# Powerflex front upper control arm bushings - hard way and easy way



## cbh123 (Aug 25, 2013)

I was in touch with Powerflex and wondered if their existing parts for other VW/Audi upper control arms might fit the Phaeton. 
From what we could gather, they appeared to be the same size.
The Phaeton arm has a different part number but the bushings seem to be the same size. 

So I ordered a set and they fit perfectly. 
there are plenty of photos here, sorry for the size.... 

I have skipped the how to part of removing/reinstalling the upper arms, this is covered elsewhere. 

FIRST THE HARD WAY... (see pinch bolt from hell thread)
1 - old arms, new bushing ready
2 - failed bushing
3 - removing rubber (this is also harder than second side) 
4 - old bushing outer ring
5 - cutting outer ring
6 - removing outer ring
7 - setup to press bushing with bench vice 
8 - pressing in bushing 
9 - new bushing in place
10 - new bushing 
11 - both bushings 

after photos... next post... THE EASY WAY!!


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## cbh123 (Aug 25, 2013)

Part 2 - after the pinch bolt nightmare, I decided that removing it was totally unnecessary. 

This is the real beauty and a significant reason to go with POWERFLEX if you want to do this as a DIY thing. 

what I did was 
unbolt the inner end of the upper arms
unbolt the steering tie rod end - needed to allow rotation to remove the upper arm bolts
unbolt the bottom of the strut from the lower control arm
unbolt the 3 bolts that hold the upper strut mount (upper control arm mount too)
then the top of the strut falls down, (watch damaging shock control wire... I unplugged it to be safe) 
when the top of the strut is lowered, then it can be rotated to remove the upper control arm inner bolts

now the arms are flopping around on their ball joint ends, and can be rotated out to a position of easy access.

this is where the photos start. 
1 - Upper arms ready to work on the bushing - you can really see the deformed old rubber that was affecting my alignment 
2 - Drill a few holes to make oval opening
3 - insert hacksaw through the opening to cut outer ring of old bushing 
4 - first arm with old bushing removed 

NOW THE rigged up bushing pusher... just used some parts on the work bench... 

5 - set up to press in POWERFLEX bushing (if you are paying attention you will see I changed it for the next photos) trial and error 
6 - Bushing being pressed in
7 - Bushing installed - arm one done 
8 - everything back in place. 

the first side of the car (HARD WAY) took 2 days.. it was hell with the pinch bolt 
the second side of the car took 2 hours... really a pleasurable job. 

car rides perfectly, no noises, no rattles, I am VERY pleased 
For me in Canada, the arms are very expensive 200 dollars each locally .. (about 100US) by mail order. 
the POWERFLEX PFF33-203 kit is around 100 US for ALL 4 bushings. 
The cost savings and the tricks I learned make this a no brainer installation for anyone that wants to do this at home.


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## B1RMA (Nov 1, 2014)

Very useful thank you and noted for further projects.


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## Gabs08PHTN (Jan 6, 2011)

Hi Bruce,
Nice write up, I notice that you have all the "Chains saw masacre" bits an bobs... 



cbh123 said:


> unbolt the steering tie rod end


However, I am afraid that by doing that you have altered the "Toe in curve".
It is adjusted by driving in and out the conical joint, at the end of the tie rod, that ataches into the wheel bearing housing by means of the bolt that fastens onto it. See SSP The Phaeton chassis design and function.


Gabriel


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## cbh123 (Aug 25, 2013)

Gabs08PHTN said:


> Hi Bruce,
> Nice write up, I notice that you have all the "Chains saw masacre" bits an bobs...
> 
> 
> ...


Yes there is an "up/down" component of this tie rod adjustment. 
It is a very small adjustment - and with the marks of time, corrosion, dirt etc... I am pretty sure they are VERY close to same position.


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## PowerDubs (Jul 22, 2001)

No pics show up for part 2?

Amused that the engineer is using a drill, bench press and saw blades. No shop press? Or even a lowly arbor press?

I agree with Gabs- you must certainly have effected the affective curve as the response of the bushings will be quite different given the lack of flex, and no kidney holes. 

Not that it likely matters for most of us just driving around slowly. The NVH undoubtedly will have increased, but you may not hear it over the Magnaflow exhaust. 

Steering feel will have improved, tighter. Bumps, edges, potholes all will have an increased throughput. Be aware the lifespan of poly bushings is worse than rubber.


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## cbh123 (Aug 25, 2013)

PowerDubs said:


> No pics show up for part 2?
> 
> Amused that the engineer is using a drill, bench press and saw blades. No shop press? Or even a lowly arbor press?
> 
> ...


Classic negative response 

Under static load, the geometry should be just fine, they are not under much load in a straight line. 
The whole point of the post was to show how this can be done WITHOUT A PRESS - in place, on the car.... That is a huge benefit to DIY guys. Trust me, I looked all around to make sure the parts I used were DIY friendly. Saw blade was especially funny to use. 
There is no negative NVH at all. I think you would be surprised how hard the OEM rubber is on these bushings. Maybe JONathan from power flex can produce some data? 
Time will tell about life span, I will report for sure.


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## PowerDubs (Jul 22, 2001)

Not negative. Just talking through it. Remember, I wasn't able to see the part 2 pics last night.

I can now see the 2nd pictures. Kudos for creativity. Hole saw and what appears to be part of a flaring kit. 

Having not done this job myself yet, are ALL the bushings able to be reached while the ball joints are left alone?

For those looking to DIY this- you can buy tool kits with the parts needed to pull and push the bushings- for around $100 if you search.


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## der hauptmann (Jul 17, 2006)

Thanks for posting this. I wonder about not replacing the ball joints in the upper arms; but then again I love the under 2 hours idea. My trick in the past used for getting that bolt out involved lots and lots of heat, which I would be a bit unsure of so near the air suspension.

Great to see more phaeton DIY stuff coming out!


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## cbh123 (Aug 25, 2013)

PowerDubs said:


> I can now see the 2nd pictures. Kudos for creativity. Hole saw and what appears to be part of a flaring kit.
> 
> Having not done this job myself yet, are ALL the bushings able to be reached while the ball joints are left alone?


Both the upper arm inner bushings can be reached. In any case, until those outer end ball joints start to rattle, it should be easier to just undo the inner end for any suspension disassembly that needs them undone.

I suppose the very small adjustment of the tie rod end up/down should be more carefully considered. 
The chassis SSG tells us to "refer to the workshop/service manual" for adjustment procedure 

If anyone has that... I'd like to see it.


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## Gabs08PHTN (Jan 6, 2011)

Bruce,
These are the front axle alignment specs for NAR with standard suspension height, I mean 417mm from the wheel centre to the wheel arch.

..............Specification........... Tolerance
Toe 1): ........0º 20'................ +-0º 10'
Raised toe: ..0º 05'................ +-0º 02'
Left camber: .. -1º 08'............ +-0º 25'
Right camber:.. -1º 08'........... +-0º 25'
Cross camber:.. 0º 30'
1) All toe specs are "total toe" specs.

As you can see, the raised toe spec is very small, but of great importance, as it controls suspension geometry during braking, cornering and acceleration.

Gabriel

P.S. If you PM your email I will send you a full chart.


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## cbh123 (Aug 25, 2013)

Gabs08PHTN said:


> Bruce,
> These are the front axle alignment specs for NAR with standard suspension height, I mean 417mm from the wheel centre to the wheel arch.
> 
> ..............Specification...........  Tolerance
> ...


Specs are good - thanks.
We still need to know the order of what to adjust - tie rod length vs height - at normal and raised heights, each adjustment will affect the other. There must be a sequence to adjust


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## Gabs08PHTN (Jan 6, 2011)

Hi,
This is the information I have regarding wheel alignment and raised toe adjustment
















[/URL]

I also have the full alignment procedure, it is in PDF format but cannot find the way to post it here... 
Bear in mind that toe per wheel and camber have to be adjusted first, then the vehicle has to be lifted 60mm (at least the euro spec, perhaps NAR less than that) at the front, and subsequently the toe constant is adjusted.

Gabriel


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## robbie-rocket-pants (Mar 25, 2012)

Hi Bruce,
This is really useful - thanks.
I tried searching powerflex PFF33-203, but it did not return any results. Have you got a link please ? 
Cheers, Robbie
P.s. I can't see the photos.


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## cbh123 (Aug 25, 2013)

I guess that was a typo. not sure how it happened

PFF3-203 should work on the powerflex site. they fit a bunch of VAG cars. http://powerflexusa.com/volkswagenpassatb51996-2005frontupperarmtochassisBushing-pff3-203.aspx 

my webhosting was cancelled... not sure how to get the correct photos re-hosted without a ton of work..


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## cbh123 (Aug 25, 2013)

re hosted the images using google drive workaround. 
took almost an hour haha - on to more productive things


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## ravenflies (Oct 31, 2013)

Getting closer and closer to this work myself.
I do like shortcuts, but in this case I think this is worth considering:
The links should be tightened within given meassurements. I don't think it will affect wheel alignment but it will shorten service life as the bushings will be put under more load in the "home position" if those meassurements are wrong. I think it would be difficult to get it right without getting the mounting bracket out. 
If I find a way to, so to say, getting the meassurement reference down with the bracket still in place to get it right I may try it, but I am prepared to do it the hard way.










Lennart


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## cbh123 (Aug 25, 2013)

The power flex bushings do not have the inner tubes attached to the rubber .
So they can be tightened in any position.


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## ravenflies (Oct 31, 2013)

I agree with that as long as the outer rubber surface can move enough, just worried that someone applies the same working procedure on bushings with tubes as seen in other threads.

Lennart


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## robbie-rocket-pants (Mar 25, 2012)

Hi Bruce, 

I may be about to pull out one of my front struts. 

Do you think that using your "easy method" above would allow sufficient clearance to pull the whole strut out ?

Also when you said "unbolt the steering tie rod end - needed to allow rotation to remove the upper arm bolts" - would it be possible to get this required rotation by turning the steering wheel back and forth instead of disconnecting? 
(I'm just thinking about not having to worry about re-setting the toe adjustment)

Thanks, Robbie


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## cbh123 (Aug 25, 2013)

I'm pretty sure if I could have left the tie rod connected I would have. 
Might have been an issue of 16 and 18mm wrenches that did not have enough good ones to work with it done up. 
(Never seen so many 16 and 18s on VW - my previous life with BMW they were all 17 and 19) I might have needed to use a socket for one end of the bolt, hence the added space requirements) 
But I'd certainly go ahead and try. 
If you do need to undo the tie rod, just mark/scribe/measure its up/down position, you can get it back to where it was. 

As far as removing the strut, I was just one bolt away from removing it (the lower bolt ) so certainly it is possible.


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## robbie-rocket-pants (Mar 25, 2012)

Many thanks Bruce.


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## VloJoh (Jan 2, 2012)

*Alignment instructions*



Gabs08PHTN said:


> Hi,
> 
> I also have the full alignment procedure, it is in PDF format but cannot find the way to post it here...
> Bear in mind that toe per wheel and camber have to be adjusted first, then the vehicle has to be lifted 60mm (at least the euro spec, perhaps NAR less than that) at the front, and subsequently the toe constant is adjusted.
> ...



Gabriel,

I have just had all my front-end bushings done and would really like your PDF with the alignment instructions!

John


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## invisiblewave (Sep 22, 2008)

Bruce, how are your bushings holding up? I'm about to do mine.


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## cbh123 (Aug 25, 2013)

invisiblewave said:


> Bruce, how are your bushings holding up? I'm about to do mine.


So far they seem fine, back in the fall, I thought I heard some noise (classic polyurethane bushing noise) so I shot some lube on them. Then they seemed quiet again. 

Overall, I am pretty sure they will last, and need a squirt of lube every so often. At least you can raise the suspension and do it practically standing up. 

As a DIY, avoiding the Pinch bolt is worth it, but you better be pretty sure the ball joints are ok before going this way. That end of my upper arms are still good. 190000 km on the car.


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## invisiblewave (Sep 22, 2008)

I have a lift in the family. I think I'll end up trying the pinch bolts first, just in case they happen to come off without heroic efforts.


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## cbh123 (Aug 25, 2013)

Your climate may have mercy....


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## invisiblewave (Sep 22, 2008)

That's what I was thinking. I think the upper control arms have been changed before, too.


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## robbie-rocket-pants (Mar 25, 2012)

My pinch bolt was seized solid on a 3.5 year old car. I am amazed VAG have kept this flawed design for so long. There MUST be a better way to engineer it


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## invisiblewave (Sep 22, 2008)

Thought I'd add my notes to this thread while they're still fresh in my mind.

Firstly, thanks to Bruce, without his write up I probably wouldn't have done the job. Secondly, for anyone thinking about doing it, it's not quite the walk in the park that Bruce makes it sound like! It took us about 6 hours to do the first side. Thirdly, it CAN be done without either removing the pinch bolt OR removing the tie rod end. Fourthly, I think someone asked in the thread about removing the strut, and the answer is yes, you can remove the strut pretty easily once you lever the control arms out of the way.

Here's what we did and where we had difficulties:


Undo the 17mm bolt at the bottom of the strut.
Undo the air line to the strut, just unscrew the 10mm nut, it comes off very easily with a little hissing.
Disconnect the electrical connector going to the top of the strut.
Remove the plenum cover and unscrew the bolts holding the top of the strut in place. These are those double-square things that look like torx with extra splines. Not sure what size, large, easy to check by removing the plenum cover.
As you loosen the strut, the whole assembly will fall over towards the right, we stuck a block of wood between the wheel arch and the caliper to hold it and we supported it a little with a jack but that didn't seem to be strictly necessary, it won't fall.
With the strut loose, you can maneuver it forwards at the top for better access to the 16mm bolts holding the crappy VW control arm bushings. I say crappy because these have only been on the car for about 40k and they were already FUBAR.
Once those bolts are out, you can push the whole assembly to the right and get the forward control arm levered out. After that, further man-handling of the assembly will give you clearance to get the rearward arm out past the strut.
Next we drilled out the old bearings, the rubber was extremely tough, we drilled through it with a circular saw drill attachment, takes a while to get through it.
To remove the steel collars that are left, we used a hack saw to get the notch started then used an air jack-hammer thing with a forked hammer attachment on to rip it. Once you've ripped it right across it comes out with a bit of force. Quite time-consuming.
Pushing the new bearings took some perseverance. One side would keep suddenly slipping in. The trick, in the end, was to do it very slowly. As one side slips in, keep pressure on the other side and watch the rubber, when you get it right it will continue to slip in in a circular fashion with the occasional bit of extra pressure. The first one took 5 or 6 attempts before we got it right.
Putting it back together was somewhat tougher. Biggest issue was that we put the top of the strut in place first. Don't do it that way, it's impossible to get the bottom of the strut to line up with the bushing to get the bolt through. Getting the control arms back in also isn't as easy as it should be, with the Powerflex bushings it's a very tight fit, they have to be hammered and/or pried into place.
Do the bottom strut bolt first (after refitting the control arms). Once that's in, use the clearance while the top is still loose to get the control arms back in place. This was also difficult, it's a very tight fit and we had to torque the control arm to be able to hammer them in straight. When it was close to lined up, we used a small pry bar inside the bolt hole to line it up sufficiently to get the bolt in. This was time consuming.
After that, it's a case of lifting the lower control arm to push the top of the strut back into place. While you're lifting, have someone pulling the top of the strut so that the three nubs line up with the holes. When you get it right, they'll locate, and that bracket around the top of the strut will be completely flush with the body of the car.
Refit the bolts into the top of the strut.
Refit the electrical connector and the air line.
Straighten the rotor dust shield, it will have been firmly grabbed on numerous occasions by now and will be in contact with the rotor.

If you're not confident about pressing the bushings, I wouldn't advise you to attempt this job. Jack, who I did it with, had done it a dozen time before and we struggled somewhat with it, I don't think I could have done it on my own. Also, getting the old bushings out would be difficult for a novice, imo. On the other hand, if you can do it, it saves a rather large amount over the dealer price and my feeling is that the Powerflex bushings are likely to be a lot better than the originals and probably longer-lasting. I also used the A4 bushings, same as Bruce. It also took longer than I expected for that corner to raise after starting the car, long enough that I was starting to get worried, but it was fine after a few minutes. The other thing of note is that my steering wheel was FINALLY almost straight afterwards. It's been slightly off-centre since the dealer changed the strut and the transmission, they did three alignments and never got the steering wheel centred. And while we're on the subject of dealers, taking off the plenum cover revealed the a/c valves that they hadn't replaced the caps on or snugged up the rubber dust seals on the piping into the valves......


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## 53PL-50AAA-VW611BAN (Feb 10, 2015)

Has anybody ever replaced the subframe bushings?


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## PowerDubs (Jul 22, 2001)

I'll be doing my arms soon. Fun fun. 

Thank goodness I have a lift and a 20 ton press in my garage. I might even wait for Dennis to come up and join the fun.


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## invisiblewave (Sep 22, 2008)

The press won't help much unless you're planning to take the arms right off. The difficulty with getting them in wasn't the pressure, they slip in on one side first and turn sideways.

There are a bunch of other big bushings at the lower end. The lower control arm has rubber where it attaches to the body and it also has a bushing where the strut attaches to it that looks as if it might be replaceable.

After doing the job, I have few worries left about the air struts, they're pretty simple to replace, 6 bolts and you're done.


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## cbh123 (Aug 25, 2013)

I also stopped worrying about the struts, after seeing how easily they come out. 

Note my photos show two set ups of pushing the bushing. The first way it kept popping sideways, the second way they went in nicely.


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## invisiblewave (Sep 22, 2008)

Does anyone have the torque specs for the strut & control arm bolts? The control arms ones looks as if they may be torque-to-yield but I stuck them back in there anyway.


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## robbie-rocket-pants (Mar 25, 2012)

I referred to this website. It takes a bit of effort to find the torque values, but they are in there.

http://vwts.ru/vw/phaeton/ph_40_eng.pdf

Edit, sorry I cant get the link to work, but if you type this into google you should find it:

ph_40_eng.pdf


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## invisiblewave (Sep 22, 2008)

Thanks RRP, got it! I suspected the hex bolts were single use. The other interesting thing is the tightening sequence on the strut mount bolts.


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## invisiblewave (Sep 22, 2008)

Just found something very interesting on the Jim Ellis site while I was looking for the single use bolts. VW apparently sell the original bushings for $26 each! Part number 8D0407515C ; 8D0-407-515-A; 8D0-407-515-B; 8D0407515A; 8D0407515B

Wouldn't like to try to press them with those steel collars on though!


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## invisiblewave (Sep 22, 2008)

Did the second side yesterday, here are a couple of useful pointers about the bushings.

Firstly, it turns out the old bushings can be removed very easily by simply pressing them out. We used a large C clamp and an air gun, but I'm pretty sure it could be done with a large wrench. We had a socket that fitted just inside the steel collar and was pushing on the rubber, and it pushed it right out in seconds.

Secondly, we got the Powerflex bushings in very easily this time by having large flat surface on the back of the bushing and two other iron collars behind that to isolate the bushing from the torque so that it was pressed straight in. The first one popped right in, the second one started going in on one side like before, so you then just take it very slow, apply a bit of torque, then let the edge of the bearing slip a bit more.

We had a bit more difficulty with the forward control arm bolt this time, for some reason it was harder to manipulate the strut into a position to get the clearance to remove the bolt. Moving the steering left & right occasionally as you're doing the job helps with clearances.

The bottom of the strut was a tight fit again onto the control arm, we tapped it into position.

Even before an alignment my steering is now perfectly centred for the first time since the dealer last tried to align it. It rides very well, no squeaks or noise.

The suspension controller threw a bit of a fit when I started it up, it initially looked as if that corner wasn't going to raise at all and the two suspension buttons weren't working. It did eventually rise but still no response from the buttons. I drove it round the block, then tried VCDS and couldn't get any response from either the suspension or the chassis controllers. Turned the car off, locked it, cleaned up the tools, then when I went back to the car everything was working again.


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## 53PL-50AAA-VW611BAN (Feb 10, 2015)

It sounds like your Phaeton was groggy after the surgery.


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## invisiblewave (Sep 22, 2008)

I know I was! It's not that difficult a job, but it's time-consuming because access to the bolts is tight, so getting them out and torquing them correctly is difficult, and when you're putting it back together none of the holes line up easily. It takes a lot of wiggling of the strut and moving of the steering wheel.


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## cbh123 (Aug 25, 2013)

invisiblewave said:


> I know I was! It's not that difficult a job, but it's time-consuming because access to the bolts is tight, so getting them out and torquing them correctly is difficult, and when you're putting it back together none of the holes line up easily. It takes a lot of wiggling of the strut and moving of the steering wheel.


I agree, I am pleased you have done this and reported it well. 
I know you typically don't use "Jack mode" - might have come back to life faster if you did. 

Also, I also found a flat surface (my circular saw blade) made pushing the rubber in much easier. 

I need to get some soapy water on top of my LF strut... I sag a bit after a week of being parked. Hopefully a 10 cent oring and a day of work....


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## invisiblewave (Sep 22, 2008)

I did use jack-off mode, as my engineering partner calls it. Since it essentially switches off the strut, I wouldn't do this job without it. The big surprise on the second side was how easily the old bushings came out, saved a lot of time and got me wondering about using the VW bushings next time, I suspect they'd be harder to press in than the Powerflex though.


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## invisiblewave (Sep 22, 2008)

Here's the wheel alignment PDF, courtesy of Gabriel.


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