Ball Joint Pinch Bolt

Right,

I had a nasty incident that could have been much worse, as I went over a pothole their was a loud ban screech of tyres and loss of steering.

It turns out that the pinch bolt was missing from the N/S Ball joint, lucky for me this happened alone in a 20mph zone going straight and not the day before on a twisty back road with my 4 year old kid in the car, doesn't bear thinking about  :?

Anyway, my problem is now that I don't know where to source a new set of pinch bolts from, the car is an 86 GTi cabrio, any ideas?

Also, although by the rust on the ball joint groove it looks like this bolt had been missing for some time the recovery guy did say he was seeing this problem more and more as the road surface was getting worse and they were vibrating out. Given the implications of loss of steering at speed etc it may well be a point to add to your monthly checks.

have a word with vw, they should still be avail

Cheers I'll give them a try.

The dealer only lists the 3 small bolts that hold the ball joint not the pinch bolt.

I'll try Crazy Quiffs

they still do it, your parts guy is obviously a muppet:

N   034 778 4 - pinch bolt, m10x1 - 2.2+VAT

N   102 861 10 - pinch bolt nut, M10 -  0.48+VAT