Winter project - suspension upgrade

Right, so my car been for a mot and service and unfortunately there are a fair bit of advisories to address (see below). I am considering doing some of this myself as money is tight at the moment (house renovation)...although I have no experience with car, I am pretty good with tools (diy, bikes etc) and not scared of learning getting dirty. I have had a look at the coffin arms/bushes, mufflers and discs and they all seem to be within my capabilities. But what about the suspensions? Is this doable? Front Brake disc worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened (1.1.14 (a) (ii)) Rear Brake disc worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened (1.1.14 (a) (ii)) Nearside Front Outer Brake pipe corroded, covered in grease or other material (1.1.11 (c)) Nearside Front Lower Suspension arm pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement Inner bush (5.3.4 (a) (i)) Offside Front Inner Suspension arm pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement Inner bush (5.3.4 (a) (i)) Nearside Front Macpherson strut pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement Top mount (5.3.4 (a) (i)) Offside Front Macpherson strut pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement Top mount (5.3.4 (a) (i)) Nearside Front Macpherson strut corroded but not seriously weakened (5.3.3 (b) (i)) Offside Front Macpherson strut corroded but not seriously weakened (5.3.3 (b) (i))

None of its particularly hard, you need spring compressor's for changing the dampers which are usually a bit exciting but there's a million guides on YouTube. Coffin and diagonal arms should be really easy, but the bolts can rust into the sleeves in the bushes, so you have to cut them out, which is a make pita and can turn a 15 min job into an hour. I just did my rear toe arms, one was super easy, one needed cutting off with a reciprocating saw. If you do cut any off, You need to be really careful not to damage the aluminium subframe they bolt onto. While you have it apart, check the toe and camber adjusters aren't seized into the bushes, and if they are replace those arms too. The diagonal arms are done up really tight, 160nm and 180nm off the top of my head, so you'll need a big torque wrench. It's worth replacing the bolts on the diagonal arms too. You may be able to get a kit from autodoc with all the arms and the bolts, I just got one for my wife's Audi.

As above. Those are relatively straightforward jobs with the right tools, until you discover something is seized, stripped or previously bodged. At that point ingenuity, perseverance and reference to this forum will be required. If you like that sort of thing, go for it, but my advice is to be realistic about your capabilities and think hard before going beyond the point of no return.

Thanks guys for confirming what I thought! Even if I might swear in the middle of it I am not scared of a few seized and rusted bolt. So first thing is doing the shopping and I am looking for recommendations, I need the following. Any help/recommendations for brands/shop I could get would be much appreciated! 1. Front suspension top mounts which apparently are unbounding and corroded. 2. Front Suspensions bump stops which are perished 3. Front Suspensions shock absorbers casings which are corroded 4. Front shock absorbers which has corrosions on the upper shaft 5. Front Lower suspensions arms (bushes are on their way but not excessive play) 6. Front and rear diagonal support which are corroded 7. Rear upper suspension arms bushes arms (bushes unbonding) I might better off putting new upper, lower and diagonal arms all over? I guess they will come with new bushes etc. And new shock absorbers at the front?

Thanks guys for confirming what I thought! Even if I might swear in the middle of it I am not scared of a few seized and rusted bolt. So first thing is doing the shopping and I am looking for recommendations, I need the following. Any help/recommendations for brands/shop I could get would be much appreciated! 1. Front suspension top mounts which apparently are unbounding and corroded. 2. Front Suspensions bump stops which are perished 3. Front Suspensions shock absorbers casings which are corroded 4. Front shock absorbers which has corrosions on the upper shaft 5. Front Lower suspensions arms (bushes are on their way but not excessive play) 6. Front and rear diagonal support which are corroded 7. Rear upper suspension arms bushes arms (bushes unbonding) I might better off putting new upper, lower and diagonal arms all over? I guess they will come with new bushes etc. And new shock absorbers at the front?

The arms are aluminium, so corrosion on those is entirely normal. If you are replacing the front dampers, replace the rears as well so the damping rates map.

Right so my first job for this winter was to replace long gone and leaking mufflers. Bought Toggear mild mufflers for a little bit more sounds but nothing too loud. As expected most bolts and screw were pretty badly corroded. Took the bumper, wheels, heat shields off to make the job a lot easier. Unfortunately in the process: - one of the stud holding the side shield (chassis one under the arch) snapped. Quick search and it turns out someone had the same problem here and welded a new one with JB Weld. Should be in tomorrow for the quick repair. - The 2 brackets holding the side shield to the long/middle one are all corroded and bonded with the screw. Since this is screwed onto plastic my only easy option was to drill the rivets holding the bracket onto the shield. Unfortunately one of the bracket was obviously tired and snapped in half in the process. These bracket don't seem to be sold anywhere so I might have to fabricate one, they are easy and soft enough to do so. Trying to remove the mufflers, the 3 bolts on the bracket were so corroded that there was no way I could lose them up so I angle grinded the original mufflers and the 2 long bolts on either side of the bracket holding the muffler. That was easy enough apart from one which had corroded in the sleeve and bonded with it.With a bit of heat and drilling., 20min later the sleeve was free (I could not believe how much Porsche is selling those sleeves for!). Third issue when removing my exhaust tailpipe silencer connector, one of them is in a bad shape with the end of the pipe connecting to the muffler broken in many places. Unfortunately no other choice than getting a new one luckily managed to find a reasonably priced one on ebay. The top gear mufflers went on easily enough, no real difficulty here. Nice piece of kit. Now I have some questions: - where can I find the clamps for the exhaust tips to the connector pipe? - One thing I was not sure of was the torque to use for the mufflers bolt and the sleeve clamps to the cats?

I replaced mine several years ago but junk the ugly fasteners! I used some quality stainless fasteners that I found on the internet (sorry no link) after I lost an exhaust tip when the rubbish TG clamp rusted through about 18 months later.

Tailpipe clamps here : https://www.heritagepartscentre.com/uk/99611110800-exhaust-clamp-75mm.html Or buy the complete kit with the above clamps AND the correct clamps for the cat to silencer joints

So today I fitted my new exhaust tips and silencer connectors to my new Top Gear mufflers. Unfortunately my original exhaust tips (drop shape) were so rusted (bracket completely rusted) that they could not be saved. Looked for a reasonable replacement and ordered a pair of Dansk stainless steel tips. Not as nice but a fraction of the price. Installation was rather challenging and did not go according to plan. No matter what I do I cannot get the tips centred see pics below without losing the tight connection with the silencer. If I get the tip centred, the connector is not connecting well to the silencers and am unable to clamp the connector without gaps. I tried to lose the TopGear Silencer bolts to push it forward as much as I can, it did help a little bit but not by much. Any idea what I am doing wrong and what I can do to get them centred? Also, although I quite like the double round shape, they poke out of the bumper a lot and because of that it looks a bit silly are they meant to stick out that much?

...Topgear recommends using a Peugeot clamp for connecting the silencer to the tailpipe trim...ring them for the part number...cheap as chips... ...while the TG silencers are great the joint as per above doesnt seal/ sit well with the oe trims...and the genuine clamp is even less effective!

I think have got the clamps as they were provided with the exhaust (2 half moon system with 2 bolts on either side). Not sure how they would help for a better fit to be honest...I am starting to wonder the same about the mufflers. The connector joint for the tail pipe just does not seem to be in the right place...So many people fitted toggear here so wondering if this is a common issue or something I can arrange for a better fit

...the TG silencers aren't a perfect fit out of the box, well mine weren't? They required manipulation to achieve a decent fit...a pain but then they are cheap?!

Yeah, am gonna spend a bit more time on it in the next couple of days and try again. Am Just wondering what sort of manipulation I should do to make it fit better.