Ibiza front damper change
Discussion
Right, own up...
Which f
king blind spacktard designed the front suspension setup on the Ibiza (and presumably the Polo etc)? 
Fair enough, if you want to use spline headed bolts at the bottom of the damper, that's awkward but not the end of the world.
And the top nut too, it doesn't really matter that it needs a 21mm swan neck spanner that is about as common as rocking horse st.
But once all the bolts are undone, why, oh why, oh why the fk does it need 2 grown men with mallets to remove the bottom of said damper from its locating mount on the wishbone? And, as Mr Haynes is famous for saying, refitting was EXACTLY the reverse of removal. bd thing.
FFS
Which f
king blind spacktard designed the front suspension setup on the Ibiza (and presumably the Polo etc)? Fair enough, if you want to use spline headed bolts at the bottom of the damper, that's awkward but not the end of the world.
And the top nut too, it doesn't really matter that it needs a 21mm swan neck spanner that is about as common as rocking horse s
t. But once all the bolts are undone, why, oh why, oh why the f
k does it need 2 grown men with mallets to remove the bottom of said damper from its locating mount on the wishbone? And, as Mr Haynes is famous for saying, refitting was EXACTLY the reverse of removal. bd thing.FFS
Edited by parapaul on Monday 7th June 15:17
i know exactly where you are coming from. The last polo i worked on it took nearly a day just to swap the fronts. hour or more on the bd top nuts- tip Air tools are the best way, seriously in less you get the nut to break free on first attempt there is nothing more frustrating than trying to undo the top nut with the dampener shaft turning. As you say a swan neck spanner is a rare beast, i dont have one so have modified a spark plug socket to allow my to hold the bolt with a spanner and use a allen key to hold the shaft. This works fine until the day you come across a VAG car that has the struts that dont have allen keys but a tiny sqaured nipple on top for a spanner to go on then you need to find a spanner or way of holding the top nut. Once the top nut is off the dampener unit is a mare to get out, in the past have resorted to scaffold poles for leaverage!
All in all i hate polo/ibiza fronts. Let me work on a golf and avoiding the issues above its possible to swap front and rear shocks/springs in a couple of hours.
dave
d top nuts- tip Air tools are the best way, seriously in less you get the nut to break free on first attempt there is nothing more frustrating than trying to undo the top nut with the dampener shaft turning. As you say a swan neck spanner is a rare beast, i dont have one so have modified a spark plug socket to allow my to hold the bolt with a spanner and use a allen key to hold the shaft. This works fine until the day you come across a VAG car that has the struts that dont have allen keys but a tiny sqaured nipple on top for a spanner to go on then you need to find a spanner or way of holding the top nut. Once the top nut is off the dampener unit is a mare to get out, in the past have resorted to scaffold poles for leaverage!All in all i hate polo/ibiza fronts. Let me work on a golf and avoiding the issues above its possible to swap front and rear shocks/springs in a couple of hours.
dave
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