Tightening up the Front Suspension

One of my first impressions of driving this car was its tight suspension. It went exactly where you pointed it and it provided feedback to the driver. It's a subtle quality that few experience but everyone who's ever driven my car made that same comment upon exiting.
After 177k miles, that tightness has faded. One of my intentions was to restore that quality to my refurbished vehicle.

The Corrado is nothing special underneath. It is actually a mixture of A2 Golf with some B2 Passat thrown in. Many of the parts are interchangeable as you will see. But the combination never seemed better than in the Corrado.
Up front, the car utilizes a Macpherson strut design with lower A-arms. Since they are so inexpensive, I opted to purchase new A-Arms. Polyurethane bushings are optional. If one wanted to go this direction, then the rubber bushings will require removal and the poly replacements pressed in. I've used these in my previous cars and they can become noisy. I'm not too keen on the drive quality and they do require periodic maintenance(ie cleaning/grease) One of the things I've learned over the years is that many aftermarket products/upgrades require additional maintenance. When I was younger this was an acceptable compromise--but in my old age, this is out of the question. I opted to keep the OEM rubber up front but I replaced the rear donut bushing with a solid rubber replacement from an Audi TT. The VW version has holes molded into it. The Audi version uses a harder durometer rubber and is completely solid.



At the ends, I installed brand new ball joints. This part is often overlooked but this simple part will wear. As you can see in the picture, the old unit is slightly collapsed. This is often a source for steering wheel wobble at freeway speed. A lot of kids won't touch this part because removing it requires an alignment. I don't know why so many people are so opposed to getting regular alignments. My nearby Goodyear retailer will align my car for $45. Small price to pay. Once this is all together, the whole thing will go on the rack for a four wheel alignment.
There are few things more satisfying then a car that provides smooth confident feedback at high speed--no wobble, vibrations, or shimmy. When this Corrado is properly aligned and balanced, all you hear is the sound of the pavement underneath and the roar of the Glader as the wind goes rushing by. Very cool!

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