Novice, how easy to do

[spottedhaggis]

ok so I am confident that I am going to have to have the following items changed.

Suspension arms
Rear Axle
front Anti-Roll bar

I am no mechanic, I do have both ramps and axle stands, and socket sets etc, so the question is, how easy are these things to actually change without the use of a garage (on the road or pavement)

Apparently the entire underside is affected by serious corrosion. Assuming (and I am) this cant be done by me at home on the pavement, and needs to go to a garage, does anyone recommend a cheap but good garage to do the work, and does anyone have any idea how long this type or work would take (assuming everything comes of with relative ease) so if I need to I can cost the work up with my own garage service?

Thanks in advance

[raymod]

are you handy with a welder for the corrision mate. Most corsa b are suffering the same thing now which is a real shame

[spottedhaggis]

er. nope, am not. Its weird, my wife had the same reg corsa (P) for 5 years, it only did about 20k in those 5 years, but never got services, was never washed (as is typical of my wifes cars) and yes it never once let her down, always worked, everything and never ever failed the MOT, not once in the 5 years. (Wish we had not got rid of it to be honest)

[raymod]

if the corrision is in a really bad state you have to think is it worth repairing. On saying that the previous owner on my car has had all the work done too but guess what ive found some more

i once bought a gsi that when you let of the throttle it pulled to one side sharpley. When someone had a look at it the chassis legs on the car had been filled as a temp fix to sell on needless to say it went the knackers yard

[spottedhaggis]

ok so maybe use it for the duration of the MOT, put it in and see what it fails on, then decide, and probably sell it on as parts or something and buy another?

[andy w]

Or keep it like ya said mate and buy an identical one and use that one as a donor car for the parts what are in better condition imo

[spottedhaggis]

That would have been a consideration, but I lack the room, tools and sadly time to be stripping a car down and putting bits from one onto the other.

I agree entirely I just dont have any room.

[andy w]

That's fair mate i have the same problem where i live

[johnny]

That's fair mate i have the same problem where i live

That's why I live in the country side so if I run out of room it goes in the field

As for changing things front arb is about as easy to change as spark plugs

Suspension arms as in wishbones are easy enough to change 3-4 bolts with a bit of persuasion from a hammer doable in around 30 mins by a complete newbie

The rear axle is easy(ish) when you know what your doing but I wouldn't advise doing it without a mechanic mate with you

[spottedhaggis]

Thanks everyone, I guess the question here is is it worth changing all the wishbone bits etc, and then having to take it all off to change the axle, or do them all at the same time

[johnny]

The wishbones and arb are at the front so they won't have to come off