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A4 B6 Front Control Arm Bushes ( Please Help )

2K views 10 replies 5 participants last post by  joeyturbo 
#1 ·
Hi fellas, my 02 A4 is due for its NCT but theres a lot of knocking coming from the front end it looks like most of the front control arm bushes have gone, ive been looking on the computer tonight for replacement and info but im having trouble finding anything worth while. Ive found plently of cheap kits in places like ebay but i dont trust them heard bad reports, ive found some kits that are up-rated and look really good but there all in USA.

The questions i have are : 1. Has anyone on here had to change all of these themselves ?

2. Where did they get them from ?

3. Ive heard that getting OEM parts will cost me about 600 euros can this really be true ?

Any help would be greatly appriciated, this will be the second car ive had to do the front suspension on this week my fabia VRS only cost me 80euros to poly bush ( A4 is the wives car )

Thanks. John and Michelle
 
#2 ·
QUOTE (00michelle @ Apr 9 2011, 11:08 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hi fellas, my 02 A4 is due for its NCT but theres a lot of knocking coming from the front end it looks like most of the front control arm bushes have gone, ive been looking on the computer tonight for replacement and info but im having trouble finding anything worth while. Ive found plently of cheap kits in places like ebay but i dont trust them heard bad reports, ive found some kits that are up-rated and look really good but there all in USA.

The questions i have are : 1. Has anyone on here had to change all of these themselves ?

2. Where did they get them from ?

3. Ive heard that getting OEM parts will cost me about 600 euros can this really be true ?

Any help would be greatly appriciated, this will be the second car ive had to do the front suspension on this week my fabia VRS only cost me 80euros to poly bush ( A4 is the wives car )

Thanks. John and Michelle

it would very rare that you would need to do all of the control arms, i've just changed one of the lower control arms at a cost of 160 euro. buying oem arms is the only option really if you want to do it properly. I would get the car checked out properly before you go spending money, it might not be as serious as you think.
 
#3 ·
In our experience the only parts that last are the genuine items. I have seen the cheap arms wear out after as little as 4000 miles so they are a completely false economy.

Without access to a lift and proper equipment it can be very difficult to tell exactly which of the arms are worn and which are ok. It is highly unlikely that they are all worn out and a full new set from Audi will cost you a fortune. So what I would do if I were in your position is do nothing to the car before the NCT. Let them do the testing and checking for you (it only costs €50) and then replace whichever arms fail the test with genuine ones from the dealer.
 
#4 ·
QUOTE (DavidK @ Apr 9 2011, 11:54 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>it would very rare that you would need to do all of the control arms, i've just changed one of the lower control arms at a cost of 160 euro. buying oem arms is the only option really if you want to do it properly. I would get the car checked out properly before you go spending money, it might not be as serious as you think.

is that 160 euros for one arm one side and did you fit it yourself ? thanks for the advice i might take it to the garage next week to tell me what ones are gone, but ill be changing them meself.
 
#5 ·
QUOTE (Geo @ Apr 10 2011, 08:10 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>In our experience the only parts that last are the genuine items. I have seen the cheap arms wear out after as little as 4000 miles so they are a completely false economy.

Without access to a lift and proper equipment it can be very difficult to tell exactly which of the arms are worn and which are ok. It is highly unlikely that they are all worn out and a full new set from Audi will cost you a fortune. So what I would do if I were in your position is do nothing to the car before the NCT. Let them do the testing and checking for you (it only costs €50) and then replace whichever arms fail the test with genuine ones from the dealer.

thanks for that i wasnt planing on getting the cheap ones, its a shame really cause the kits that i found in USA are surposilly better then the genuine ones and work out at about 400euros for the full set including all the ball joints, nuts and bolts the lot, its just a shame i cant find anything like that here or in the UK.
 
#6 ·
QUOTE (00michelle @ Apr 10 2011, 09:40 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>is that 160 euros for one arm one side and did you fit it yourself ? thanks for the advice i might take it to the garage next week to tell me what ones are gone, but ill be changing them meself.

it was 160 euro for one arm. it was Geo who identified the problem arm, there is no way i would have identified the arm myself. I changed it myself, it took a bit of time to get the arm to drop and in hindsight i would have saved myself alot of bother and time if i had got the car back to Geo and let him do it.
 
#7 ·
From memory I think the lower arms are around €160 each and the top arms are approx €90. There are 4 upper and 4 lower so you would have to be pretty sure they were gone before changing them. I still think that going in for the NCT is the best way to check them, that way you spend €50 test fee plus €28 retest fee and you know for 100% definite which arms you need to change. Whereas if you go to a garage to check them you will probably have to give them €20 anyway just for their opinion which may or may not be the same as the NCT tester. Then pay the €50 test fee anyway. Doesn't make sense in my opinion.
 
#8 ·
The genuine Audi arms are made by a company called Lemforder - you can buy Lemforder branded arms in some motor factors here for less than the cost of the Audi ones (both types were under €100 I think) and you'll see on them where they've just ground off the Audi symbols. We've been using them on the S4 for the last 3 years without any problems.

See post 19 below. HTH

http://vagdrivers.net/forums/index.php?sho...;hl=georgina+s4
 
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