ARB Bushes and Droplinks
 

I am getting a slight suspension rattle on crossing rough ground (e.g. car parks made from un-compacted road stone) and think that this may be ARB bushes and/or drop links. Had a look underneath this morning and whilst one of the drop links/bushes looks fine the offside link top bush had broken rubber poking out of the side. The ARB bushes dont look too bad from what I can see - which is not much. Some questions:
1. Any way of testing for play (given I havent a lift)?
2. What are the replacement part numbers for the drop links and ARB bushes?

Any help/info appreciated (I have noted the ARB bush replacement sticky)

OK, so I have found my parts list and the part numbers i have are:

ARB - Bushes (00-03) 4D0 411 327G
Bracket 4D0 411 336D
Link, stabilizer 4D0 411 317K

Any comments/tips on testing or DIY replacement?

ARB bushes don't fail that often and usually resuld in creaking noise going over bumps if they do. Drop links on the other hand fail quite often and give ratling noise. OEM are quite expensive I think about £40, aftermarket can be anywhere £5-25, cheap ones don't last long, maybe 1 year <10k miles, more expensive like Meyle HD only last for 2 years even if they have 4 year warranty. Changing is pretty easy, best if you have 4 post lift but can be done on driveway. If doing on driveway you want both sides to be lifted up so that there is no tension in ARB when changing them and you need to remember that bolts need doing up when you have car weight resting on suspension. If tightened up while car is in the air it will twist the rubber when you put weight on them and cause them to fail prematurely. This is where 4 post lift comes in handy as you cannot get to bolts with wheels on the car and car on the ground. I just put some wooden blocks under suspension with the wheels off and release car weight on them to do up bolts.

Meyle links are only £14 each and come with new bolts :) Mine are fine after 18 months, but they've only done 7000 miles!

Meyle and Febi also do the arb bushes for about £6 each. I have some of each and I think the Febi ones are slightly harder which would be better for an S.

Thanks Ainars and MJ for the advice +++
I do so little mileage in the 8 now that I can accept the chance of Meyle items perhaps not being so long lasting.

Have got the new links but am confused with the part number for the ARB bush. My parts list show different anti-roll bars for "w/o sports suspension" and with (i.e. S8). I have measured the diameter of the ARB and its 30mm. However, the same parts list only lists ONE bush (and one bracket), part number 4D0 411 327G for 00-03 cars - no mention of different part number for sports suspension. When searched this pt no comes up with a 25mm inside diameter bush. So can anyone tell me whats the pt no for a 30mm S8?

Anybody?

327G is the non-sport bar at 26.8mm. 327H is for the sport bar at 29mm.

Interestingly, the Lemforder equivalent of H is listed as 27mm so presumably the aftermarket are specifying the diameter of the loose bush as 2mm smaller than the bar it fits.

Also, the Meyle bush is softer than the Febi so not the preferred choice in this instance. Not sure about the Lemforder.

Thanks MJ 👍

i did wonder about the 27/28/29mm sizing. I measured the bar at 30mm using calipers and a ruler so probably over-estimated it. The bushes for the non-sports bar are all listed as 25mm so 1.8mm less than the actual bar size. Interesting +++

Well, after looking at online suppliers, whilst they show good "headline" prices (around £3.50 each for Febi bushes) the (european) suppliers pile £8 postage and £3 "delivery charge" on top. TPS provide OEM bushes at £13.07 inc VAT for a pair.

And you'll know they'll fit. +++
Thinking about the dia being slightly smaller dia than the bar, so I'm assuming because they're split, when done up they get squished / stretched together some the ends don't meet before clamping the bar.

I didn't even think to ask TPS about these :rolleyes:

Yes, I just thought that I would give TPS a call. They had them in stock so picked them up when going into Glasgow +++
I hope they fit, Dezzy. I measured the bush inside diameter and they look to be about 26-27mm and I guess your hypothesis about stretching under compression and therefore they need to be smaller diameter than the ARB.

£2.59 each from Amazon! (plus £4.53 delivery from Germany)

Yes but it depends on what manufacturer you choose - Febi, Meyle were more than £2.59 etc plus many cheapos you have not heard of and THEN they (e.g. Autodoc.co.uk or buycarparts.co.uk NEITHER of which are in the UK!) hit you with unbelievable postage charges.

Despite the rain and cold, bit the bullet to finish this job off. Careful to follow instructions in service document, I am concerned about the final line up of the "C" shaped link, the anti roll bar and the track control link (arm). The Service Manual Running Gear page 81 clearly states that the connecting links have a "permanently fitted spacer disc" which must be fitted to the ARB end. From the drawing it appears that one of the bushes IS slightly thicker. However, the bushes on the Meyle links dont appear to any different at either end. On inspection of the old (original, AUdi) links there is no discernable difference on those either. This results in the links not being truly verticle with the result that the bushes are under strain. The photos below show both the old and new bushes in place and the lack of alignment is apparent in both.

Any advice?

I think the links were originally handed but at some point that spacer piece was removed and they became identical. The aftermarket seems to be fairly split on whether to put it on or not - when we did the suspension on the Trader's 8 we had two identical links with the spacer which both fitted the left of the car but not the right :rolleyes:

I'll have a look at mine later. I'm not sure they're at such an angle like yours but its a while since I put them on, and mostly I only see them with the car in the air. I wonder if some alloy spacers on the bar would improve their service life?

Hmm looking at Etka they are handed for the A4 & A6, but never so for the A8, which explains why I have both in my spares pile :rolleyes: I guess we could use the A4 links to reduce the angle, but one has to wonder why the A8 had different links in the first place since it shares so much else in that area :Confused:

Thanks for that MJ, appreciate your views when you have had a look. I was just sorting through my washer jar to some up with some suitable spacers. I am sure that getting the links vertical and without the stress on the bushes will help. My old ones are pretty shot and it looks like being at an angle didnt help (tho' they have covered 111k!) Will need to sort this out tomorrow as its now dark here and cold and wet....:-(