satisfied. In other words, wheel alignment seems to be a bit of a problem either before the first bush was changed or because the first bush was changed and the four wheel re-alignment was cack, or because now the other bush has failed. Maybe think up a way of putting these facts/ideas into their head and then suggest to them that you go away and get the Cupra bushes fitted and then do a full four wheel re-alignment FOC under warranty - maybe worth a try? Maybe also make sure they understand that your mother will never have kerbed the car in the first place - if they try to use that as the source of all your alignment problems (she's got ther advanced driver's thing etc - well its your/her bluff versus their bluff - isn't it!). BTW, the guy at "unit18" knows a lot about the problems these cars end up with - and probably holds the UK record for the number of sets of Cupra bushes retro fitted into Fabias,Ibizas and Polos! Plus, if there are any other suspension problems that can be sorted under warranty I'm sure that he will let you know about them and that you can talk to the VW dealer with a bit more authority if need be!! Getting these bushes replaced "like for like" will usually only reduce the problem for a year or so - then the warranty is out and VAG make a killing keeping the car going - so remember that bit as well when talking to VW.
I am reluctant to spend £200? on buying and having Cupra bushes fitted when we have the VW Warranty. When it falls due for renewal, we'll renew it...just seems a double expense and not one that I want to make [yet].
Your advice is sound and I very much appreciate you sharing your experience. While we have the VW Warranty, I will keep taking it back to VW - I am 'well known' @ Gayside VW as I have a very low tolerance for their kind of stupid. They will do as I ask of them first time round, or they will not only hear my bark but feel my bite (again!).
I don't trust those idiots to do even a basic oil change let alone a more technical four wheel alignment - the first 'fight' is for them to renew the bushes - then once I can get that, crush them into submission for a x4 wheel alignment under warranty.
What I really want to know is should't they have changed bushings in pairs when they only changed one side? To my mind, thats what they should have done - but on that occasion I wasn't in the UK and I think my Mother just got fobbed off
I've just bought the cupra bushes as my standard ones where whacked completely. The trip to Ireland didn't help. The drivers side centre had ripped out completely.
Anyway the cupra ones are only about £8 a piece so pretty reasonable.
Would say if you can have these fitted by VW I'd go for it as they're much better built and shouldn't cause a problem in the future.
I'm doing it myself and gees its a pig of a job. Already changed the arb and fitted powerflex bushes on that as well. Wishbone is getting powerflex bushes at the front too. Am hoping this will cure all my problems.
ihpj wrote:I am reluctant to spend £200? on buying and having Cupra bushes fitted when we have the VW Warranty. When it falls due for renewal, we'll renew it...just seems a double expense and not one that I want to make [yet].
What I really want to know is should't they have changed bushings in pairs when they only changed one side? To my mind, thats what they should have done - but on that occasion I wasn't in the UK and I think my Mother just got fobbed off
I don't think that you will ever get what really needs to be done to "your property" to fix it, carried out while restricted to keeping within the warranty terms, its just the way things are (no free lunch!). I hate being held back by warranties as they tend to cover things that normally don't go wrong. Your dealer was quite right in only changing the torn bush - even although in the real world a mechanic working on his own car would always change both (as it makes sense) - sometimes warranties just don't make sense - but they help garages to sell secondhand cars! Personally, as I tend to fix my cars, I try to avoid warranties, citing the usual "a car only last X miles or Y years or Z repair visits to the garage" - the Ford dealers used to hate me for that - and sorry but I usually proved them wrong. Maybe that is why I tended to buy new parts and replace them instead of - taking the car to garage, getting car back, raging about damage caused to other areas of the car - repeat - repeat! I'm lucky because I saved an absolute wedge of cash by buying my cars in Holland - (that scam is no longer valid though) and keeping them for about 10 years (VW dealers are not allowed to accept them as trade ins as they are IMPORTED and MADE FROM DIFFERENT BITS - I don't think either of these statements are correct. I've never seen any VW car factories in UK and I've never seen much in the way of UK content in normal VW UK supplied cars, come to think of it.
smithysmoo wrote: Anyway the cupra ones are only about £8 a piece so pretty reasonable.
Would say if you can have these fitted by VW I'd go for it as they're much better built and shouldn't cause a problem in the future.
I'd hope that there would be no chance of VW fitting "Seat only" parts to a VW - that would be the start of them admitting that the designer had got it wrong - and that would open the flood gates to lots and lots of outside warrant claims and maybe court orders. That would bring their operating profits down to the levels of GM!
Don't get me wrong - I [used to] love crawling around my cars; but I think I have now reached the age where my time is more valuable than any money I could save by doing this sort of work
Interim oil/filter changes (thanks to my Pela 6000) and pads/discs are the sort of work I will still do...but I happily pay extra for a manufacturer backed extended warranty and find it much easier to make my problem, their problem. Warranties for me offer fixed price repairs; thus if it breaks, I toss them the keys and tell them to fix it.
I wonder if they'll find the 'knocking' on the O/S/F that the car is booked in with them for and replace the opposite bushing
ihpj wrote:Don't get me wrong - I [used to] love crawling around my cars; but I think I have now reached the age where my time is more valuable than any money I could save by doing this sort of work
Interim oil/filter changes (thanks to my Pela 6000) and pads/discs are the sort of work I will still do...but I happily pay extra for a manufacturer backed extended warranty and find it much easier to make my problem, their problem. Warranties for me offer fixed price repairs; thus if it breaks, I toss them the keys and tell them to fix it.
I wonder if they'll find the 'knocking' on the O/S/F that the car is booked in with them for and replace the opposite bushing
I understand what you are saying, but I'm afraid in this sort of problem where the manufacturer is in denial that there is a generic platform problem, you are just wasting your, and/or your mother's time by letting VW apply their remedy while abiding within, or hiding within the terms of the watered down extended warranty. It just ends up with both sides playing a game where you will never be the winner, only your dealer makes money out of this by selling the warranty and getting paid by VW's underwritter for doing the work. Good luck though, but it will probably put your mother off buying any more VWs.
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