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[Entwood]

Reading the "book of lies" (Haynes) there is no mention of wishbones.. is the posh name "Front Lower Suspension Arm"  ??

Pretty please ..

Yep - I suppose they probably give it a 1 out of 5 do they?   :-/;D

3 out of 5 for difficulty ..

I'm probably being daft .. but memory (senility?? ) seems to say something being written about all the torquing up being done with the weight on the wheels ?? but no mention in either the "how-to" or the book of lies ... am I confusing this with something else

and how long to do ... remembering I've never done the job before ??

[lpgelite]

I've fitted heavy duty BMW 5 Series E34 upper front control arm bushes to my Omega in place of the Boge wishbone pivot bushes.

I think they're made by Febi Bilstein and can be had for a tenner each + p&p from a guy on eBay called zeldautos.

He'll list them for you if there's none showing.

They are a superior design and a perfect fit. Expect them to last many times longer than standard cr*p.

They virtually eliminate toe-out under braking, which is what destroys the inner edges of the front tyres in such a short time.

When fitting make sure the arrow on the bush points towards the centre of the car with the arm horizontal.

This will transform the feel of the steering to something like you would expect these cars to drive.

Also check the steering idler for vertical play, which will aggravate the situation if it's worn.

New GM wishbones are available from Vauxhall car parts at £23.95 inc VAT.

They're on this catalogue page

http://www.vauxhall-car-parts.co.uk/acatalog/Omega-Front-axle.html

Could even be worth fitting BMW bushes to these at that price.

When tightening the pivot bolts either hold the arm as near to horizontal as possible before fitting the bottom ball joint pin into the suspension, or leave them slack and do it with the weight of the car on the ground.

The former is easier - you just need the arm nearly horizontal when tightening to avoid pre loading the bush and causing premature failure.

Regards

Martyn H

[platty]

The last time I did a set I used a pair of ramps and sat 2 people in the car to make it sit down. Loads more space to torque up properly then - the height makes a negligible difference IMO 

EDIT:

New GM wishbones are available from Vauxhall car parts at £23.95 inc VAT.

They're on this catalogue page

http://www.vauxhall-car-parts.co.uk/acatalog/Omega-Front-axle.html

It does say they are Vauxhall parts, but I would be very surprised if they are at that price. I understood than genuine ones were very pricey  :-/

[Kevin Wood]

3 out of 5 for difficulty ..

I'm probably being daft .. but memory (senility?? ) seems to say something being written about all the torquing up being done with the weight on the wheels ?? but no mention in either the "how-to" or the book of lies ... am I confusing this with something else

and how long to do ... remembering I've never done the job before ??

The front bushes need to be done up, officially, with the car on its' wheels, on level ground, with 50Kg on each front seat IIRC. This means the rubber material in the bush is not twisted at rest and is less likely to fail early.  They can be nipped up on the ground and then torqued when raised if clearance is an issue.

The rearmost bushes on the wishbones can be torqued up when jacked up.

It's not a hard job but the bottom balljoint can be a little challenging to remove from the stub axle. Start appying some plus gas daily a week before you start the job and have a crowbar, a large screwdriver and a decent "persuader" handy.

There is an odd sized socket or two required, as well, so make sure you have a set that covers up to 25mm or so without any "gaps".

Be careful that the rear bush retaining bolt doesn't drop into the chassis box section and disappear when removing / reassembling.

Kevin

[Entwood]

3 out of 5 for difficulty ..

I'm probably being daft .. but memory (senility?? ) seems to say something being written about all the torquing up being done with the weight on the wheels ?? but no mention in either the "how-to" or the book of lies ... am I confusing this with something else

and how long to do ... remembering I've never done the job before ??

The front bushes need to be done up, officially, with the car on its' wheels, on level ground, with 50Kg on each front seat IIRC. This means the rubber material in the bush is not twisted at rest and is less likely to fail early.  They can be nipped up on the ground and then torqued when raised if clearance is an issue.

The rearmost bushes on the wishbones can be torqued up when jacked up.

It's not a hard job but the bottom balljoint can be a little challenging to remove from the stub axle. Start appying some plus gas daily a week before you start the job and have a crowbar, a large screwdriver and a decent "persuader" handy.

There is an odd sized socket or two required, as well, so make sure you have a set that covers up to 25mm or so without any "gaps".

Be careful that the rear bush retaining bolt doesn't drop into the chassis box section and disappear when removing / reassembling.

Kevin

Many thanks for that, nowt in the book of lies or the how-to about the torquing up, just seemed to remember reading something about it ... at least you've cleared it up for me

Tool-kit is the halfords pro one .. so hopefully has all the needed sockets.

The bottom ball joint/plusgas treatment .. anywhere in particular or just a general soak of the area ??

Other points noted with thanks   Hopefully I should be able to do both sides in a day ?

[Kevin Wood]

Tool-kit is the halfords pro one .. so hopefully has all the needed sockets.

Should be OK. 21mm Spark plug socket is handy on the rear of the two wishbone bushes - a bit more reach.

The bottom ball joint/plusgas treatment .. anywhere in particular or just a general soak of the area ??

There's a pin on the ball joint that goes into the bottom of the stub axle, and a pinch bolt that clamps it there. Both could do with some as they are both tight to remove IME.

Hopefully I should be able to do both sides in a day ?

Yep. Should be no problem. To release the bottom balljoint pin from the stub axle, remove pinch bolt, wedge a screwdriver into the crack in the stub axle to open it up a tad, then load up the joint by using a crowbar or similar between ball joint body and stub axle, and clout the crowbar to shock it loose.

Kevin

[Ian_D]

Both my Omegas need tyres asap...

Need 6 infact in total!  My list of expences goes on... and on... and on.  :-/

Keep telling myself that they are worth it  .

Must admit I am having second thoughts  :-?

[feeutfo]

hmmm. Am i the only one that thinks wear on the outside edge is unusual for wishbone bush failure? Sounds like i am? Would think they would toe out not toe in?

[feeutfo]

or would toe issues scrub the whole surface..?

[Entwood]

Well both wishbones changed ... what a pig of a job   Took about 3 hours longer than I planned/expected

Problems :

Drivers side - Followed the "how to" and all came off very easily, much to my surprise. Then to put the new one on ...   Discovered you need 4 hands to hold the shock absorber out of the way while you line up the rear bolt, eventually got it lined up with the bolt the "wrong" way, just like the how to says ... then everytime I took the bolt out the damned thing moved so it wouldn't drop in from above ... took the damned thing off and on 3 times before I got it to work ... only to discover I'd used the long bolt instead of the short one ...  ARRRGGGH ... so battle recommenced, got there eventually.

Passenger side : Top bolt of the two on the shock absorber would not move ... sought advice ...WIM ... they said you can do it without undoing those bolts, just makes it slightly trickier ... they don't joke do they !! So got all the bolts undone but the rear did NOT want to come apart.

Eventually managed to drag it out ... so we try to put the new one in ... not a hope ... eventually realised the problem was the antiroll bar was not allowing me to lift the wishbone flat enough.

So a bit of ingenuity, got some wood and built a little stack from the trolley jack to the bottom of the suspension strut, and lifted gently .. sure enough as the spring compressed the antiroll bar moved up with it ... enough to get the wishbone in sweet as a nut .. wish I'd thought of that both on the drivers side and when trying to remove this one.

So get both front and rear bolts in nicely, just have to line up the bottom ball joint .. HAH ... with the steering knuckle still attached there was no way it would line up properly ... well and truly frustrated after 45 minutes of trying..... Now all this time I had been soaking the stuck top bolt in plus-gas, knowing that it would need to be loose for the geometry setup. So I got my large torque wrench, put in undo mode, braced my back against  a stack made of 2 wheels and 2 toolboxes, put my feet against it and pushed ... bloody hard .. it was either going to undo or shear. It undid !!  So with the knuckle off it was easy to pop the bottom ball joint in then reassemble the knuckle to the suspension leg.

I left both front and rear bolts both sides loose, but torqued everything else up - I couldn't find a torque setting for the pinch bolt.... so I used 35 NM ... is that enough ??

Once everything else was back together I stacked tool boxes, trolly jack, axle stands in the passenger wheel well and  got SWMBO to sit in the drivers seat while I torqued up those bolts.

What a pain ..... I couldn't see enough to do the angle tightening the book of lies refers to ... so I did 120 NM followed by 130 NM ...  is that tight enough do you think ??

Car is booked in to WIM for 2 new boots and a full geometry next Thursday, if the tyres get worse between now and then I don't really care !!!! I made no attempt whatsover to set any camber angles ... The bolts just went in and tight !!

My thoughts are to get WIM to move the rear tyres (1/2 worn) to the front and to put new ones on the back, then do the geometry .. does that sound sensible ??

Now all I have to do is decide which tyres ... Dunlop Sports 6xxx or Pilot Primacy seem to get good write ups on the forum .. any other ideas from anyone I don't drive it in F1.. but I do sometimes hit the loud switch, so I want some decent grip but a reasonably hardwearing tyre.

I am now going to rub germolene into all the places the car has bittten me .. and have a very cold beer ... 

(Sorry for the lengthy of the post ..   )

[JamesV6CDX]

Well done Nige. All common problems - and all become easier when you've done it a few times

Re the pinch bolt - can't remember but, that sounds low...

[VXL V6]

My thoughts are to get WIM to move the rear tyres (1/2 worn) to the front and to put new ones on the back, then do the geometry .. does that sound sensible ??

When I asked Tony about doing that he said he didn't recomend moving tyres from front to back or visa versa as they tend to take on a profile that is defined by the suspension (look at the camber of the rear compared to the fronts).

I guess if you ask 100 people about tyres you'll get 100 different answers, all i'll say is my preference is for Dunlop Sport 9090's.

Well done with all the hard work  , I have to say I took the easy option last time and supplied the parts to WIM and let them do it while I drank Tea! 

[Entwood]

Any of the "experts" any comments on :

Pinch bolt torque .. is 35 NM enough ?? if not what should i t be ??

Front and rear wishbone bolts .. unable to see to angle tighten so did to 120 NM then 130 NM .. is this OK ??

Don't want to leave them unsafe as I've got 200  miles to do on Monday and another 90 to WIM on Thursday ..

[JamesV6CDX]

I can't help thinking that pinch bolt needs to be more than 35nm - but I can't tell you specifically what, from memory...

Is Mr Haynes any use?

[sassanach]

more than adequate.