IMG-20200223-WA0011 by Christian Williams, on Flickr
A picture speaks a thousand words. Now I've don't this job a few years ago, I had seen numerous complaints on forums about the upper pinch bolts on the passats/A4s so I wrapped strips of rags around the pinchs on the hub carrier and doused in plus gas over a few days. When I came to do the upper arms I had no issues, pinch bolts came out pretty easy and I thought what was all the fuss about?
But those were the iron hub carriers, I have recently acquired some ally uprights for some upcoming mods, same technique, wrapped the pinchbolt with rags and plus gassed over a few days, a good 3 hours plus this weekend to get them out, there would be no way if they were still on the car, what an bum of a job. Broken spanner, 2 broken wobble extensions and a knackered 1/2" wratchet, but they are out, one took more persuasion that the other...