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Clapped out suspension and brakes on Arosa Tdi


tigcraft
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Opinions needed. My recent Arosa purchase needs new life. Ive shocks with no oil, springs covered in heavy rust, it wallows rattles and bangs on corners and is generally 'road noisy' and harsh.  Question is it worth buying one of those cheap adjustable suspension coil over combination packages or go for generic seperate items?  I'm not bothered about it being lower as the roads here are shite but Id like a stronger anti roll bar as the last Lupo Tdi I had rolled on bends when new at the time.

Ive also got new wishbones ordered as those are rusty and bushes  perished too. 

Brakes will just get a goood refurb for now so Im not too bothered 

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Yes. I’m curious to what diameter they are as I think tdis are 19mm

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1 hour ago, LR5V said:

 

Already answered! - That is Rich for: "Do you need a Gti anti-roll bar?"

Yep! Btw Just also spotted One on eBay. States it’s 28mm where @skajme says it’s 22mm. That’s confusing.  My std one measures in at 19mm bang on. What’s yours? 

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The 6N Polo GTi has the same front arb, but it's the lack of rear bar that's the problem. You don't need to source a GTi rear beam. You could weld a 25mm tube into your beam or find a whitelines.

I have Bilstein B6's all round and Fabia VRS lowered rear springs. The back end sits at the standard height. Haven't found suitable uprated front springs yet. There's loads of clearance to the sump. I grew up road rallying so like my cars to tolerant of crap roads.

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27 minutes ago, yeha said:

The 6N Polo GTi has the same front arb, but it's the lack of rear bar that's the problem. You don't need to source a GTi rear beam. You could weld a 25mm tube into your beam or find a whitelines.

I have Bilstein B6's all round and Fabia VRS lowered rear springs. The back end sits at the standard height. Haven't found suitable uprated front springs yet. There's loads of clearance to the sump. I grew up road rallying so like my cars to tolerant of crap roads.

Interesting, I like the’ weld in bit’ got any pics? Sound a good fast and cheap efficient mod. What’s the whitelines about? 

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  • 2 weeks later...

So as bits are so cheap for std stuff I’ve pushed the boat out and virtually bought.... EVERY THING! 
 

Just on a rip out today. Even dropped the subframe,

I'm replacing.......

wishbones, 

cv joints, 

front struts, 

rear struts, 

rear bump stops, 

arb, in exchange for gti version 

front discs and pads, 

front wheel bearings,

The rest is getting soda blasted, etched primed, 2k satin black and zinc  plated for which I’m new to.

 

6A0C7D95-DFB1-4B19-AC03-7D23AE853FAB.jpeg

D6E005FA-8D17-4665-9CB1-C2FB6C5C1E75.jpeg

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Bolts already in acid pickle to get the OEM look....

 

more pics soon...

1C11D8DC-C17E-4949-B781-4647739F2FA9.jpeg

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I have done all the above over the last year or so not really because they needed doing as such but just because the prices are really cheap to replace them, infact pretty much all the underside is less than 2 years old. 

Tie rods and arms was Vaico (£15 each) 

Front and Rear Springs - Mapco (£20 / £20) 

Rear Bump Stops and dust covers - Monroe (£12) 

Rear exhuast - Vegaz (£27) and Vaico holders front and rear (£9 total) 

Control Arms (wishbones) £48 for the pair, from a company on eBay i think called PowerX Customs or something. 

arb drop links was also from PowerX Customs £10 for the pair

Front and Rear Shocks was i think £50 and £32 by Continental Direct 

Rear Drums and Front Discs and Pads was ECP specials around £50 with one of their discount codes.

 

Keep the pictures coming love to see peoples progress. (Also drivers side control arm bolts a sod, had to undo the engine mount bolt and use a block of wood under the sump and jack it up a touch to get the bolt in and out) 

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Back home to the ‘Repair Shop’ECBAD943-1620-4B83-8F1B-3A52C6BFE538.thumb.jpeg.7b8e4187e4ac5b07f39b45a99154842c.jpeg

So all back home again inc a strange ‘little cylinder barrel’ obviously not for ’Rossa’...

These will all be 2k black satin after I’ve de-pitted and made good except for the calliper which will go zinc. 

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‘One step closer’ not really, more like three! 27744372-6C32-4E83-AB1E-2985340FBD85.thumb.jpeg.c1c09f21e92ad3925d5655f93bb5651d.jpeg Prepping for a bit of paint...6904C446-F407-4ECE-8EF8-77F09AAB70B7.thumb.jpeg.901e6d3892a46981ea567f966bb9f6bc.jpeg

My DIY zinc plating is getting better 

443FBAB3-928F-4797-91D1-F3C566EA1416.thumb.jpeg.8ff22ba8b41b267474848051b26ea3ec.jpeg

Hub well on its way........

53F69AAD-0001-4972-AADA-19A84AB8D3F9.thumb.jpeg.cbc3cbe1f384493666552ddfa365fe92.jpeg

The alternative spring compressor!

71D6074D-18AD-4210-9FE5-8CA7EAA4B58B.thumb.jpeg.12ebf7488bf608d4c6975fffa022fa07.jpeg

And today is FITTING DAY! 
 

Most things worked out although there’s still a few things to fit but I’ve got to get the car off the drive no matter what as we’ve got Yorkshire Water to do a manhole cover repair without the car over it!! 

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  • 3 weeks later...

The fun continues.....

Slotted every thing together and wondered why the tracking was so way out as I didn’t meddle with it....

The steering wheel was well out too and I’ve been scratching my head trying to work things out. Wishbones are brand new and complete with ball joints and arb drop links.....  

Anyway on to a different matter, i set things up as temp for the time being just so I could get it to a laser track. I ran it for about 15 miles and it was all over the place.    I started to hear a sound on the nsf when braking that got worse.   The car since then has been left parked up on the opposite side of my house and I was studying it today. I thought the front wheel just doesn’t look central in the arch.  I jacked it up dropped the nsf wheel and noticed the drive shaft balance weight has been rubbing on the subframe on braking.
 

 It wasn’t until then that I realised the wishbones are wrong and it dawned on me that  the arosa has  a longer wheel base therefore longer wishbones?! WTF? Why are they not the same? 

Edited by tigcraft
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Lesson learned on the wishbones mate, was they listed for a rosa? One thing we messed up on was we installed the new wishbones and lower pin with the 3 bolts was not doing up the bolts. I said to my mate as we was doing it make sure them 3 bolts are tight, thought nohting of it drove to get the tracking done (as also did track rod and trackrod ends) and they did it twice came back to check and every time it was off again he then called me over explained something isnt right and just as he started showing me on the ramp he noticed what it was, 5 minutes later, 6 tightened bolts and 1 more time tracking it was sorted, was a sound lad also and didnt charge me for the messing about which was good of him. Simple mistake to make suppose moral of the story is always double check everything!

 

Also i notice some nice shiny new brake shields, im going to do a full brake replacement soon (this time also changing all the brake fluid) just because ECP has a 45% sale on brakes and pads, so bought new sets for the front and want to replace the shields also seen them for £26 delivered eBay (without bolts) any cheaper from where you got them from? 

Edited by ArosaScott
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That’s what I paid for my shields. It’s a lot of money for something very minimalist but I’ve seen so many corners cut underneath as it’s ‘not seen’ on cars I was determined to fit the lot. I’ve to sort the brake flexis out as yet so that’s still to do.
Re-wishbone bottom ball joint bolts, yes mine were not tight nor were they right way round either. When I corrected all that the bolts were like cheese so I had to replace them with 8.8 grade (possibly could have got harder grade). I still can’t fathom out why they’re not right although listed for ‘lupo’ and @MK2 recons they are all same

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Yeah im the same i always like to make sure its 'all done right' and if im there anyway it makes sense to do the lot. 

Yeah thats really weird maybe another of the regs on here will come along with some useful info on them. Hope you got / getting the issue resolved.

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  • 2 months later...

Managed to get the 8mm longer wishbones and fitted them which did the trick to stop the grinding noises but my camber still isn’t right. Went to see @Y2ACP his car and put a large set square against his wheels at the front and his camber was averaging 12mm in (aprox) at the top of the wheel into the wheel arch but mine is at 28mm with as much force as I could get to pull the wheel out. Summat is still amiss but it’s getting better. 
 On another note I’ve still to do the rear axle bushes which will stop some of the suspension noises. After all the messing around I’m still enjoying the challenge! 

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