Pinch bolt question ?

[Euro_head]

So I plan on doing coilovers on my c6 sometime next week and I've herd how bad the pinch bolts are and I do not want to mess with it . Is there another way I could get strut out like pulling off the knuckle from the lower control arm and taking everything out or removing the upper control arms from the strut mount. I'm going to be doing this at my shop and I have a lot of tools available but since I had to deal with this issue when I put coils on my old s4 and I snapped the bolt I wanna see if there's a way around that damn bolt lol


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[Euro_head]

The car is a has spent it's life up north so it's seen snow so I'm almost sure it stuck in there


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[2010A6]

Pretty much impossible since the control arms are held to the knuckle via the pinch bolt and you can't get a tool in the small space to disconnect the arms at the strut where while the strut is in the wheel well. Trust me I've tried


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[2010A6]

My car had spent 4.5 years in VT/NY and that's all it took to seize it.


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[Euro_head]

Not even pulling the bottom control arms and dropping the whole knuckle ?


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[2010A6]

Good god that'd be some work but I can't say I've tried it so you've lost me there.

When my bolt broke off and I was watching the potential issues pile up I decided that I wasn't about to DIY anymore.

The bolt for me was seized so bad that even 1/4 of the way drilled out I could still drive it down the road to the shop. Had a chase car following me in case something went wrong. Most stressful 8 miles of my life.


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[Euro_head]

The work is going to be done at a shop by me but the nightmare that a pinch bolt on my old car out me through I don't even want to think of doing it again lol .
On an a4 I did months ago I was able to remove the control arms from the top mount by prying down in the bottom the control arms while some one else loosen up the two bolts but I don't think that method is going to work on the c6


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[Indskyz]

I would soak it in PB blaster for a couple hours and try. If that doesn't work, heat it up with a torch.

Glad mine came out relatively easy

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[Euro_head]

How much are the bolts at the dealer ?


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[2010A6]

Under $10


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[2010A6]

And PB blaster soak over 3 days with a reapplication every morning and night did nothing for me. Even with an air hammer and heat afterwards


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[Euro_head]

I'm might just risk it and take the bolts out . I'm going to call up a friend that has a euro shop and see if he has the extractor that the dealer uses or if not on Monday I'll buy it off the snap on truck if they can get me it


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[2010A6]

No definitely try to take them out but if they aren't budging don't DIY


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[Euro_head]

Hopefully I can get replacement bolts by tomorrow and bang it out on Sunday when I have a free lift


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[2010A6]

Just know what it potentially could be. Learn from my mistake. I didn't get to upgrade my car this season because of it don't do the same :/ good luck!


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[Euro_head]

Thanks ! . If I see it's not budging I'll just take everything out starting at the lower control arms and figure something out


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[Euro_head]

And the rear springs too ill see how that goes I've herd a lot about that too


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[2010A6]

I has no issues there. Just a a little tight back there but be patient. Use a jack to help compress them. There's a few write ups on here I'll link them in a minute.


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[Euro_head]

Don't I need one of those internal spring compressors ?


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[2010A6]

That's what I used. I rented out both kinds from different stores and the internal one was easier I found. The dual arm ones can't get placed far enough apart in the front well to compress the spring evenly all the way around.


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[LarryJa]

After seeing that the front struts need to have the pinnch bolt loosened to get them off, I took my C6 to an indy to have him install the new konis. I did the rear shocks & sway bar swap on a sunday, myself.
He charged me $411 labor.

[2010A6]

Not a bad deal at all. So incredibly cheap compared to the money I had to pay in repairs for fucking up a DIY. I do get to take away a huge gain in knowledge of the front suspension system. Replaced almost every component in the except the knuckle. But with all that said having to only pay $411 additional in cost to go low is very worth it.


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