dirk1978

Thanks. Just assumed they wouldn't be available. Now to work out which is left or right.

Any condition. To be refurbed anyway.

Still need this

My 2007 early mk2 Octavia VRS had them and the aircon guy who replaced the whole system when it failed described how they worked to me because they were fairly new.

Brilliant. Top tip on the Vogtland. Thanks.

What does everyone think of the drop?

So the GTI has a variable displacement compressor? I thought they were quite a recent thing.

Got the fronts on and tried to get the car to a height I like. I always wanted a slight drop to make it look a bit more in keeping with what other cars look like these days. The height of the standard GTI can look silly sometimes. There's a huge amount of adjustment in the camber so until I can get it aligned I've just pulled the top out to the end. That's where it was on the OE struts anyway. The clips for the ABS cable wouldn't go into the lugs on the new struts so I cable tied one of the bungs to a lug. This was with the rear on the (I think) highest setting and the front just guessed at. I've since taken about 5mm off the rear. I'll have to see how it settles. It feels utterly amazing compared to before though. It's at least as comfortable as the original springs and has no harshness at all. I can glide over my local speed bump at the same speed as before and it feels like a modern car. Don't know if the Vogtland are really good or if the originals were really bad.

What's the cheapest/best/easiest method these days? Nothing's broken it's just not cold and after 18 years I reckon it just needs charging. Are the Halfords kits any good? Easy to do on a GTI?

Today: I used my impact driver to get the top nut off but it wouldn't reach far enough down to get the nut off which holds the strut mount bush on the top. So I ordered 2 tools for same day Amazon delivery: good adjustable spanner for the 21mm top of a plug socket and a 7mm Allen key to brace the strut middle. I couldn't get enough on the allen key because it had to go in lengthways so I was stuck again. Then I realised my impact driver could fit on top of the plug socket and both top nuts were off in seconds. The idiots at Mapco only sent 1 top mount so I've ordered 2 from ecp for delivery tomorrow. Looking at the springs, the contact point with the spring hat was very corroded. Definitely needed changing. The bushes were best changed too.

Separate project I've got some spares which I'm stripping down to get painted properly and then will swap over. I need to source the fronts to do the same with those.

Started fitting the coilies today. The rear suspension was ridiculously easy. The rear beam is very pliable. I can see why a rear ARB would help. I just whipped the rear wheels off, undid the top strut mounts in the boot and allowed the whole subframe to drop a lot but kept it from hitting the ground by using the jack. I put the new springs in with the bottom adjustor set to what I would expect to be the highest position. The fronts would have been easy but the lack of a 7mm allen key and 21mm socket I can get a spanner around scuppered me. I got the struts out using the impact driver but it's no good to get the top bush off too. I'm also waiting for the top bushes to arrive which should have been last week. The rear is already looking better though.

Wheels refurbed and new centre cap badges on. Coilies on at the weekend assuming the weather is OK.

And now I'm even more confused. Apparently there's a bearing too? These are the new struts. Can anyone tell me exactly what I'll need to get so I don't have to disassemble the old struts? Bush, bearing and nut? Or just get the bush and use the old bearing and nut?

Can anyone advise where I can get some new top mount bushes? I can't find any on ECP or anywhere else.