After market Suspension arms

[smiley1609]

Hi Guys, I am in need of replacing the front lower suspension arms, due to advisory on MOT last year, and upcoming MOT in May. I have a 2008 Audi A3 S-Line 170 tdi2.0.

I have been looking around and wondered on the forum opinion of using after market suspension components along the lines of Lemforder ? I am thinking that perhaps OEM would be best and to ensure no deviation from the standard Audi quality and to also ensure the geometry is as previous...

What is the opinion on Lemforder ? I replaced the discs and pads all round to Pagid earlier this year, and thanks to all the opinions on here and having read that they are a very good alternative to OEM :)

Would it be advised to replace the balljoint as well...I am not aware of any problem with the previous ones, although the car has done 95k on the original arms...

Despite the suspension arms having been advised with rear bush play for the last year I have continued to drive it...but now the job needs to be completed. I have also experienced more recently what can be described as minor driveshaft whurring noise when the steering is off center towards the near side, with a slight left hand turn situation. Could this be due to excessive play in a lower arm causing a driveshaft whurr on this side ?

thanks in advance guys...I very much appreciate the wealth of knowledge that is provided on this forum...and has helped in previous diagnosis and decision making !! :)

Kind Regards
Smiley :)

[tonyleach]

IMO i wouldnt bother with non-gen suspension arms as the bushes/inserts are normally a poor material that are again knackered/spent in 6 to 12 months, as for the the driveshaft whurring it could be caused by this but i doubt it and more likely to be a worn cv joint but if the car is opperating normally i wouldnt spend any money until it becomes more definate as you could just end up throwing money all over trying to get to the bottom of it.

[smiley1609]

thanks for your response Tony, I have heard that Lemforder are actually a very good manufacturer...in fact make a lot of OEM stuff for Europe ?

Ok, so another suggestion would be to overhaul the original arms with powerflex bushes...anyone have experience of powerflex upgrade for wishbones ? I have used powerflex on my previous car...Mondeo subframe which was fairly straightforward... but these are front wishbones and perhaps the old bushes could be a pain to remove ?!?

Thanks
Simon.

[Crasher]

These are by Febi who are part of the Bilstein group of companies, NOBODY offers ANYTHING that can come close to these for quality and price.

You need to check if you have cast or sheet metal wishbones and there are two types of sheet metal, fabricated and pressed and these should not be mixed. The 170PS A3 should have cast wishbones. As a forum member I can offer you these at £85.82 each plus £10 P&P on a pair.

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd20/Crasher1964/Febi40103wishbone_zps1a6fa645.jpg (http://s222.photobucket.com/user/Crasher1964/media/Febi40103wishbone_zps1a6fa645.jpg.html)

[smiley1609]

crasher, many thanks for the advice and special price :)

Do these come with balljoint or without ? The pic shows with...but I know many are sold separately

Is there an OEM variant code to distinguish cast or sheet metal ? The model is an 8P1 variant, and with a BMN engine code... failing these codes, I can of course try and do some investigation...

-Simon

[Crasher]

Febi do them without ball joint and I offer these on my eBay site for more.....

Audi A3 8P (07/06-) 2.0 168bhp TDI Febi LH Track Control Arm 1K0407151AC | eBay (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Audi-A3-8P-07-06-2-0-168bhp-TDI-Febi-LH-Track-Control-Arm-1K0407151AC-/370701772632?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item564f8c2758)

They also do them with ball joint without bolts but I don't bother listing that. The one I have given you the price on is with ball joint and bolts, exactly as in the picture is what you get, you need the bolts anyway so it makes life easy, these kits are straight out of stock for next day delivery to you. The joint is often rotted solid in the holes on the cast version anyway, making them an evil nightmare to get off the car, it's easier to just drop the ball joint and bin the lot. The 170 should have cast wishbones and they are the best anyway (well except the ally ones) and can be retro fitted to all models. I tend to use them as my default option as an upgrade where stamped sheet or fabricated plate ones are fitted, the latter are ugly.

[smiley1609]

Many thanks for your answers...and for the response so late !! :)

I will PM tomorrow AM...or give you a ring on your phone number from the website ? I will place an order for the pair including ball joints :)

Another quick Q for the morning...is there a need for geometry setup after replacement ?

p.s. thanks again for your help :)

Kind regards
Simon.

[smiley1609]

Crasher, PM sent regarding purchase :)

Kind regards
Smiley

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[Crasher]

I have passed the info onto my business partner John and he will take over from here. Thank you for the order and I look forward to you posting some feedback on what you think.

[smiley1609]

Payment sent for suspension arms via PayPal this morning. Many thanks for your help and advice ☺

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[tonyleach]

Febi do them without ball joint and I offer these on my eBay site for more.....

Audi A3 8P (07/06-) 2.0 168bhp TDI Febi LH Track Control Arm 1K0407151AC | eBay (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Audi-A3-8P-07-06-2-0-168bhp-TDI-Febi-LH-Track-Control-Arm-1K0407151AC-/370701772632?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item564f8c2758)

They also do them with ball joint without bolts but I don't bother listing that. The one I have given you the price on is with ball joint and bolts, exactly as in the picture is what you get, you need the bolts anyway so it makes life easy, these kits are straight out of stock for next day delivery to you. The joint is often rotted solid in the holes on the cast version anyway, making them an evil nightmare to get off the car, it's easier to just drop the ball joint and bin the lot. The 170 should have cast wishbones and they are the best anyway (well except the ally ones) and can be retro fitted to all models. I tend to use them as my default option as an upgrade where stamped sheet or fabricated plate ones are fitted, the latter are ugly.

Never knew you had an e-bay site Steve i will go and have a nosey of that now as i know you dont mess about with the things you fit

:beerchug:

[Crasher]

Yes John told me it had gone through and he has processed it, should be with you Thursday now as he had a wad of orders two inches thick to deal with after the weekend.

[smiley1609]

Many thanks steve...won't be planning on getting the car up on axle stands until the weekend so that is perfect. Cheers for the efficiency and comms :)

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[smiley1609]

Steve, I have received the suspension arms today, many thanks to John and yourself for the efficient and quick processing :).

I plan on fitting them over the weekend and will post further info when complete.

Just a quick Q... What else do you sell in terms of Audi parts ? If I have a need for any further parts then I will be happy to deal again...

Thanks again,
Simon.

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[Crasher]

Anything and everything although there is no point us getting you parts you can only get genuine from TPS, you would be better getting those yourself. The range of parts we do is mainly Febi and TRW with other OE manufactures such as ZF Sachs, LUK, Gates, Suplex, Bosch, Pagid, Beru, Mann, Continental, etc but Febi is our big love, their range and quality is second to none. Whenever you need anything, run it by me and I will see if I can help but if you look at our eBay shop it gives a good idea but only a fraction of what Febi offer. The wishbones you had today are not on there, those Pro kits are quite new and I did them for less than the more basic kit. items in Audi Seat Skoda VW Volkswagen Parts Specialists C R store on eBay! (http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Audi-Seat-Skoda-VW-Volkswagen-Parts?_trksid=p2047675.l2563)

[Crasher]

One thing I would suggest is not to put the turn to yield spec onto the consul bolts until the alignment has been set and tell the chap doing the alignment what the specs are.

[smiley1609]

Thanks for the advice although that doesn't mean took much to me ;).

I am a fourty something who knows my way around a car reasonably... ;).

I have changed suspension arms once or twice in my time. I was planning on removing the engine cover tray, replacing the arms and then going straight down to the local tyre place for the track rod end adjustments before replacing all the tray back in place.

I agree that it is good to have the toe settings ready to give to the guy doing the alignment... I have had some in the past that don't seem to know what they are doing and actually made tracking worse or found the steering wheel out of centre as they adjusted only one track rod end :o

Are the toe and geometry settings for a 2008 TDI 170 s line readily available anywhere that you know of ?

Many thanks
Simon.

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[smiley1609]

I have just realised what you were stating Steve... Not to do the second stage angle torque setting until after alignment...

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[Crasher]

Yes, tighten up those nice new bolts to the torque spec but NOT the angle, get the alignment set and then put the angle to yield on the bolt, after which you cannot re-use it. The tracking is easy, 0 i.e. parallel and the camber, well somewhere around half a degree negative and that adjustment (what there is!) is set by that aluminium rear consul section. Also, only torque the front wishbone bush bolt with the load on the wheels, effectively the car on the floor. If you tighten them up with the wheels dropped you then put huge loading on the bushes when the car is on the floor. I just had a pair of those arms like that out on a Golf 5 TDI this afternoon to put Powerflex on and after I had to fit new ball joints because the studs snapped, get the consuls off, remove the bushes, clean up the wishbone and rebuild I was thinking, I should just have fitted a pair of those Febi wishbones! Even worse, I went to the stores bolt area and I did not have consul bush bolts! Bugger!

[smiley1609]

Thanks mate, definately a few nuggets there that I will follow :) very much appreciate your advice !!

Having read up the job now, I see that the inner consul bolt also secures the front subframe. I don't have alignment pins but assume if I only do one side a time and perhaps mark subframe position then I should be able to make do without ??

Am I going to need full geometry measurements afterwards on the front...or just a tracking check ? I have a good reliable place down the road that do full laser geometry...but obviously at a fair cost. ;)

-Simon


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[Crasher]

Yes I have often been called a nugget, not sure it means the same thing.....

If you take out the three consul bolts, you are supposed to put the pin in the hole for the outer M12 bolt first and then take out the two M10's but I do as you say and mark around them AS WELL as using the alignment pins (I have four of them) and then I get get the car back on the road, get the retest done and re book them for a service and the new bolts, oh hang on that was what I did....:alcoholic:yawn: tired.......going to read some Chevy hot rods books now-escapism...