MOT next Monday; planned for replacing...

[KingyMAK]

So the dreaded MOT is coming up next week.

I'm going to replacing my front and rear shocks and springs on the weekend as I've got a deal on all 4 shockers at Ã,£90 and springs at Ã,£60'ish.

I'm thinking I may need CV joints, too, but some are horrific prices and the actual full driveshafts are the same prices in some cases!

What driveshaft brands would you guys recommend?
I've seen J&R and I've had them on a Fiesta (Puma Engined) and they worked alright at the time, but people on here are giving them a bad rep.

Anything else around those prices? Looking for both sides.
Do they run an inner and outer off-side & a single shaft near-side?



Anything else to look out for?

Brakes (pads & discs) are all good in any case, may need a bearing up front but I'll find that one out the weekend.


Cheers guys,

Mark.

[insanitybeard]

Which CV joints do you suspect are defective? It's usually the inners that give trouble. As far as an MOT goes I think the driveshafts will only cause a fail if the joints have masses of play or the CV boots are split or insecure- and even that may only apply to the outer boots, not the boots on the inner joints. There are a decent selection of brands for inner and outer joints (as well as boots, driveshaft assemblies etc) here, although care is needed to ensure you're ordering the right part for the vehicle as there can be several variations. I've no personal experience of J&R but from what I've read they may be ok when fitted to smaller and lighter vehicles with engines producing less torque but on the SharaGalaHambras which are heavy with a lot of torque going through the transmissions, they're not quite up to the job. I doubt there's much else around at the same price though!

Yes the nearside is a single shaft from gearbox to wheel whereas due to the longer distance the offside shaft has an intermediate shaft as well- more on that here if you've not seen it.

As for other items responsible for MOT failure, it's worth having a general check of things such as anti roll bar drop links for play and split rubber boots, lower arm and track rod end ball joints for the same thing, suspension arm bushes for splitting and play, anti roll bar bushes for play, exhaust corrosion- but then you changed yours recently didn't you? Corrosion and rust on sills and outriggers, etc.......

[Mirez]

Split or insecure can be applied to either the inner or outer CV boots if the MoT tester can see them. The under-shield on the Galaxy doesn't obscure the view so they should be considered testable.on our cars!

[Ben g mon]

Avoid j and r driveshafts!!!!!!
Avoid J AND R DRIVESHAFTS!!!!!

Read my vibration tread. Most unhelpful on the phone too, massive waste of air whoever I dealt with

Prices I'm getting for decent driveshafts are between Ã,£117 (cevam)
To Ã,£161.89 (SKF) each

[KingyMAK]

Just wondering if anyone has used 'Continental' parts before?
I want to assume they are the same as 'Continental tyres', and since they use the same logo of them on the timing/aux belts, I'd imagine other parts are the same?

[insanitybeard]

I believe Continental automotive is a division of the Continental tyre brand, and they also own several other brands including ATE (brake manufacturer who produce a lot of O.E braking systems) and possibly even Lemforder (who produce balljoints and suspension components).

[KingyMAK]

Well, the old girl failed.

My own fault really, as I had family fun days this weekend rather than doing the car.

Failed on:

A rear reg plate bulb out
A broken offside rear spring
Leaking nearside rear shocker
Front offside CV joint damaged

Advised on:

Damage to shocker on offside rear casing.


So I have a week left of the old MOT to get it all sorted!
I have a new spring and shocker that's been sat in the garage, so I just have to get a CV Joint.
Working all week unfortunately, so weekend will be only chance!
I may just get the mechanic to do the bits for me, as I really can't find the time the past few days!

[KingyMAK]

Also;

Are all shocks and springs the same throughout all the Sharan, Galaxy & Alhambra fuel variations & models?

[insanitybeard]

No, there are variations with the springs depending on engine variant and general spec- sportier models have shorter springs. Probably a few choices of dampers too but not as many variants as the springs! When my Galaxy failed last MOT on a busted rear spring, the factory fitted springs had a single blue stripe (used for denoting the spring length) and were 249mm long. More on that in this thread along with some stuff about the rear dampers- as far as aftermarket parts go, you'll likely only find a single choice for replacement rear dampers (I replaced mine with Sachs aftermarket ones) and equally with springs most aftermarket suppliers only give a single option for replacement rear springs, although I did find that Spidan (GKN) had several choices with different lengths and colour stripes- it was their springs I fitted to my car after I had problems with the Sachs springs I bought from Euro car parts not fitting properly because they didn't match the profile of the original factory fit springs- more on that in the thread I linked.

[KingyMAK]

Could be hassled with the work to be done by Friday myself with work and all; so it's booked into a garage for both rear shocks and springs with a CV gaiter replaced, and a retest for a cheap enough price, not overly much more than what the parts would cost me separately.

[KingyMAK]

So I'm rolling new rear shocks and springs & cv boot.

Now an aircon leak that I've not looked into before...

[blue metal]

Hi kingyMAK
I hope it all worked out OK.
just noticed you have a sharan 04 model MK2
they did not start till 2010
and wondered if it  should be Mk1
like my one it should be a 7M in vw terms

blue metal

[johnnyroper]

The sharan mark 2 started about x reg time I think which would be 2000ish and ran until approx 06/07

[johnnyroper]

I see why you say mark 1 now VW class 1995-2010 models all as mark 1 where as ford changed to mark 2 with the refreshed shape around 2000 time. in vw world I can only assume despite updated panels,trims etc the chassis is the same so they class them all as mark 1 until the 2010 model was launched.

[KingyMAK]

I think it's classed as a Mk.1.0, Mk.1.5 & Mk.1.75 from each facelift or change up to the 'actual Mk.2'.

[johnnyroper]

Bloody Germans got to confuse matters!!! Lol