Rattle in front suspension.

[Kalahari]

Hi can anyone help me out with a problem I've noticed this morning on my trusty but bog standard 96 reg polo.

The suspension has started to rattle alarmingly, front drivers side. I've had a look and found a loose joint. I've drawn it in paint which I'll attach (no camera at work).

Apologies for my lack of knowing the names of the parts. Theres a joint just behind the drivers side front wheel with a ball looking thing and an arm around the ball. The arm seems loose and is lower down than the passenger side one. Is this something I can easily fix myself? I'm thinking to push it back into place with a jack. Or am I best taking it to a garage as it needs a special tool? If so what's that likely to cost?

Oh and if anyone can tell me the correct names for them too...

Cheers for any help that can be given, enjoy laughing at my picture.

[randomage]

looks like the bush on the wishbone is knackered. I'd get some pictures to compare but im currently about 350 miles away fom my car! I had the same problem though. Is the round bit in the picture (the bit thats buggered) made of rubber? or plastic/similar?

[Kalahari]

Ah ha, sounds like it is, just done a search with your proper terminology (not my rattly ball thing terminology) and got this pic...



The bit thats slipped off on mine is the bit labelled 2 on that pic.

So is that an easy fix? I can pick up a wishbone with bush on ebay or is it easy to just fit a new bush?

How much for a garage to do?

Sorry for all the questions.

[randomage]

Yeah, that's a knackered bush, thought it sounded familiar! When i replaced mine, i did the whole wishbone (fairly cheap from GSF etc, about £30 IIRC, with bushes fitted) and i did it at home with my dad's help and a large toolbox. it is a fiddly job though, involved partially unbolting the sump and lifting it up so we could remove the long bolt (labelled 1 on your pic). Total time including sorting that out was maybe an hour? we were taking our time though, and we didn't have a haynes manual or anything to work from! Plenty of getting grubby involved though, and a fair bit of swearing when we encountered the problem with the sump...

Garage should be able to get it done quickly though, so if you supply the parts it shouldn't be too expensive.

Not sure how hard just replacing the bush would be, as i've never done it before, so can't help you on that, although i've heard they're a pig to do, so might be best leaving that to a garage if you want to go down that route.
Hope this helps!

[Kalahari]

Aye am booking her in tomorrow £65 for the job. Cheers.

[randomage]

Welcome, glad i could help out