MOT advisory advice please

[Adrian E]

Hi folks

S8 passed its MOT today but had some advisories

Main one is that 'front upper (rear) suspension arm rubber bush deteriorated but not resulting in excessive movement' this applies to both sides.

I've also got much more wear on the inner edge of both front tyres which I'm assuming may result from the bush wear if it's allowing more camber change with varying load, even if it's fine statically?

In the attached pic I think it must be part number 22, in which case 22a might solve the problem if I've ID'd the right part from the description? Anyone any experience on these? Are '8s like smaller Audis in that you might as well bite the bullet and change the lot once you start getting wear or is it generally OK to change them as required?

All advice/experience gratefully received

Adrian

[ainarssems]

That's the correct part. Sometimes it is OK to change the just the faulty part and rest if fine for long time to go. Other times rest might follow soon. As these are fairly inexpensive parts compared to the full set I would change just the faulty bushes or arms. And if the other arms follow then change whole set.

[Adrian E]

thanks for that - the bushes themselves are fairly inexpensive (£19 a side from Audi) but the arms are nearer £90 each so will aim to go that route.

Presumably these need pressing/burning out and new ones pressing back in?

Would wear in these give you uneven tyre wear?

[ainarssems]

GSF parts sell bushes @ £5.40 and arms @ £35.40, not sure what make they are. Germanautospares have Febi Bilstein arms @ £22.58.

Bushes need to be pressed out. Heating them up a bit will help.

[Adrian E]

Checked in with the person who services my car for me and am looking at doing all the upper arms at the same time.

Will almost certainly go for Meyle HD and have found a place online that does the rear uppers for £28.64 and upper fronts for £49 each.

The upper fronts are more expensive as they're the only bit that's unique to the '8 - the rest is boggo passat/a6/golf parts bin.

There's a complete kit for just under £400 but I'm not feeling all that flush at the moment to splash out when I've only done 6k miles this year.

[RanjS8]

If it is the first time the arms are being changed then both uppers might be best....but get the chap to put some copper slip on the pinch bolts when he is putting back in....will make it 100 times easier for whoever does the upper arms next.

For OEM I normally use allgermanparts in Leeds....they tend to be best for price with next day delivery....however I have to say the above prices are really good value.

[ADU UR quattro]

I also agree, Allgermanparts are great, I recieved my parts next morning, all fitted now. Big Thanks to jason at Allgerman parts.

[Dezzy]

I used a cheap set from the bay a few years ago 120 notes i think, they've done not too bad really done around 50k and need replacing again now really. Order new nuts too as they're crushed and i had problems with the top arm outters coming loose on real uneven ground it would pop an arm out.

If i'd known the 8 was going to last this long i would have invested more in arms

But all said and done they've not done bad

[Adrian E]

Well I've ordered a set of 4 upper arms (meyle hd) from www.carpartscentreuk.co.uk who are a fair bit cheaper than all German parts. Came to £160 incl delivery so happy with that

Decided the lowers don't need doing yet as it would've been picked up at mot if the ball joints were knackered

[Adrian E]

Had these (finally!) delivered this morning:



All sealed boxes direct from Meyle, from what I can tell. They took a week longer than they should have to get here as they only sent one of the pair of arms from Germany originally

They should be getting fitted on Friday and will get my mate to have a good butchers at the others while he's in there to check what state they're in. He reckoned it's generally easier to check condition on an MOT testing ramp as the wheels are loaded on the ramp, whereas a typical 2 post hanging workshop rig leaves everything dangling at full extension, so MOT should have picked up if any of the lowers were dodgy.

That's my birthday present from my parents this week

Adrian