Please tell me if the mechanic has make a mistaken replacing my ball joints

[Tinman]

I think the mechanic might have mess up the ball joints, which I've provided 6R0407365B and 6R0407366B. Ive notice my wheel is far from equal distance between the arch at the time of replacement but I didnt really think about it until recently. Picture was taken from the O/S, should the arrow be point to front of the car? Looking at picture from Internet, this ball joint match 6R0407365B which is the ball joint for the left or N/S

[iichel]

I'm assuming the car has a wheel alignment afterwards. What do the values say?

[Tinman]

frustrating the caster is not measure, old aligment sheets from the same shop has caster measure but that's with old suspensions. Again I didnt really think about it at the time.

Edit. ...

Here a picture of one of the side, other side is similar.

[amer6R]

Maybe you/he moved the subframe. ( to reduce the difference of the camber /2.
Your ball-joint needs adjusting, or your shock is worn out.

[Tinman]

I have replaced all the shocks, droplink, lower control arm and ball joints less than one year ago when the car was 7 and 1/2 years old. The mechanic mention he didn't unbolt or make change to anything except for the parts that need changing. Alignment was done on another shop, and they only make change to the toe adjustment.

[amer6R]

Left side components are on passanger side ( UK), or EU ( driver side).

If im wrong someone correct me.

[Tinman]

Here is two pictures for 6r0407151f LCA together with the ball joint, this LCA is definitely for the N/S side or Passenger side of UK spec car and is specify as left on the vw parts catalogue.





You can just make out the marking in the ball joint with the arrow point away from the back bushing of the LCA, L4/R3 is also mark on the ball joint

Here is a picture of my N/S side



Notice the arrow is point toward the back bushing of the LCH, the ball joint also mark with L3/R4. 6R0407366B is the oem part number for the right ball joint and is has marking with L3/R4.



The ball joint in my O/S (Driver Side) is mark L4/R3.

I'm certain they have mix up the ball joints.

[RUM4MO]

I've just checked the official VW workshop manual for "2010>" and "2014>" and for cars with 14/15" wheels, which will include those with 16" factory fitted options, identifies the LHS lower swivel as having, when viewed from above, an arrow pointing forwards and an L4 pointing forwards and also nearer the rear, an R3 facing the rear. Also for the RHS lower swivel as having, when viewed from above, an arrow pointing forwards and an R4 pointing forwards and also nearer the rear, an L3 facing the rear.

So, for me that means that the swivels are on the lower arms correctly, the folded metal of the lower arms should resemble an inverted "U" - ie the flatish section is on the top and the sides point downwards.

Moving the the front subframe to try to equalise the camber settings will not have much effect on the wheel centre positions as viewed from the sides of the car - same for any attempt to correct the caster.

It just annoys me when most tyre places now have a proper alignment bench, Hunter mainly in UK, and either don't show the castor angle or ignore the instruction to turn the steering from side to side to allow the bench to give a true measure on caster - but, if only a charge is being made for "toeing" check-adjust, then maybe that is the way these tyre places use these alignment benches.

These picture of lower arms removed from a car, did you get some used lower arms from an unknown source fitted to your car, and if so are the the correct arms for your model of Polo?

[Tinman]

These picture of lower arms removed from a car, did you get some used lower arms from an unknown source fitted to your car, and if so are the the correct arms for your model of Polo?

The picture of the old lower arm was taken from ebay, that's just to show what a left LCA with left ball joint should look like. There are other available which show the same.

Ball joints and LCA are brought brand new, ball joints are correct for my CHZC polo, for LCA part no should be 6r0407151f and 6r0407152f for my polo but i went with a LCA with solid rear bushing part no only different by last digit. They are the same LCA except for rear bushing I.e void vs solid.

I've just checked the official VW workshop manual for "2010>" and "2014>" and for cars with 14/15" wheels, which will include those with 16" factory fitted options, identifies the LHS lower swivel as having, when viewed from above, an arrow pointing forwards and an L4 pointing forwards and also nearer the rear, an R3 facing the rear. Also for the RHS lower swivel as having, when viewed from above, an arrow pointing forwards and an R4 pointing forwards and also nearer the rear, an L3 facing the rear.

So, for me that means that the swivels are on the lower arms correctly, the folded metal of the lower arms should resemble an inverted "U" - ie the flatish section is on the top and the sides point downwards.

The picture with the old LCA shown exactly what you describe. We can agree that LCA shown in the picture are for the passenger side of UK spec car?

Perhaps I should be clear how I took the picture of my ball joint, here is how I took the passenger side



Though the arch well I place my phone in video mode until I can see the ball joint then screen capture the ball joint, so the camera is pointing from front toward the back resulting in



That ball joint is clearly incorrect fitted, if is correctly fitted as your describe the arrow should have point toward me, beside the letter describe in the ball joint which are of the right ball joint. if you can imagine that ball joint is rotate and place in the driver side, you can see that the arrow is point toward the camera and the letter is correct for the right ball joint on the right LCA.

I'm not sure if I should reuse those ball joints, they are less that one year old but have it in the wrong orientation for that time this may have shorting the lifespan of the ball joint.

[amer6R]

Well I think its then best to inspect them. If they have any play or way too loose replace them, in the end its just a plastic cup inside of them with some grease and a metal ball.

[RUM4MO]

Tinman, yes I agree that your pictures show exactly what I found in that workshop manual, so that is good.

Edit:- oh, from reading your last posting, one is certainly wrong for that side if that view if "looking towards the rear"!

Remember these lower swivels can be used in reverse to achieve different cambers on similar models of cars, which kind of ties in with some of what I've written below.

Buying LCA with solid rear mounting bushes, unless someone can prove otherwise, ALL replacement LCA for this version/model of Polo will come with voided rear bushes, the only Polo that came with solid rear bushes will be possibly some GTI, and obviously Ibiza Cupra - but, both these cars have lowered suspension, and to make sure that the camber is still within design limits, I'm sure that the size of the LCA for them are different - which would suit you if and only if you fitted "sports" ie shorter road springs.

The "front > rear" dimension of the metalwork will still be the same but the "side > side" dimension will be slightly longer for the LCAs that come fitted with solid rear mountings.

I don't mind being proved wrong, and this should not be affecting the issue that is concerning you at the moment.

I had checked that out years ago for getting solid rear mountings onto my wife's 2002 9N Polo 1.4 16V SE, but when I discovered that, and I didn't think that fitting sports springs to suit that change in LCAs was part of my plan, so I gave in and bought a pair of Ibiza Cupra solid console bushes (different design rear mounting on earlier Polos), and got a good local VAG Indie to fit them for me - and that got rid of tearing horrible voided console bushes for ever and improved the "turn in" immensely!

As you probably know, the voided bushes on these Polos have been used by VW Group for "ever", one ended up getting torn on my wife's 2015 Polo 1.2TSI 110PS within warranty, so VW replaced that FOC, by the time the car was 9 years old and 50,000miles, the bush on the other side, ie the factory original one, was still not torn - but, the rubber had hardened and so there was a "oval" sort of hole where the bush centre metal sleeve passes through and so lots of uncontrolled free movement as the suspension moved up and down - ie the centre sleeve was probably still being gripped at "half height" but was free to pivot/rotate without getting any support/restraint from the rubber in the bush, tracking was not being affected at all, well no indication of uneven tyre wear. Both sides now have new Lemforder ie same as VW part voided bushes in.

[RUM4MO]

Okay, as I'm in the position to compare a pair of lower swivels for a 2015 6C Polo 1.2TSI 110PS, I can say that fitting a RHS swivel to a LHS track control arm, will effectively move the position of the road wheel back approx 20mm.
Similarly if you fit a LHS swivel to a RHS track control arm, the road wheel position will get moved back approx 20mm.

So, to round up:- a LHS lower swivel for these cars must have a L4 with an arrow above/forward of it pointing towards the front of the car - and also an upside down R3.
a RHS lower swivel for these cars must have a R4 with an arrow above/forward of it pointing towards the front of the car - and also an upside down L3

[Tinman]

All model of the same year as my Polo uses the same LCA and ball joints afak looking at the VW parts cat.

Left LCA: 6R0407151F
Right LCA: 6R0407152F

Left Ball Joint: 6R0407365B
Right Ball Joint: 6R0407366B

The Ibiza Cupra uses:

Left LCA: 6R0407151B
Right LCA: 6R0407152B

Left Ball Joint: 6R0407365B
Right Ball Joint: 6R0407366B

The LCA i brought is equivalent to that LCA for Ibiza cupra.

Edit.

I've also uses the Powerflex purple top mount which technically did lower the front suspension.

[RUM4MO]

Yes, I agree, but how/why the lower swivels are on the wrong side must just be down to your fitter's error, initially I had assumed that these LCAs were bought complete with swivels fitted. Edit:- it will only be the Ibiza Cupra and A1 S or S and RS that get solid rear mounting bushes.

So I've assumed that if you provided your fitter with a set of 2 Cupra LCAs and a set of 2 lower swivels, all the correct parts to complete that job, then if one side has ended up wrong it follows that the other side must also be wrong - I'm hoping that you examined the set of 2 swivels when you received them and confirmed that they were really a matched pair and not just " 2 swivels".

On many aftermarket parts site they include a few dimensions, which tend to be just "length" and "width" and "height" - most of the time this is of no interest to the buyer, but in this case, I'd think that you would see a different "length" or "width" between the "F" variant and the "B" variant - and that would indicate that these two LCAs are not exactly the same item - as I said, this is necessary to keep the camber within the correct limits when the shorter springs are fitted, probably 25mm difference between your car in its standard form and the Cupra ride height, so standard could be 366 +/- 10mm and the Cupra maybe 341 +/- 10mm.

[amer6R]

I have a spare knuckle with ball joints on them, im pretty sure they are oem. I will have a look on wensday probably to check the arrow location.