Recommendations for OE Air Spring for 2002 AllRoad?

[infiniverse]

Hey there,

I've just picked myself up a 2002 AllRoad, but alas, very quickly the front right air spring appears to have spring a leak .

I'm used to air suspension, as I changed the air springs on my Land Rover Discovery 2 a few times.

I'm new to Audi, so I'm not sure what vendors are good for OE springs. (No-one in their right mind is going to pay the ~£800 for an original Audi part are they?)

Looks like after market units are available from £100 - £250. But, what vendor should I trust, and what vendor should I avoid?

Can someone please steer me in the right direction?

Many thanks,
Joe

[bagpipingandy]

Hi Joe,

not much to choose from,


Audi dealer or Arnott or the rest are Chinese even though they say made in germany,

I have some Chinese ones I can supply you, good quality, I used to use arnott but they now have many, many issues since they went to plastic, I will PM you more details

regards

Andy

[ceilidhalfie]

I can vouch for Andy's Chinese ones. He supplied me with one last Jan - Absolutely no fitting problems and has been trouble free for the last 15k miles. Price is VERY reasonable too!

[Crasher]

So far every Arnot A6AR air spring we have fitted has gone wrong. The last two front ones disintegrated inside and the plastic bits wore through the bag. We have bought an AR off of one of our customers as she bought a new Range Rover and we had fitted four new Arnot bags on that, now the left rear has started to leak.

[bagpipingandy]

So far every Arnot A6AR air spring we have fitted has gone wrong. The last two front ones disintegrated inside and the plastic bits wore through the bag. We have bought an AR off of one of our customers as she bought a new Range Rover and we had fitted four new Arnot bags on that, now the left rear has started to leak.

yes I've now seen too many arnotts fail, anything from small leaks to the top crimp completely blow off, ive got some great pics of this, too many issues now to trust them, audi will sell the best part but it costs you, all the units around the £130 are Chinese as no one can reproduce at that cost, ive been using them for 18 months now no issues, durability over time is the unknown, but so far so good, but with arnotts failing less than 12 months its got to be worth a shot

regards

Andy

[Crasher]

Yes, the top mount air fitting, the last two we have done, even the smallest amount of toque on the pipe nut when it is bottomed out and it strips out the plastic thread in an instant, rubbish.

[ceilidhalfie]

I had nsf go dec 2014 and fitted Arnott Gen1 bag (before I heard about the ones from Andy). First time fitting, it leaked because I was scared to get the bolts into the plastic moulding at 22 (or was it 24?) nm - had them I think at 16nm. So bag off again. Sweating as I coaxed and caressed them to 18 then 20 then 22nm etc - the plastic did hold and did not strip - was using a good torque wrench. This one has done 16k and is still fine (lordy I am loose with this quote - will probably blow tomorrow!). The osf as I said is fine with Andy's Chinese bag - and no worries about getting the bolts upto torque - though I was still gentle with them!
But - the good news - both pinch bolts have been replaced with new one and oodles of anti-corrosion grease!

[WhiteyAR]

I can vouch for Andy's Chinese ones. He supplied me with one last Jan - Absolutely no fitting problems and has been trouble free for the last 15k miles. Price is VERY reasonable too!

I concur. After having an arnott blow the airline out due to the thread stripping I replaced with one of Andy's. I'm now wondering when my other arnott will fail! ����

[infiniverse]

Thanks Andy, and everyone for your thoughts and recommendations. Exactly the help I was looking for. Andy will definitely get my order, once I can work out how to afford the rest of the work that needs doing!
[Looks like the lower suspension arms all need replacing amongst other things! ]

[Crasher]

I can do the special AR spec arms by TRW at competitive prices.