Upper control arms

[Delboy]

Anyone replaced theirs?

I have had the car apart this week doing bits and pieces and noticed that the UCA's and drop links need replacing.

Would like any pointers or tips if someone has done it before.

Also any recommendations on suppliers would be welcome too.

[Burnzybubbles]

Buy lemforder if your keeping the car their the oem manufacturer, the the pinch bolt may be a pain in the bum so give it some good soaking with plus gas or something similar for a few days and let it soak in, the last one I did in an aluminium hub was a right PITA, usually you have to set the arm and bolt it up at the same position it'd be at at normal ride height to reduce the flex on the bush and stop premature wear, this is usually done with a jack pushing the hub up to the desired hight, unbolt the ARB link to make life easier, only gripe id have is how the air suspension will behave when your messing about with it raising the hub, hopefully jacking mode disables it completely.

[Architex_mA8tey]

^^^^^
What he said! I've just put UCA's onto one of the D3's and used lemforder also.

[snapdragon]

My advice would be to use the ELSA instructions don't just guess. You need to tighten the bolts with the arms at specific heights relative to the strut mount to make sure the bushes are in equilibrium. I found mister-auto was the cheapest place and had the full range of brands including OE TRW, Lemforder and MOOG. One of my pinch bolts was so badly seized it required an air-chisel and drilling followed by pulling it out by way of double nut and greased washer to tighten against the housing.

[Delboy]

I have both elsawin and bentley, but was looking for tips or shortcuts.

Chaps on Audiworld have done it by dropping the mount slightly instead of taking the whole strut out which is the way I think I will go at it once I order the bits.

I think I will order the bushes from Audi as I can't seem to find ones for the S8 by aftermarket companies.

Thanks guys.

[snapdragon]

Originally Posted by Delboy

Chaps on Audiworld have done it by dropping the mount slightly instead of taking the whole strut out which is the way I think I will go at it once I order the bits.

Yes, drop the strut - The airline connector can be cleaned and unscrewed to remove that - then just take the three bolts out in the engine compartment and it should come down as far as I recall. Also the day before, give it all a good jet out at the jet wash or with pressure washer. Nothing worse than avalanches of silt dropping down every time you bang something.

[M-A8]

As above
I've recently replaces all upper arms and lower arms and c links between the lower arms and antirollbar, all Lemforder.
I thought about Meile for some time, but in this case nothing is better than oem in my personal opinion so went with that.
For all the arms I've used Mister Auto as they are the cheapest, but lemforder c links you can get only, I think, from experience ecp for £20 each each.
All Lemforder arms from Mister Auto come with oem audi part numbers polished off.

[centurion]

Originally Posted by M-A8

As above
I've recently replaces all upper arms and lower arms and c links between the lower arms and antirollbar, all Lemforder.
I thought about Meile for some time, but in this case nothing is better than oem in my personal opinion so went with that.
For all the arms I've used Mister Auto as they are the cheapest, but lemforder c links you can get only, I think, from experience ecp for £20 each each.
All Lemforder arms from Mister Auto come with oem audi part numbers polished off.

I've recently replaced front track/tie rod ends [only] on mine. Garage had checked all other elements and have not found anything 'wrong' with them but I still get the nasty squeak when the car is cold going over speed bumps in the morning... once it warms up it's all fine but it doesn't feel right on the steering either... it's been to the garage several times and going back in tomorrow morning and if they cannot find anything I was planning to replace all other joints/part on the front suspension. hence i'd appreciate if anyone could list parts and part # associated so that I could order those and close this off once and for all?

Cheerio

[M-A8]

Originally Posted by centurion

I've recently replaced front track/tie rod ends [only] on mine. Garage had checked all other elements and have not found anything 'wrong' with them but I still get the nasty squeak when the car is cold going over speed bumps in the morning... once it warms up it's all fine but it doesn't feel right on the steering either... it's been to the garage several times and going back in tomorrow morning and if they cannot find anything I was planning to replace all other joints/part on the front suspension. hence i'd appreciate if anyone could list parts and part # associated so that I could order those and close this off once and for all?

Cheerio

The squeak you hear is from antirollbar bushes mate, problem is that on D3 you can't replace them on their own, there is no even part number for it, all you can do is replace whole antirollbar but it's pointless coz the only thing wrong there is that bloody squeak, and not even always when called.
Also very similar squeak been reported with D3s and it was the actual shock absorber which again needs to replace as one piece.
As you say, there is nothing wrong with the suspension in regards to handling or knocks, it's just bloody squeak.
You live with it or splash few hundreds to replace bar which is fine more likely.

For the arms Mister Auto is great, just type in your reg, go to suspension arms or something like that and just filter parts by manufacturer Lemforder and you done, all there, there won't be two different but same parts, add to basket, pay, wait for the parcel.

[Delboy]

Thanks guys.

I think I'm more or less limited to Audi for the bushes.

The droplinks can be lemforder as they are the same as A8's