What did you do to your Polo today?

[kaanage]

greg, i dont by any means drive a ''hard core'' car, and yet im actually struggling to think when my car was actually pleasant to drive....

I'll give you a drive of mine next time we meet. It's nice and comfy with the tall skinny tyres.

[Buller_Scott]

oh man, im still not digging it - bumps that have my wallet freaking out in my polo, the little nissan micra goes "harrup!".

lol. i wouldnt do too much differently other than the fact that i've driven my car, and now im driving a plush a-b car, and knowing car critics, the micra is probably HARSH on their scale, haha!

i wont lie... the fk/koni set up that i've got going on is more SOFT on the soft side, yet more matched when you wick up the strut rebound stiffness.... interesting.

i've been playing gran turismo for 13 years, and you're supposed to go harder on back than front... this setup has educated me otherwise.

[csimpson]

Did you manage to measure them? Sorry I didn't postback last night.
Why didn't you get the SEAT style solid bushes for the rear

Here you go mate, measurements. Let me know if you need any others.

I changed out my front anti-roll bar links today for new ones, car rides a bit better and quieter over bumps. Can't wait to change my LCA rear bushes though, I can see daylight through them. Also fitted my Whiteline RSB again and hooked in an auxiliary 3.5mm adapter, this one.

Amazing how a few minor changes can make the car fun to drive again.

Edit: Pictures of my new LCA rear bushes. I don't think they're the SEAT model but they're more solid than the ones in my car at the moment, that's for sure.

[kaanage]

Thanks for that - it looks like the MkIV Golf front LCA bushes are compatible!
I still think you'd be better going for the SEAT rear LCA bushes as I'm betting your front ones are currently in much better condition than the rears.

As for my Polo, it got washed , the engine torque arm swapped from standard to one with the polyureathane bush, rear seats removed and loaded with tools and track tyres

Getting the car up to swap the torque arms was a pain as I found that the stupid front valence is too low to use car ramps directly , even at stock non-GTi height so I had to muck about and jerry rig a couple of ramp extenders

[csimpson]

Thanks for that - it looks like the MkIV Golf front LCA bushes are compatible!
I still think you'd be better going for the SEAT rear LCA bushes as I'm betting your front ones are currently in much better condition than the rears.

As for my Polo, it got washed , the engine torque arm swapped from standard to one with the polyureathane bush, rear seats removed and loaded with tools and track tyres

Getting the car up to swap the torque arms was a pain as I found that the stupid front valence is too low to use car ramps directly , even at stock non-GTi height so I had to muck about and jerry rig a couple of ramp extenders

No problems. I'm going to see if I can find a picture of the SEAT bushes to compare -- can anyone help me out? -- and if they're significantly better built I'll pick them up instead.

Do you only put the poly bush torque arm on for track? I know it's a pretty quick swap-over, but I already like the stiffness of mine for day-to-day driving.

I just use a couple of blocks of 2x4 wood at the end of my car ramps, it extends the distance enough that there's (almost) no scraping.

[noone]

Have a look on the Awesome GTI site, I also have a set of the Whiteline ones in the for sale section, for comparison reasons, or you can buy them pretty cheap.

[csimpson]

Looks like VW decided the original bushing was too weak, and redesigned it. I can recognise the original as what's in my car at the moment, and I have the redesign to put in:

Fitting instructions control arm bushing to VW Polo 9N

New ones look much much stronger. Obviously not entirely solid like the Whiteline poly ones, though.

[VWindahouse]

Pretty much gutted the entire rear end from the front seats back

Plus selling a heap of gear for the polo here

http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/foru...tml#post775559

[vwthunder]

Pretty much gutted the entire rear end from the front seats back

Plus selling a heap of gear for the polo here

http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/foru...tml#post775559

Seat Sport intercooler upgrade ??

[kaanage]

No problems. I'm going to see if I can find a picture of the SEAT bushes to compare -- can anyone help me out? -- and if they're significantly better built I'll pick them up instead.

Just imagine the new ones you have with no voids at all - that's the only difference.

Do you only put the poly bush torque arm on for track? I know it's a pretty quick swap-over, but I already like the stiffness of mine for day-to-day driving.

Not an option with a diesel - the vibrations were driving me mental on the way to the track and back plus dropping my kid off to school today. It's getting changed back tonight.

Looks like VW decided the original bushing was too weak, and redesigned it. I can recognise the original as what's in my car at the moment, and I have the redesign to put in:

Fitting instructions control arm bushing to VW Polo 9N

New ones look much much stronger. Obviously not entirely solid like the Whiteline poly ones, though.

It looks like the new front LCA bushes a half way to the SEAT ones. Any idea of when the new ones were introduced?



Managed to up my fuel consumption to 13.5l/100km yesterday plus did a bit of autocrossing at the end of Phillip Island's main straight.

[csimpson]

Just imagine the new ones you have with no voids at all - that's the only difference.

Ah, cheers, thanks mate. I might stick these in and see what it's like -- I'm sure a huge improvement from the current shagged bushes -- and if I want more I can go straight to Whitelines.

It looks like the new front LCA bushes a half way to the SEAT ones. Any idea of when the new ones were introduced?

Something on that site said February/March 2011 I think? So quite recently.

[kaanage]

Maybe you could plug the voids with some appropriately sized chunks of rubber (possibly carved from the shagged OE ones) as a test.

I found a thread where they are discussing this changed part on the BRISKODA forum - Is he talking Horlicks?!?!?! - BRISKODA.net - The Skoda Forum and Community

In there, one guy posted that he changed from the Cupra bushes to these new ones because he found the Cupra ones to be too stiff and the original ones to be too soft (and the new one being just right). It's dated September 2009 so I guess the part was changed sometime before then but I can't find any other date references.

---------- Post added at 02:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:09 PM ----------

greg, i dont by any means drive a ''hard core'' car, and yet im actually struggling to think when my car was actually pleasant to drive....

Change your torque arm bush back to rubber fer chrissake!! I used mine for yesterday's track day and hated every moment with it when not actually on the track.

[csimpson]

Sounds excellent, thanks mate. I may also re-invest in a rubber torque arm bush (and extra arm, maybe?) and change that on for the home-work run, for the extra comfort.

[kaanage]

Pressing the bushes in and out of the torque arm might be a bit of an exercise without a press.

I just changed mine back to the stock arm (ah, just listen to that serenity) and reflashed my ECU back to stock.
The throttle transition clunking MAY have gotten a little bit louder after the weekend Phillip Island lappery.

[Buller_Scott]

things are just going to get worse for me, greg - i think im going to have to go single mass flywheel when i replace my broke clutch - no point going back in three years again to have it all done again, if i stay with dual mass.

as for what i did today - not with the polo, but with its temporary replacement, the nissan micra hire car that i've been driving (auto).

for a car with no tuning, riding on 165 section econo tyres, the thing goes pretty bloody well up around yarra bend (did like 4 laps tonight).

it has no low down torque or power whatsoever, in fact the only shove you get is when you turn overdrive off on the auto gear stick, and wait for the revs to build - once that happens, the car pokes along a tiny bit more noticeably than normal.

HOWEVER, it's quite bizarre for me to drive it hardish - in the polo, i feel like i've got to have my line sorted before i take a corner, and yes you can somewhat trim your line by backing off/ braking, but otherwise ''understeer'' is really the name of the game. in the micra, even with the tyres screeching, if you're taking a decreasing-radius corner, simply turn the wheel more to suit - no need to back off like in the polo.

so, it really pains me to admit this, but i have no doubt that with decent suspension, a tune (to sort out what's under the curve, not necessarily to up peak power or torque), and some sticky 195 section tyres, on a downhill or flat run, i really believe that the micra would be able to keep up with a vw cruise - there wont be any power anywhere, but the car's so light, the steering so direct, it carves corners with ease, and driving it really, really, really makes me realise just how much friggin understeer is built into VAG cars (be it through safety, or engine weight, or whatever).

it's a wonder why i dont see any tuned / lower suspended with fat tyre micras on the road - they're A LOT of fun.

(although i guess most people dont want fun, they want a car that's 1/10th of a second quicker, no matter how much of a handful).