Anyone have their Mk2 rear control arm bushing "fall" out?

[GTIspirit]

I fixed up the A-arm and control arm bushing and made a few notes.

1. The Audi TT control arm bushing is round, as best as I can tell. It measured 59.40mm in two directions which were 90deg to each other.

2. Control arm bushing hole measured 59.30mm in the middle, slightly more where the bushing is started to press in, slightly less where the bushing comes to rest.

3. I think the source of the problem is basically the design of the new/replacement A-arm.

What you can't exactly tell from the picture is that the mounting hole for the rear bushing is stamped/extruded from one side. In this case, looking at the picture, the press would come from the underside and push the material up. So the bottom of the mounting hole is a rounded edge and slightly larger diameter. The top of the mounting hole is squared off and tilted in slightly.

Because these replacement A-arms are asymetrical the right side one has the squared off/smaller edge pointing up so the A-arm couldn't slip down. On the left side it's the other way around. So maybe on that side I didn't have the new bushing quite pressed all the way in to really grab hold.

So I think it's all fixed up now with some red loctite and some tack welds, belt and suspenders approach. It was pretty tough to tack weld that joint so I am looking for a better long term solution, maybe sphericals.

The original A-arm has a little bit different design. This rear bushing mounting point is a round tube cut and squared off at both ends. Passes through the A-arm and is welded on both sides of the two metal sheets that form the A-arm. So the diameter is a lot more constant and the same from both directions, top or bottom.

I think the old design is better and I'll be cleaning these up and getting new bushings ready to go, maybe see if I can make my own sphericals because the Shine and Bildon ones are way expensive considering the cost of the materials that go into them.

[Flyinglizard]

I measure a bunch today. Your right, the solid bushings are almost round. I have three sources, all are a different size.
"FEQ" brand is the roundest and largest@ 2.372- 2.377
Meyle is the smallest,2.364, 2.368
VW in the middle. round +- 008thou, 2.374- 2.378
The size range is about 012. I will post the actual sizes wed. I thought I had my notebook tonight but left it@ work.
I think that you have what is called a tolerance stack. IE the bushing is small and the hole is big. Still inside the size allotment, but both at the ends of tolerance. HTH. MM
I have not had any failures with any of the solid bushes. They are my new standard racing bushes. Better than poly, solid enough to match the solid metal ball setup,but the cost is way better.