Cupra R rear bushings - orientation?

03TDICommuter

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I spent an hour reading many different how to's on changing the rear axle bushings, and couldn't find any mention about how to clock the Cupra R bushings. Kerma's site says they stripe their bushings so the end user can clock them correctly . The Febi set I have from Idparts that I bought years ago for my Jetta, and never installed, have no such stripe.

Anyone know how they should be installed?

Thanks!

(I'm getting the courage up to replace the bushings on the NB. The vehicle still feels a little loose on the freeway and when bouncing over dips on turns at speed.)
 

KrashDH

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That's a great write up!
You don't have to worry about the orientation of the Cupra R bushings. They are solid rubber instead of having voids in the material. The old ones you needed to align properly because axle deflection needed to be correct with where the material was, for proper support.
If you're worried, just note the orientation the old ones come out in.
 

03TDICommuter

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Thank you both! Krash - when I look at the rubber on the side of the bushing with the wide, black face, there is some taper to them. Thought maybe they did that for a reason. The taper aligns with the voids marked on the photo that zslnk linked to.

Zslnk - nice visual. I'll install them the same way.

I'm hoping to not have a big fight getting the old ones out.
 
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03TDICommuter

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Here's where the taper, or voids in the link Zslnk gave, are located. The index cards won't fit in the 3:00/9:00 position.
 

zslnk

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To remove the old ones I took a sawzall or drill and went around aluminum insert and hammered it out. Once it's out, you can take the sawzall and carefully (so you don't cut into the steel ring) cut through the remaining bushing toward the steel ring. Once you cut through the bushing you can get a screwdriver in there and work it out easily.

Also, I recall one of the pivot bolts wouldn't come out as it contacted the fuel tank, I cut this bolt with the sawzall and inserted the new bolt in the opposite orientation on re-assembly. You could drop the mount off the car to avoid this but there may be alignment concerns if you do that.
 

03TDICommuter

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Also, I recall one of the pivot bolts wouldn't come out as it contacted the fuel tank, I cut this bolt with the sawzall and inserted the new bolt in the opposite orientation on re-assembly. You could drop the mount off the car to avoid this but there may be alignment concerns if you do that.
Thanks! Good to know about the one pivot bolt. I'll crawl under there to confirm, and make sure I stop by the dealer for the bolt if I have the same issue.

Looking forward to getting the 'wiggling' on the freeway fixed (hope it's these bushings).

FWIW, I took a closer look into the gap on the Cupra R bushing and it does look like that void goes into the bushing too. It's not just on the face of the bushing. So they're not completely solid.

Dave
 

KrashDH

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Thanks! Good to know about the one pivot bolt. I'll crawl under there to confirm, and make sure I stop by the dealer for the bolt if I have the same issue.

Looking forward to getting the 'wiggling' on the freeway fixed (hope it's these bushings).

FWIW, I took a closer look into the gap on the Cupra R bushing and it does look like that void goes into the bushing too. It's not just on the face of the bushing. So they're not completely solid.

Dave
I guess I stand corrected! I know I used that write up when I installed mine but I guess I didn't scroll far enough through the thread!

I just put them in the same orientation that I took the old ones out in, It's funny I thought that "taper" where the bushing is away from the face I had a defect or something and the rubber was pulling away. I don't remember seeing any "voids" though, ie the bushing is solid. I guess there is just a "wedge" of rubber missing along that centerline.

Next time I have my car up on ramps I'll take a look, but def don't want to yank those out again haha.
 

KrashDH

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I'll try and get a close up photo. It's hard to look in there and I imagine much harder when they're installed.
I just went out and got it on ramps because the curiosity was killing me.

Pretty sure I aligned them to the wrong line (90* off).
They haven't failed yet and the axle hasn't fallen off, so I guess at some point I'll probably be re doing them prematurely.
 

03TDICommuter

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Here's some photos on the gap inside the bushing. It was challenging to get the shot with my iphone and a flashlight but I think you can see a void that goes into the bushing. Note that I did not pry the end cover at all - this is peering through the gap between the end cap and the body of the bushing. FWIW, there is a mold line on the body of the bushing that lines up with the orientation axis for both my bushings, so I'll just use that to clock it during installation.



 

KrashDH

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Yeah for sure. I'm wondering now for the OEM bushings, where that taper/voids are. Is it "inline" with the marking on the OEM bushing?

Edit; I guess it wouldn't really matter as the Cupra's have the taper on each side. So yup, I am def 90* off according to that other thread.

Bummer, not really wanting to drop that axle to re-do it.
 
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sangretdi

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i just did the cupra rear bushings on my 99.5 golf. i had the same question, orientation was unclear. i did an internet search and asked a few of the usual vendors and got many conflicting answers. found a youtube video and took a screen shot from it - shows the guy had the line on it assume he bought it from kerma that way? (i bought from either IDparts or bora, forgot) looking at the construction of the bushing, it looked correct to me so i used his reference.
** advice**a standard bushing driver for stock bushings will not be deep enough to set these all the way. go to auto parts store and rent their bearing puller kit. it will have a spacer to help you get the depth. also, i planned to leave the axle on the car and do 1 side at a time. even after taking all the clips off my brake lines weren't long enough to clear the axle and get the bushing mounting bolts out, so i removed the beam. if you have the same problem and have to remove the beam, do yourself a favor and use those fluid hose clamps on the flexible brake lines before removing from the hard lines to keep most of the air out of the system. i didn't do that and had a TOTAL ***** of a time clearing the air out of the ABS pump and went through a tone of fluid doing it. good luck!

 
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KrashDH

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i just did the cupra rear bushings on my 99.5 golf. i had the same question, orientation was unclear. i did an internet search and asked a few of the usual vendors and got many conflicting answers. found a youtube video and took a screen shot from it - shows the guy had the line on it assume he bought it from kerma that way? (i bought from either IDparts or bora, forgot) looking at the construction of the bushing, it looked correct to me so i used his reference.
** advice**a standard bushing driver for stock bushings will not be deep enough to set these all the way. go to auto parts store and rent their bearing puller kit. it will have a spacer to help you get the depth. also, i planned to leave the axle on the car and do 1 side at a time. even after taking all the clips off my brake lines weren't long enough to clear the axle and get the bushing mounting bolts out, so i removed the beam. if you have the same problem and have to remove the beam, do yourself a favor and use those fluid hose clamps on the flexible brake lines before removing from the hard lines to keep most of the air out of the system. i didn't do that and had a TOTAL ***** of a time clearing the air out of the ABS pump and went through a tone of fluid doing it. good luck!

Interesting. According to that line, I'd be installed correctly then. Now I'm all sorts of confused.

From what I see from an OEM bushing is that the mark that lines up or points to the beam weld, opposite side has the removed material. Which would mean that spot would sit at approx 5 o clock on the passenger side and 7 o clock on the driver side.

Have a link to that video?
 

KrashDH

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Thanks @ToxicDoc , I did find it after a bit.
So here's the thing...if you look at the paint mark in the video, it's 90* from the "centerline" described in that other linked thread...or 90* from the "void" in the Cupra R bushings.

When I ordered my bushing from IDparts, there were no yellow paint marks...according to the other thread, your supposed to align the centerline of the bushing with the weld on the rear beam bushing housing to beam...that would "center" the void in the Cupra r with the weld...but in the vid, with the paint mark, it's 90* from where the voids are (as well as per the notrcard photo above), which means your voids would be 90* from the weld if you align the paint mark at the prope location...

So is anyone else confused yet??? Which one is it?
 

03TDICommuter

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Oh gosh, I'm confused now too. That alignment mark is 90 degrees different BUT the installed direction on the arm in his video appears to be the same as the other way in that the elongation in the hole looks to still be mounted such that it's up and down.
 

KrashDH

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Oh gosh, I'm confused now too. That alignment mark is 90 degrees different BUT the installed direction on the arm in his video appears to be the same as the other way in that the elongation in the hole looks to still be mounted such that it's up and down.
Haha I saw that too! I had to watch the video 10x but I noticed when the owner installed them, they almost look like the other thread! Like he decieved us!

If you look at an OEM bushing, the "mark" for install that is supposed to line up with the upper weld is OPPOSITE of the "void" or "chamfered" rubber material. This would put that chamfered rubber part at about 5 o clock on passenger and 7 o clock on driver side (almost pointed straight down at the ground but sightly "canted" towards the front of the car.

All I guess I have to say that is if I have to do this job again on my 02, I hope I can do it on the car without taking the axle out. It looked like another TDI member did it on the car without even disconnect the shocks or removing the coils...(from the photos in the thread)
 

03TDICommuter

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All I guess I have to say that is if I have to do this job again on my 02, I hope I can do it on the car without taking the axle out. It looked like another TDI member did it on the car without even disconnect the shocks or removing the coils...(from the photos in the thread)
If it's working for you, I'd leave it. Probably more important that they both go in the same way. Same way right or same way wrong. They're not that cheap.
 

KrashDH

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If it's working for you, I'd leave it. Probably more important that they both go in the same way. Same way right or same way wrong. They're not that cheap.
Very true though, but things like these eat away at me in the back of my head haha.
I might get another set on order and put them on the shelf...
 

Nuje

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Not sure if this helps at all (me not ever having done rear bushings), but here's what the manual says:
 
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03TDICommuter

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Not sure if this helps at all (me not ever having done rear bushings), but here's what the manual says:
Thank you. That matches the thread zslnk linked to up in post #2. The originals might have a different gap at the top than the bottom (like the LCA rear bushing, the gap is assymmetrical. Anyone have a clear photo of the original bushings, showing the actual gaps?
 

KrashDH

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Thank you. That matches the thread zslnk linked to up in post #2. The originals might have a different gap at the top than the bottom (like the LCA rear bushing, the gap is assymmetrical. Anyone have a clear photo of the original bushings, showing the actual gaps?
Everything I've seen online shows the bushing "taper" opposite or 180* from the assignment mark on OEM bushings.

See images in the link:

You can make out the mark and the taper in one of the photos
 

sangretdi

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I'm really surprised an image from a Cupra shop manual showing the correct orientation is not on the web anywhere. At least I never found one...
 

Nuje

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I spent some time last night looking too and came up empty handed.
There's looking and then there's L👀KING. :D

Not sure if this is the Cupra per sé, but I found this for the Leon Mk1 (built on VW Mk4 platform):


So, the diagram above would indicate that the installer in this thread didn't get theirs installed properly (annotated photo from that thread below).
(Edit: This is *not* the definitive answer on this matter; check out my update later in this thread.)
 
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KrashDH

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There's looking and then there's L👀KING. :D

Not sure if this is the Cupra per sé, but I found this for the Leon Mk1 (built on VW Mk4 platform):


So, the diagram above would indicate that the installer in this thread didn't get theirs installed properly (annotated photo from that thread below).
I would agree on both fronts that is not the correct orientation. According to our MKIV manuals at least. That would appear to be the passenger side. They've got the centerline pointing to the incorrect weld on the trailing arm.
 

Nuje

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You would agree, though, that the diagram from the Leon would be correct, right?
 
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ToxicDoc

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Nice find. I have the bushings and was waiting to install until the orientation issue was made clear
 
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