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Strange, Sudden Handling Issue


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You're not the first person to have powerflex go on you.

Well i will never buy em again!

Big order placed on the stealership, my god the parts are expensive to this little car. :ouch:

Edited by malte
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Well i will never buy em again!

Big order placed on the stealership, my god the parts are expensive to this little car. :ouch:

I'd have ECP'd it, personally.

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I'd have ECP'd it, personally.

What does ECP stand for?

I use this site http://www.partscats.infoto get part numbers, and then look around for a good deal.

But as we know some parts are GTI specific, and to avoid the risk of buying twice i got those via the stealers! :yes:

Some price examples from the dealer just for fun; wishbone 90gbp/each, balljoint 105gbp/each, arb link 30gbp/each.

Top it of with some new bolts and a new alignment and we have a nice big dent in the wallet!

Edited by malte
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WWW.VWPARTS.CO.UK

Used them for brake clippers and carriers. Thumbs up from me.

Also, it's always worth chucking a search on Amazon. It's amazing what you find.

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WWW.VWPARTS.CO.UK

Used them for brake clippers and carriers. Thumbs up from me.

Also, it's always worth chucking a search on Amazon. It's amazing what you find.

That url doesn't seem to work!

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now, bearing in mind i am a total Lupo noob and i probably have this wrong but is your bush or arm upside down?

Powerflex fitting instructions: http://www.powerflex.co.uk/i/product_images/5-85-402fi.pdf

Small diameter thru the raised section is on top according to that guide. Your raised section is on the bottom so i assume the smaller diameter is on the bottom too which would be why it is popping off.

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now, bearing in mind i am a total Lupo noob and i probably have this wrong but is your bush or arm upside down?

Powerflex fitting instructions: http://www.powerflex.co.uk/i/product_images/5-85-402fi.pdf

Small diameter thru the raised section is on top according to that guide. Your raised section is on the bottom so i assume the smaller diameter is on the bottom too which would be why it is popping off.

Thank you for the investigation. :)

I think you are right. So one garage mounted it wrong and another missed this while aligning! :rant:

I will try to mount it the right way! I'll report back in a couple of days.

Edited by malte
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OK, some places sell the arms as handed if they have ball joints on (obviously), if it is a bare arm they sell them as left or right, meaning the are either way up.

Pic in guide above shows right hand arm, your right hand arm looks the same. But your left hand arm may also be correct IF the arms are not handed.

But i bet that bush would last a lot longer the other way up!

Sooo, it may be correct after all sorry. You need a pic of a left hand arm and bush to be sure.

Edited by Sausage
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The arms arent handed, so your left hand arm is correct and so is the bush. So ignore my blatherings i was wrong sorry.

I'd be inclined strip that arm and bush and clean up the hole with flap wheel or something and then if the bush looks ok refit it exactly the same way it is now with high temp silicon to bond it in the hole, that stuff is slippery when soft and sets like rubber in about an hour. It might be enough to stop it popping off.

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Im not sure you are wrong?

It's strange. The left arm seems to be upside down (right arm mounted on the wrong side?). But there is only one partnr for wishbone, so can't really be upside down. Not sure what to make of this...

Photo of my right side

lupo3.jpg

Today or tomorrow i will get new wishbones that i ordered, will be interesting to se how they look.

Can someone who reads this snap photos of left and right side? Doesn't have to be a GTI or even polybushes.

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Standard bushes are steel jacketed straight sides so the arms being either way up doesnt affect them.

The poly bushes use a small diameter on one end for insertion into the hole on the rounded side and out the raised lip. On the left that will be pointing down like yours is.

I think this is a design flaw and doesnt take into account that the bush will now be effectively upside down and taking different loads than the one on the right hand side that will be correct way up. That's my opinion, i've never used poly bushes and real life results may make that opinion worth diddly squat.

I'd be interested to know how many left hand (upside down) bushes fail compared to right hand side one though.... but factoring in that left hand suspension usually has a harder life than right due to drains and pot holes and kerbs etc might be tricky.

Edited by Sausage
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Interesting stuff being posted here and it's nice to learn some stuff about the car. Also, kinda nice to see other people having similar problems (well, you know what I mean).

With regard to my car I've had a few people drive it now who've not found anything wrong with it and today I went to a very good place that deals with handling and suspension (wheels in motion - top place) and the tech there took it for a spin and gave it a cursory look underneath and said it felt good and that nothing was visibly wrong!

It does feel better than it did so my conclusion is:

The bushes going caused the main issue which was then repaired. Having new control arms fitted along with the bushes and ball joints obviously sorted the handling but changed it as well so I had to get used to that too.

I dunno, eitherway the car still feels a bit odd but, as someone else said maybe that's just the way it's meant to handle and it had been wrong or going out before.

Cheers for all your help all the same guys!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Finally had the time to take a look at this today.

This bushing doesn't look to healthy. It was mounted the right way.

Will report back how the car handles in a few days.

IMG_0087.jpg

My old wishbones was oem, so nothing funky with that.

IMG_0088.jpg

Replaced wishbones and a few other parts with oem parts.

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The car handles great now, my issue with tram lining is gone.

It has been said before on this forum; Don't bother with powerflex bushes on the Lupo, it's a waste of time and money.

don't bother with them in general if you ask me. Not all they're cracked up to be.
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  • 4 months later...

Glad I found other people with this problem. It suddenly happened to me too.

I had the clutch changed and it's been since then. I'll be steering round a corner with the steering as tight as expected, or tighter like it's tramlining a bit, and then suddenly it'll go very loose as if I've lost the front end. Every time it happens it scares me because I think I've hit a patch of oil or something, but if I steer more I haven't lost it, it carries on around the corner.

The tyres are crap anyway so I'll be changing them but as it suddenly came on I don't reckon it'll be from that. I'll have a look at the bushes at the weekend if that's what others turned out to be.

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