MB Suspension

cobrin · 23-06-2016, 10:08 AM

Time for my rear end to get refreshed, the rear suspension is tired and wanting, to add to that I've a few bushes that are gone, not all completely gone but one has and the control arm has movement on the bush also so it's replacement arm time.

The front end is fine but I'll be renewing the springs and shocks anyway. I'm not interested in lowering anything at all, having a tired suspension that's already too low and under performing will do that to you lol. I don't want to spend $1300-1700 so have looked away from those.

I found KYB shocks allround and KYB Springs but after ordering I'm told the rear springs aren't available so they've offered Monroe replacements no difference in cost. All up with delivery (delivery was £95) £333,77 or AU$656.79.

After some verification emails it was a done deal, very happy with the communication. Once upon a time I though the time difference to the UK was a hindrance, but I've changed my tune, last night at my own leisure emails were flowing nicely and the account setup verified and order processed. Pleasant mob to deal with. http://www.buycarparts.co.uk/

Online Live Chat used the VIN to get all I needed which were decently discounted and they offered a further discount code at the checkout. Stoked!!!

On to the rear end control arm and other bushes, this is what sparked it off:

Happy to report I found a kit for all my problems:£199+Del (ended up AU$480 delivered)
https://s31.postimg.cc/h1el7vpsb/image.jpg

Quite happy to have it all ordered and wait for it to arrive and square it away. I probably won't be fitting the Semi Trailing arm bushes as they are still serviceable but will be nice to have. The kit without them was £30 less so I didn't mind the cost.

rondeo · 23-06-2016, 02:01 PM

Great post Cobrin, DIYers will appreciate I'm sure.
Look forward to next installment!

cobrin · 27-06-2016, 01:35 PM

Look what's just arrived!!!

eBay UK – Ordered on the 17th
DHL got it on the 21st
I got it today 27th June

Cmon springs and shocks, I'll have this done before the School Holidays end at this rate...

cobrin · 04-07-2016, 02:27 PM

Looks like I will have it squared away tomorrow, these showed up this morning:

Finally I can put an end to it all.

cobrin · 13-07-2016, 05:15 PM

done and dusted, didn't go without a hitch but wow......the old were flapped out going from the performance of the new. Just got home from the Wheel Alignment.

OVER THE MOON!!! is an understatement. Later tonight I'll do up a completed post I took pics at stages (felt funny doing it) just for my own interest. Off for a drive and enjoy dinner to celebrate (not really lol).

TIP: just buy two strut top bearings in advance, one of mine fell apart on disassembly and with only 5 in the country (now 3 lol) and none in QLD it put the whole job on hold. Absolutely loving KYB shocks and springs and Monroe rear springs.

Hope it helps someone down the track or you at least enjoy the ride ;)

cobrin · 13-07-2016, 11:41 PM

okay, so I get started on the rear, the pics will explain what I've done and it was quite easy not only the suspension arms/links but also the shocks and springs. As a DIY'er I've really changed my tune on the Ford Platform at least on these Mondeos.

It went without a hitch and wasn't hard or a struggle to do. I'm very pleased that I chose to source complete units and not be a tighter *** getting bushes that would have needed to be pressed in. That's not for me, whilst it probably would been if I had a Land Cruiser or similar and time to allow for it.

On to the front...

Drop link off, loosened the top strut mount bolts, removed the drive shaft retaining bolt, disconnected the ABS sensor. All seemed to be going well, then came the lower ball joint...

That S.O.B was in there tigher than a (insert lewd comment) and wouldn't you know I didn't have a ball joint splitter. Stuff it the lower control arm is coming out it's 3 bolts anyway. Yay winning strut is out.

On to the other side...
Just as painful as the first lol. so out comes it's control arm. Struts out and I can continue on.

I compress the spring and it's delightful not a chore at all. I take the top mount/strut bearing off and it falls apart with a hundred small ball bearings scattering across the floor. Gutted I didn't allow or contemplate that, heart sinking, I'm straight on the phone.

I'm on the phone and trying to get another bearing, 5 in Aus none in QLD. Yep sure thing get two and can you please air freight them express I need them asap, job on hold and school holidays nearing ending yarda yarda yarda, 'Yes will do' says the Parts Interpreter. Yeah right; next day no call, next day I call and enquire, he's got to chase up the connote, finds it and says they're in Brisbane and now in that lot (order being trucked up). ?!?!? wtf why wasn't it air freight straight to Here?

'I don't know, delivery as been weird here' he said. Well the whole idea is to get them HERE!....School Holidays end...

So I rock up and get them and no... for $96.70ea you get the bearing and the bearing only, no top mount, no assembly of any sort, just the bearing. On the receipt is ROAD FREIGHT!!!! air freight to Brisbane truck to FNQ. I was in the right mind to walk and source them OS cause they're about GBP$11ea and now that School is back it's not so important and could have waited. I'm not that spiteful though. Annoyed was all. A couple of Hundred and I can get going again, thems the breaks.

Oh it's beautiful to steer btw, smooth not a sound to be heard (wasn't any to begin with though) and easier to steer. It wasn't heavy before but wasn't as easy as it is now. Happy to put it behind me.

Anyway I assemble the struts and have troubles with the control arms, off to get a ball joint splitter. Man-O-Man are those [insert profanity] are tight. Got them off, in goes the control arm driveshaft in loose, strut in, but what a joy it was wrestling the control arm to get enough downward movement to get the ball joint into the steering knuckle. There's no wonder the front control arms aren't looking worn, they're as firm as [insert profanity] with no give. I respect specialised tooling now and can see why the need for one particular ball joint splitter looks identical to a ice hockey stick, one word....leverage.

Over the moon it's done, transformed the car to a point we've never felt. No sloppy roll over, no nose dive on braking, no squatting and the worst bumps in my area where I've heavily bottom out over an abomination of a road surface with sugar cane rail tracks crossing....it goes over with upper class contempt and poise.

No pics of the front in situ sorry I had to get a rush on to make the Alignment this afternoon. Everyone approves and notices a difference ;) that's always good.

Happy to have squared it away it's been on my mind for a long time.

The Rear:

The Front:

If it stops raining tomorrow I'll take a pic of the car and how it sits, it's a good couple of inches higher than it's sad state, just with the 3 kids (4,9,10) in the car you could see the negative camber and body panel near the height of the tyre. I have a pic at the wheel aligners with their newly purchased machine it was quick in and out and in my happiness of completion I bloody forgot to ask for a print out...stupid I know. It was a Hunter 4cam machine $70 for the four wheels can't complain...

did I mention the RHR didn't need adjusting lol...

Hope you've enjoyed it, I did and will do for some time hopefully and stop chewing out the tyres.

ope126 · 14-07-2016, 07:10 AM

Great write up mate!!!

Binny · 14-07-2016, 07:43 AM

Great work Cobrin!
I'm sure other owners will find this thread very helpful in the future.

cobrin · 14-07-2016, 01:20 PM

Thanks guys, happy to share what I can, just to sign off:

NZ XR6 · 14-07-2016, 02:03 PM

Looks like a good job well done. I hate splitting ball joints and bought a decent tool last time.

How many km has your car done? Has it had a hard life?

Sent from my SM-G9208 using Tapatalk

cobrin · 14-07-2016, 03:02 PM

Bought it April '14 with 122K kms (currently 178K), ex-fleet vehicle, Woolworths owned and the tow ball had a lot of use, which isn't a problem for me.

I tried to look locally but they wouldn't budge from $16990 far removed from society I reckon my local ford mob were, so I played off two dealers (Ford/Honda) and a private seller down south (navy blue), only one of the dealers had silver and that was the one I wanted, didn't hurt that it also had a tow bar.

So two weeks of careful haggling and playful 'Cmon you need to be a little more flexible' 'you're almost there', name dropped the other two vehicles I was looking at and that made it look like I was serious. A few more calls and supposedly meetings with his DP, ended with me securing this vehicle from $15990 to $12.5K which was my Golden Figure after an exhaustive research to find the actual value of the vehicle. I didn't pay glasses guide and redbook isn't the be all end all, my wife and I did it ourselves and we got good enough to predict the Price based on MY and Kms down to the hundred dollar mark. There was a pattern that at a certain mileage, for every 1000km more it was $100 less. It tested perfectly with the 20 odd examples we tried.

I had the other dealer (Honda) with a darker grey one less 2K less on the odometer but no Convers+ as a backup if this one fell through. I specifically was looking for a slush box Zetec level too.

Flew down from Cairns to Brisbane, did my due diligence and was told about the rear end starting to show signs. I eyeballed it and it was acceptable. Overnighted and drove it back.

Initially it was going to be just the rear end refreshed but looking online I was surprised at how cheap it all was, especially after a few users on here whom had replaced their shocks and springs only had mentioned it was somewhat $$$ in AU with Bilstein (?!?spelling) and labour. I saw $1300-1700 for the parts alone and simply didn't want to go there.

I got to the stage that I didn't care and smashed away and they came free....thank god

Binny · 02-10-2016, 11:06 AM

My MC has started to wander around a lot. A bit surprising as it only has 110k on it. It pulls in different directions depending on undulations in the road and where the suspension travel is. It was quite a handful in the strong wind on Friday.
Took it to the place I had the tyres fitted earlier this year and got the the wheel alignment checked (and explained what was happening). Got the old "She's all good mate" and sent on my way.

I noticed today too that its chewing out the insides of the front tyres, especially the right one. They only have 10-15k on them and the right one is nearly stuffed.The previous tyres lasted 90k without any uneven wear.

I've booked it into Pedders to get assessed. Saves me the hassle of trying to find the issue. Then I will decide what to actually do and what to leave.

cobrin · 02-10-2016, 12:28 PM

I've still got my set on that were wearing on the insides from the tired suspension and when they finally get replaced I'll monitor them, I'm due soon going from the last check 2K kms ago.

I'm hoping that I've got it sorted otherwise it's camber/caster bolt set for the front otherwise I'm out of ideas.

Binny · 05-10-2016, 08:42 AM

Well Pedders to their credit said they can't find any issues. Shocks, bushes and everything are all good. At least I know I can trust them in the future if I need them for anything.

Doesn't explain why its wandering around though. he did say it could be the tyres. Maybe I'm just too sensitive to this stuff. My wife reckons there's nothing wrong with it. But she also didn't notice a front tyre on her beetle was @ 20PSI.

Oh well, at least I know it's safe. Just see what happens I guess.

rondeo · 06-10-2016, 07:43 AM

Increasing the toe-in fixed excess tyre wear on the front inside on mine.

I now do my own front wheel alignment based on tyre wear and handling. If the tie-rod nuts are turned exactly the same amount I'm happy to set it anywhere in the negative range.

When Pedders say it's OK do they mean it's within tolerance or it's at the centre specification? My guess is the reason for a tolerance is to allow for individual differences in suspension etc.

Trevorb has noted on Talkford these cars generally track better with full negative toe. He's a retired Jaguar mechanic, so has experience.

Binny · 06-10-2016, 07:59 AM

Pedders didn't do wheel alignment as I had it done at BJ the previous weekend.
When I had the alignment done at BJ it was -1.3mm LH, -1.9mm RH. They changed it to +0.2mm LH, +0.4mm LH. I don't know why they changed it. Made zero difference to the wandering issue though.

rondeo · 06-10-2016, 08:06 AM

http://www.talkford.com/community/to...ven-tyre-wear/

Toe-in tolerance range is given as 1.4 +/- 2.5mm, which I interpret as a maximum toe-in of
3.9mm from the centerline for each wheel or 7.8mm total toe-in measured at the rim.
The rim is 235mm radius, and the tyre is 325mm, so it would be 325/235*7.8mm measured on the tyre, which is about 10mm, if I have it right.

rondeo · 06-10-2016, 09:15 AM

If it were my car with wear on the inside front tyres and toe currently 0 mm I might do the following:

Put the good rear tyres on the front.

Loosen the 27mm jam nut and mark the tie rod end with white correction fluid at the lowest point. The tie rod end is 25mm hex. The pitch of the tie rod thread is 1.25mm, so one full turn will give about 1.25mm * rim radius/ball joint from centre of wheel. I'd just guess one full turn.

There is a steering angle sensor for stability control system, so I'd rotate both tie rods an exactly equal amount, easy enough in 90 degree lots.

Then I'd see what happened to the tyres . . . in my case it was a perfect fix with a half turn.

NZ XR6 · 08-10-2016, 02:47 AM

Or find a good wheel alignment specialist. There's a place I've been going for many years who do a great job, and the tyres on the MB are wearing well.

Sent from somewhere using Tapatalk

bundybear75 · 28-08-2019, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cobrin

Time for my rear end to get refreshed, the rear suspension is tired and wanting, to add to that I've a few bushes that are gone, not all completely gone but one has and the control arm has movement on the bush also so it's replacement arm time.

The front end is fine but I'll be renewing the springs and shocks anyway. I'm not interested in lowering anything at all, having a tired suspension that's already too low and under performing will do that to you lol. I don't want to spend $1300-1700 so have looked away from those.

I found KYB shocks allround and KYB Springs but after ordering I'm told the rear springs aren't available so they've offered Monroe replacements no difference in cost. All up with delivery (delivery was £95) £333,77 or AU$656.79.

After some verification emails it was a done deal, very happy with the communication. Once upon a time I though the time difference to the UK was a hindrance, but I've changed my tune, last night at my own leisure emails were flowing nicely and the account setup verified and order processed. Pleasant mob to deal with. http://www.buycarparts.co.uk/

Online Live Chat used the VIN to get all I needed which were decently discounted and they offered a further discount code at the checkout. Stoked!!!

On to the rear end control arm and other bushes, this is what sparked it off:
image
image
image
image
image

Happy to report I found a kit for all my problems:£199+Del (ended up AU$480 delivered)
https://s31.postimg.cc/h1el7vpsb/image.jpg

Quite happy to have it all ordered and wait for it to arrive and square it away. I probably won't be fitting the Semi Trailing arm bushes as they are still serviceable but will be nice to have. The kit without them was £30 less so I didn't mind the cost.

Sorry to excavate an old post, but I need to replace most of the bushes on the rear of my MC wagon along with the shocks and struts. You wouldn't have a link to the kit you purchased would you?

cobrin · 28-08-2019, 08:30 PM

**** you're lucky, I've just spent the last hour and a bit in gmail to find my purchase (ebay label) only to find I've got nothing from 2012 to 2018. ebay don't allow me to go that far back. Archive didn't have anything, not impressed to say the least...

but knowing what I prolly used to search I've finally found the guys.

Link

don't forget this is for the saloon not estate, some parts are different like the struts but not sure what else beyond that. Good luck I can't believe it's been 3yrs, it still gives a beautiful ride today.

bundybear75 · 28-08-2019, 09:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cobrin

**** you're lucky, I've just spent the last hour and a bit in gmail to find my purchase (ebay label) only to find I've got nothing from 2012 to 2018. ebay don't allow me to go that far back. Archive didn't have anything, not impressed to say the least...

but knowing what I prolly used to search I've finally found the guys.

Link

don't forget this is for the saloon not estate, some parts are different like the struts but not sure what else beyond that. Good luck I can't believe it's been 3yrs, it still gives a beautiful ride today.

Thanks Cobrin.

Gives me somewhere to start.

I have sent an email to one of the suppliers to see if they have a kit to suit.

Seems easier than trying to source all the individual parts.