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Folders: |
Control arms
Late in July 2008, I hit a curb hard with the drivers side front tire
while trying to merge onto a freeway onramp with the sun in my
eyes. (Maybe it's time for a new windshield, too?) The car was
driveable, but upon inspection it turned out that the rear lower
control arm was bent, the aluminum bracket that holds the engine mount
and the sway bar cracked, and the tie-rod end loose. Could have been
worse, and it didn't seem to hard to do myself. Then, when replacing
the tie-rod ends, I discovered that the rubber boots for all 4 upper
control arms were also gone, and the ball joints full of dirt. That
made it into a complete suspension overhaul.
Thinking that 5/8 is almost 1, I decided to replace all CAs. I needed
a new wheel and pretty much 4 new tires anyway, so I took the
opportunity to get a set of 17" wheels and tires. And since I was
going to have the front suspension all apart, it seemed like a good
time to replace the shocks and get slightly stiffer springs, too. The
only thing left on the front is pretty much the brakes (I was tempted
to replace them, too, but the price tag was now near $2k so that
"curbed" my enthusiasm. ;-)
The equipment was ordered from ECSTuning.com, 1stvwparts.com,
tirerack.com, Lakeshore Wheel & Tire, and PureMS.com. The local VW
dealer contributed a few bolts. All of these companies shipped
promptly, had good prices and were great to deal with. A special
thanks to 1stvwparts.com who fixed incorrect parts and
sent expressed them out at no charge.
I'm quite happy with the look and feel of the car now, the suspension
is firmer but not too much, and the new tires have much better grip
than the old BFGoodrich Traction T/A's. Now I just have to watch those
curbs...
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