Here is another nice shot of the top mount after I cracked it open, there was that much corrosion it had deformed the metal ring around the bush!
More bits arrived on Saturday, now have both lower axle guides.
New top shock mounts arrived, purchased Lemforder mounts @ £10 each V Audi OEM price of £48 each.
New track rod & coupling rod, again all lemforder.
New bearings, got these from ebay discount parts seller they are genuine bearings with a 50% discount.
So after I had a chance to give the wheel arch a good scrub the corrosion was a lot worse that I first thought.
The worst area was around the brake pipe, and the spring clip you can see in this photo fell apart when I touched it with a wire brush, it was only the corrosion that was holding the pipe in place,
Further pictures
Before I started with the rust removal the next step was to strip down the suspension. First to be removed was the shock, no picture on this one but there are 2 bolts at the top of the shock, and one at the bottom.
The brake caliper was removed along with the pads which were marked up (inner & outer).
The disk was then removed, however the screw holding the disc in place had rounded so had to be drilled out..
The disc shield was then removed, but you will have to clean the heads out as they will be filled with crud.
Then the calliper mount was removed. The upper bolt is easy enough to get to but the lower bolt is a sod to get to.
The bolt holding the track rod to the wheel bearing housing was removed.
At this point I put a set of spring compressors on the spring so to make it easer to remove some of the other bolts, sorry don't have any pictures of that but will put some up when I do the other side.
Lower anti-roll bar bolt removed.
lower bolt holding the headlight level sensor was removed.
Upper wishbone bolt going into the wheel bearing housing removed.
So here lies the next BIG and I do mean BIG problem. You cannot remove the bolt holding the other end of the wishbone without removing the subframe... As the fuel tank is in the way, if only Audi made the tank a little short in that area it would have saved a hell of a lot of trouble, that is truly a cr@p design.
Removing the subframe is a hell of a lot of work for just a single bush, so as much as it pains me that bush will be left alone, and the other bush will be pressed out.
Next troublesome bolt was the lower rear axle guide bolt, this fouls against the exhaust, as shown here so you have to drop the exhaust a few inches.
First disconnect this nut
Then on the side your working on stick a trolly jack under the silencer and remove the two nuts, holding the braking in place. Lower the jack just enough to remove the bolt. (One of the nuts you can just about see near the rubber mount)