suspension refresh 06 BRM 5 speed

I am replacing the suspension in my 06 Jetta. 235xxx miles. Nothing appears to have been worked on before. I have a set of new old stock oem struts and springs. Just ordered the install kit from ECS tuning (https://www.ecstuning.com/b-assembl...ation-kit-with-specialty-sockets/mk5ssktcomp/)
My question is, since I'm going to have the vehicle up on stands for a few weeks while I do this work, what else should I look into replacing? Full set of bushings? Poly?
Thanks!

Check your CV joints and wheel bearings. My Jetta TDI had numerous problems, which included bad wheel bearings and bad CV joints, but it did not exhibit any noticeable symptoms of these problems even though 1 wheel bearing and 2 CV joints were way out of minimum specification and needed replacement. To add to the issues, the VW dealer had informed me awhile ago that my front swing arms were looking problematic and should be replaced, which I still have not done as I did not believe them.

Did they mean LCA's (Lower Control Arms)?

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At 235 K miles, and since you will have the car apart, I would change the LCA bushings, ball joints and stabilizer bar bushings.

Is the suspension actually worn out? I'm at 185K miles and my suspension is all factory original and is perfectly fine. I would say that if it was a Chevy, a lot of the suspension parts would be long worn out at 235K miles, but on these A5 cars not necessarily worn out even at 235K miles.

Our old piece of poo Chevy Cavalier had the R/F strut completely devoid of oil at 25K miles, outside of the cheesy warranty (12K miles) GM offered at the time. Going down the freeway it was like there was a jack hammer in the R/F corner of the car.

Ol'Rattler said:

Did they mean LCA's (Lower Control Arms)?

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At 235 K miles, and since you will have the car apart, I would change the LCA bushings, ball joints and stabilizer bar bushings.

Is the suspension actually worn out? I'm at 185K miles and my suspension is all factory original and is perfectly fine. I would say that if it was a Chevy, a lot of the suspension parts would be long worn out at 235K miles, but on these A5 cars not necessarily worn out even at 235K miles.

Our old piece of poo Chevy Cavalier had the R/F strut completely devoid of oil at 25K miles, outside of the cheesy warranty (12K miles) GM offered at the time. Going down the freeway it was like there was a jack hammer in the R/F corner of the car.

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Both rear springs are broken due to rust(love northeast ohio winters) and front struts are noisy. Found a fellow forum member selling his old stuff since he went coilover shortly after buying his vehicle. Parts he sent me look brand new. Very impressed. For the bushings you mentioned, would you stay stock rubber, or go poly?

Great score on the OEM struts. All of the suspension parts on my car are factory original and I'm at 185K miles. From you description it sounds like your suspension is getting pretty tired. We rarely salt the roads here so that must be why my suspension is in such good shape.

IDK about the poly bushings, but some people think they might be too stiff and cause a harsh ride.
There are some stiffer parts that can be used from the Audi parts bin, such as the Audi S3 control arm bracket with bushing:
https://www.idparts.com/ball-joints-control-arms-c-36_179.html
For the other bushing, the OEM one is probably a good choice.
https://www.idparts.com/control-arm-front-bushing-a5a6-p-4818.html

For ball joint, the Lemforders are actually fine and will last at least 200K miles.
You need the control arm mounting bolts as well as the strut tower bolts that are not in the kit you bought.

You can go here: https://1stvwparts.com as a reference for illustrations. Just select your car and go to suspension to get the OEM part numbers to use on the IDParts website. The illustrations are extremely helpful for figuring out what parts you need.

Many of the bolts a one time use TTY bolts that can't be reused but if the rust is as bad as you implied, you might as well change them all. I'll look in my Bentley's tomorrow to see what bolts could be reused. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ