Broken front ARB (collar) what to upgrade too?

[Aimez]

Well had cupra & powerflex wishbone bushes, top mounts, bearings and coilvers fitted at AmD yesterday. They called me to tell my the front ARB collar was broken and they were unable to source a replacement yesterday. I will get my local garage to fit this for me (annoyed as I now have to pay for wheel alignment and labour AGAIN but nothing I can do about that!)

Shall I go with Skoda Fabia front ARB or are there any others better out there what have any of you done as they say this is a very common failure on VAG cars?
To be fair this is the first thing wrong with my car other that squeaking noise that has failed in 3 years so can't complain.

 

[RUM4MO]

One thing to bear in mind is that they are all the same - ie by design and manufacture, but use different diameter bars - only three diameters if I remember correctly 18mm 19mm and 21mm. Edit, that means that size for size they will all have the same VAG p/n.

I would think that an FR Ibiza would have the 19mm fitted, the Cupra 21mm - and same for the GTI Polo. I always got the impression that the Fabia VRS had softer suspension (for its power) than the equivalent Ibiza - so that would mean that the VRS Fabia uses the 19mm ARB.

Only the early cars, ie up to 2004MY were thought/meant to have the crappy plastic end stops or collars, after that a steel "washer" was welded onto the ARB at the two correct points.

So, I'd be curious to know if your car had an early type of ARB or is it the later one and that has still failed?

 

[Chino_UK]

KW make a 22mm ARB?

 

[air121005]

Aimez,

if you just get the ARB cup replaced / fixed, you won't need the alignment re-doing.
the ARB does connect to the suspension strut but doesn't control any steering / wheel alignment.

however, if your replacing the standard ARB for a thicker one, this requires the sub-frame to be un-bolted and dropped.....this whill require the wheel alignment to be checked and possibly adjusted.

anyway, as for which model has what sized ARB;

Sport = 19mm
FR = 20mm
Cupra = 21mm

Fabia VRS = 22mm........costs £67 with the correct sized bushes already pressed around the bar.

by the sounds of it though, you'll need to order one of the retaining cups, so whilst at the Skoda dealer, you may as well order the pair of retaining cups to suit the VRS ARB and fit all new

i'd imagine any after market (KW, Whitline, H & R etc) Front ARB will be at least over £100, think the H & R one is £170 and be no better than the VRS one

hope this helps

 

[Aimez]

One thing to bear in mind is that they are all the same - ie by design and manufacture, but use different diameter bars - only three diameters if I remember correctly 18mm 19mm and 21mm. Edit, that means that size for size they will all have the same VAG p/n.

I would think that an FR Ibiza would have the 19mm fitted, the Cupra 21mm - and same for the GTI Polo. I always got the impression that the Fabia VRS had softer suspension (for its power) than the equivalent Ibiza - so that would mean that the VRS Fabia uses the 19mm ARB.

Only the early cars, ie up to 2004MY were thought/meant to have the crappy plastic end stops or collars, after that a steel "washer" was welded onto the ARB at the two correct points.

So, I'd be curious to know if your car had an early type of ARB or is it the later one and that has still failed?

I have no idea my car is a 54' plate so maybe I wouldn't know what to look for?! Altech has to Fabia ARB fitted to his I remember a while back asking him about it as was gonna get it done but never did now I have to lol! Gotta get one asap next week really I do very low mileage so not too bad but wanna try and get something out of a failure if at all possible, think Amd said something about H & R?

 

[AwesomeSarah]

Oooh Aimez , sorry to hear that
I have the Whiteline front one on my car £117.50 + VAT for that
Not as cheap as OEM though......
Bless , but I am off to look at the pics now of your car
Sarah

 

[Aimez]

Thanks everyone needed help not many people seem to have replaced the front ARB.
Okay so H& R no go that is a stupid price!I think I will ask for this as my Christmas present from my Dad!
Go I am THE unluckiest person in teh entire world why does everything go wrong for me! Getting a bit annoyed now tbh as when I took pics noticed I damaged the wheel on the sunken drain cover I drove over that felt a bit dodgy bloody low profile tyres of doom!

Sod it think I will go with Fabia ones sounds like less hassle tbh and a bit cheaper thanks though Sarah but think this is the cheaper easier route for me.

 

[air121005]

Just head Eibach do a front ARB anyone else running this not hearing anymore on this or IOC forum saying Fabia is the way to go yet?

.....post #4......

i got the Fabia VRS front ARB fitted to mine, works a treat


BTW, what is "IOC Forum" ?

 

[Aimez]

lol I edited my post since then as you can now see lol, Ibiza owners Club forum.

 

[air121005]

if you want to get the retaining cup replaced in the meantime, that car be done fairly simply.

jack up the front of the car,
remove wheel on the damaged side,
think you may have to remove the arch liner, but thats only held on with a few torx screws
the retaining cup is held on with 2 bolts which i think can be got at fairly easily with a spanner / socket set

that said, it won't cause any damage leaving it as it is until you get a thicker bar......


.....sorry to hear about the alloy / drain collision......know how it feels to damage an alloy you've had powder coated / painted

 

[Aimez]

I will leave it but thanks for the help, had even more bad luck tonight gonna have to fork out to get my cracked tooth repaired as well next week!!!FFS! Gonna ask for ARB for early Christmas present now as gonna be the most expensive 2 weeks in awhile now!lol

 

[RUM4MO]

If it is just the ARB's collar that has broken loose, then you will not need to replace either of the pipe clamps to sort it as - it will only need a couple of jubilee clips (well I used two for extra security) at one side of the pipe clamp to stop it walking across and hitting the aluminium console as a "get by" until you can replace the ARB.

I'd think that from your original description that it is the actual ARB that is broken, but as you as using a proper VAG indie to sort it out, I'd expect that they would do the right thing and as the Cupra is quoted as being 21mm and the VRS 22mm - that would seem the right way to go along with the correct new pipe clamps - but again your fixer will do this.

 

[Aimez]

They said ARB collars not the ARB they said it is okay to drive on (who know how long it has been like that anyway!) but to get it fixed asap! They are not fixing it though they are an hours drive away through the M25 and Dartford crossing! Gonna get it fixed 5 mins from work alot cheaper and easier!
Update later hopefully depending on how busy they are.

Update, asked them to order Fabia vRS one for me they they are busy so proby won't be sorted until end of the week dunno about wheel alignment being done again forgot to ask! Lads at work said oh just see if the tyres wear unevenly or not but I forked out alot of money for 4 new tyres when I got these wheels 13months ago and don't really wanna wait for that to happen and now all the other suspension bits are sorted want to keep it nice.