I'm starting to get really annoyed with my car now, I've recently put it through an MoT and it failed.

I need to replace both front wishbones/suspension arms and though got the majority of the tools for the job, I'm missing a star drive. Anyone know what size this is?

Also is their any good guides on doing the replacement, as some say drop sub frame, where as others say use jack.

What replacing the coil springs on the back, I've changed these on an Astra and Volvo is it going to be the same procedure?

All help is greatly appreciated.

I hate to ask this question, but do you really trust the people who did the MoT?

I only ask because i used to have a Cougar which failed the MoT on the bushes. As it happened, the car had only been serviced 10 days earlier and attracted no comment from the Ford dealer. To cut a long story short, the Ford dealer didn't think that there was anything wrong, although the rubber bushes did look a bit frayed at the edges, when applying a breaker bar to the wheel, there was no extra play at all caused by this. This was 'sort of' expected, as there didn't seem to be anything wrong driving the car, apart from a little steering wheel wobble, when braking, which was something else. (And the Ford dealer had actually seen these things from new, and knew how a new one should be, which probably wasn't true of the local garage who wouldn't exactly have seen a Cougar every week.)

And, incidentally, the local garage took the Ford 'with VAT included' prices for the wishbones and added vat on top, which would have added to the expense. You can probably imagine that there is a garage that I haven't taken the opportunity to go back to.

Hence the question. "Do you really trust the people who did the MoT?"

I hate to ask this question, but do you really trust the people who did the MoT?

I only ask because i used to have a Cougar which failed the MoT on the bushes. As it happened, the car had only been serviced 10 days earlier and attracted no comment from the Ford dealer. To cut a long story short, the Ford dealer didn't think that there was anything wrong, although the rubber bushes did look a bit frayed at the edges, when applying a breaker bar to the wheel, there was no extra play at all caused by this. This was 'sort of' expected, as there didn't seem to be anything wrong driving the car, apart from a little steering wheel wobble, when braking, which was something else. (And the Ford dealer had actually seen these things from new, and knew how a new one should be, which probably wasn't true of the local garage who wouldn't exactly have seen a Cougar every week.)

And, incidentally, the local garage took the Ford 'with VAT included' prices for the wishbones and added vat on top, which would have added to the expense. You can probably imagine that there is a garage that I haven't taken the opportunity to go back to.

Hence the question. "Do you really trust the people who did the MoT?"

I'm present with all my MoT's for that reason.

No the bushes are totally gone on both wishbones, it's very noticeable when driving as well (something I should have looked at originally) as the car was pulling left and right when hitting torque points at 3k+ rpm. I was surprised I didn't notice this, when I was replacing disks the other day.

I also tend to do most of the work myself, as I don't trust garages to give a good price.

The front arms are a pig due to the bolt being fitted from the top. You need to drop the subframe bolts on one side but no need to remove the subframe.

You will need a helping hand and a big lever for this job.

As for the rear springs, they are dead easy. The setup on the rear of the mk3 means you remove the shock/spring and knuckle assembly in one piece. A few bolts, remove the caliper and anti roll bar link. Then you can compress the spring

Cheers Stef, was hoping not to drop the subframe oh well lol.

Sorry I was a bit unclear, you only need to remove the bolts on one side in order to lever the subframe down. Doing it this way means the alignment isn't affected.