[Godders]

Originally Posted by ainarssems

Why new hub carriers? You could have drilled them out if everything else fails.

Tried that before on a Skoda Superb (B5.5) platform and had a disaster as I didn't manage to go square, plus if you get too much heat into one of those bolts, through drilling, they work harden and then you're in a whole heap of trouble and need to replace anyway.

I need the car for work so can't afford to have it in pieces on the drive for a period of time whilst I soak and coax them out.

I'll get these replacements on, soak the bolts on the current carriers (for a long while) and try and get them out - then they'll be up for sale. Another problem is that they can't be knocked out straight on the D3 (not sure about the D2) as the steering knuckle obstructs it's path.

Originally Posted by sloss

WD40 is not a penetrating oil - it's Water Dispersant and the 40 denotes the number of trial brews 'til it worked OK.

Spot on there, thing is a lot of people think WD is a penetrant. I mainly use Plus Gas and have done for years.

Originally Posted by sloss

After that it's heat - heat nearly always works but it needs real heat, not a silly wee Halfords Gas Burner thing

We tried that, very large oxy-acetylene set up with a burner, and lots of heat but still no luck.

Previous owner had the top front arms replaced 18 months ago and I bet they didn't replace the pinch bolts (invoice doesn't indicate as such) or grease them as recommended by Audi. Judging on how tight they were (4 ft bar on the nut !) I suspect they overtighted the original bolts and pulled them slightly off 'straight' making them difficult to move.