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[Lizzie Zoom]

As said - drum it into them that they MUST torque the bolts up with the weight of the car on the front wheels. Otherwise, the bushes will tear apart in no time. Although, that would then be a good excuse to polybush the front of them. Due to the design, polybushes can be tightened with the wheels in the air.

Ok. Thanks!

[BazaJT]

Not long ago[as I've got to do the bottom arms-well one at least on the V70]I asked at a main dealer-not Volvo or Vauxhall-how they went about tightening the bolts with the weight on the wheels as they have mainly two post ramps and was told they don't bother they just "gun them up".So that's a job I'll be doing myself.

[Doctor Gollum]

Not long ago[as I've got to do the bottom arms-well one at least on the V70]I asked at a main dealer-not Volvo or Vauxhall-how they went about tightening the bolts with the weight on the wheels as they have mainly two post ramps and was told they don't bother they just "gun them up".So that's a job I'll be doing myself.

You sound surprised

Dealers only get involved in EOL service items* if they are within warranty, ie when the car is still in its first couple of years.

* End Of Lease, ie anything that wears out between 80-120k miles... So suspension, exhaust, wheel bearings etc... And is a therefore not costed into lease maintenance plans to mislead fleet management.

This makes main dealers pretty lousy places for wear and tear repairs, especially on cars of this age where most main dealer techs are potentially as old as the car.

[amba]

Well fair play to you Lizzie...that's a fair investment into your car and I hope the work is carried out to your satisfaction.

Agree with comments about age of cars being worked on at Main Dealers by the Doctor and I cant imagine Caffyns have fitted many V6 Omega cambelt kits in the past few years so hope the man charged with the job knows his way around the engine,so I think I would be visiting the workshop during the repairs just to check they aren't using "tippex" and " mole grips " .

[Bigron]

Serek will do it properly.

Ron.

[amba]

And considerably cheaper 

[Sir Tigger KC]

Keep the current set of wishbones Lizzie, so if the job needs doing again you can refurbish the original set rather than buying another new set. 

[amba]

Sir Tig.

At Lizzies current mileage of 4k per year I think she will be viewing this work as a long term investment ,although an additional cost factor to the 1.8k spend is an alignment 

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

And then theres the minefield of finding a place to do it properly. The three I know of are WIM, Tyre smart in Witham and Nigel Langs in Bolton.

[Doctor Gollum]

Keep the current set of wishbones Lizzie, so when the job needs doing again you can refurbish the original set rather than buying another new set. 

Fixed. It's an Omega, ergo, it will need doing again... A week later if they don't tighten the bolts with the weight of the car on the ground 

[Lizzie Zoom]

Thanks guys for all your very useful comments and advice.  All taken on board and I will be monitoring/speaking to Caffyns about them

[terry paget]

Not long ago[as I've got to do the bottom arms-well one at least on the V70]I asked at a main dealer-not Volvo or Vauxhall-how they went about tightening the bolts with the weight on the wheels as they have mainly two post ramps and was told they don't bother they just gun them up".So that's a job I'll be doing myself.

I have a brute of a 3/4" air line impact wrench I bought to undo stubborn nuts, max. claimed torque 1000lb.ft. The adjuster knob is the same as on my 1/2" air gun, with 1 2 3 4 settings. I have witnessed tyre shops 'gun up' wheel nuts, and found them almost impossible to undo. Can some guns be preset to a certain torque, or are they all like mine?

[aaronjb]

They're all like yours, Terry (in my experience) - the four settings are "tight", "tighter", "much tighter" and "you'll give yourself a hernia when you undo this"

Torque sticks or torque limiting sockets should be used when doing up wheel nuts, then final tighten with a torque wrench. But no tyre shop charging pennies and paying their staff 50p an hour can afford the time needed to change the socket on the gun, find the torque wrench and look up the specs..

[Bigron]

I had to tell Kwik-Shit that my wheelnut torque setting was 110Nm!

Ron.

[terry paget]

Poly fronts are about £70 a pair now and will last the cars life.I was sceptical when mine were fitted as thought it would be to severe but they work well and take the car where you point it .

Backs are around £20 but will either require some engineering with studding to remove and refit or a big press and a few quid in the garages coffee pot.

After fitting alignment is essential and should cost around £ 60/£70...place near MacDonalds off A2070 do it think they are called Tyre Pro or similar.

Doing it yourself then ?

Thanks.

 Not sure yet but, yes it is Protyre previouly Tyreweb, have quoted £180 but cannot supply poly bushes. The Vx dealer has quoted £231, with TC, with genuine parts.

But, if others confirm that it is straight forward to do the front bushes then I might go down that route. The question is do I want to be crawling around on the floor, when I could just let the professionals take the strain.

It's only an advisory note, presumably on an MOT pass certificate. If it drives all right I should leave it until next year. A lot can happen to a 16 year old car in a year.
My Rover Streetwise has had advisories on drive shaft gaiters for the last three years, but it keeps passing MOTs. Some examiners feel obliged to pick a fault on every 16 year old car, lest people think they are not trying.