Wish me luck...
 

For tonight/this weekend I will be replacing the front arms on the '8 with a full set of meyle heavy duty arms!

I have most of the nuts n bolts from audi, so am ready to go.

An initial inspection last night revealed;
a. Despite weeks of wd40'ing the pinch bolt, it's still seized
b. I don't have a new bolt for the track rod end pinch bolt
c. The main knackerd joint causig my creaks and donks is a track rod end, but there are some others that are knackerd too, so it's a good job I'm doing it all.


I did some top arms on my old a4 diesel, so I know the score, but I'm not lookig forward to this one!

Can't wait to drive it afterwards though, especially once it's been 4wheel alighned.

"May the force be with you..." :ROFL:

No seriously, best of luck with it. I just wish i had the space, confidence, and time to do these jobs - oh ya and not forgetting ability...

Good luck with that one! +++

It would be great to see a full how-to on this if you've got the time! :D

Thanks for the support guys! Unfortunately the force wasn't with me tonight!

I would do a write up, there's already out there on audi pages and audi world. Although they don't mention how many hammers are needed!

So far I have. Jacked it up, removed the wheel, slackened most of the bolts, and wrestled with the pinch bolt, for ages, and ages, then the sun went down.
The track rod end pinch bolt is loose though, which us the other problem bolt; so as soon as the pinch bolt is out the drivers side should be relativly straight forward! Fingers crossed. Propper work commences tomo.

You probably just need a bigger hammer... Fixes most problems :)

here is the best german pinch bolt tool just for the alu a8 arms 210 euros ,
from agent here http://www.heni-werkzeuge.de/Shop-AU...UNGS-a540.html

full product description i put here,
http://wiki.quattroworld.com/images/..._bolt_tool.pdf

maybe club buy is appropriate.
one of my bolts is not coming out without it although it did 3 years ago.
this tool requires cutting the head off the bolt

I'm sure you need to replace the Pinch Bolts with new or they will slacken and you'll have a wheel facing 90 deg to the car, and if your on the motorway sat at 140 when it happens ouch.

I replaced my arms and only replaced the 2 bottom rear bolts that you have to cut to get out, after a few weeks i had a knocking start on NSF corner thought i was a bit odd. On checking found the pinch bolt was loose so i tightened it back up again, and again, Then i bit the bullit and get new bolts from the stealer 6 notes for the pair with nuts.

The nuts are ovel flange nuts so mash the thread as they're tightened.

It was done with all new nuts n bolts.

My plan to do it all last weekend fell through and i ended up only getting one side done and doing the other side yesterday.

Managed to get both pinch bolts out, one needed drilling out! what a mission, luckily the weather held (working outside - 3 bay garage but its not deep enough with the stuff i have in there infront of the '8!)

both my front tyres are heavily worn on the inside edge, so my first stop tomorrow morning is mitchel dever tyres for two tyres and 4 wheel laser alignment. because of this i havent really driven the car since finishing last night (they are VERY worn on the inside edge, but should get me to the tyre fitter OK) but the clonks are gone, as are the creaks, and it seems a lot quiter on the front end, i expect even more so with new tyres and alignment.

What was causing my clonks?
- Both track rod ends and torn their boots, dried out, and had 1mm+ of play in them!
- both ARB links where knackerd, with plenty of distortion in the bushes
- nearside top rear arm bush torn, with it off the car you could almost twist the inside all the way around
- all other bushes showed sign of tearing or excessive wear.

pretty shocking, but on the other hand not bad for 120k, on what is a know fault usually failing at around 80k. I assume the reason it lasted longer was it did very few miles in the last could of years until i bought it 2months ago, it was fine until about 5 weeks ago when the first knock developed and within 3 weeks of sourcing parts and time it was all shot!

Another job ticked off! on to the next...

All you need now is some 20's, that is one helluva S8 you have there. Perfect even. I'd have it over a final edition in a shot.
So many S8's I currently have on my radar if owners were to sell. Ian's, James (Colour combo, tinted Xenon Pluses and KWs and concours winning!)Yours & Topgolfers.

Lock away your keys chaps :D

Thanks for the kind words. I love the colours of yours, fancy a swap?! :P

Next job is to sort the AV input from my phone and decide where to mount my iphone!

But your right, i REALLY need to sort some 20s!

I'd swap in a flash, would love a black one. But I wouldn't recommend it, your spec is really good an you have squirt mode which mine doesn't. I would be very tempted if you were ever selling though!

If i ever decide to sell, i will give you a shout first.

2 new falkens on the front (they seem to have some pretty good reviews, and initial impressions are good) and full 4 wheel alignment completed by micheldever tyres, hampshire. the guy said they normally measure it all up and only adjust the front, but on mine it showed the rear was a bit out so he tweaked it all. The laser kit scanns the car and sets a datum down the middle to work too, in theory avoiding the chance of the car crabbing down the road. he really knew his stuff too, highlighting a few other adjustments and carring out some other measurments and checks. It took him about 20-30mins (he was extremely quick!) including haveing a chat about what he was doing to set it all up. he didnt do camber or caster, but he did measure it all. at the end you get a print out showing the before and after measurements - i can highly recomend theese guys!

annoyingly, i still have a fair bit of road noise and.....a clonk from the drivers side occasionally (no-idea what it is)! but none the less im very pleased with how it all turned out.

[quote=Mr K;11632]

both my front tyres are heavily worn on the inside edge, so my first stop tomorrow morning is mitchel dever tyres for two tyres and 4 wheel laser alignment. because of this i havent really driven the car since finishing last night (they are VERY worn on the inside edge,

QUOTE]

Mine too, replaced them not too long ago when i cut my hands on the wires that were sticking through them, had a 4 wheel TRACK at the same time and was stood there when it was adjusted and it was well witin tolerances. New tyres have also worn very heavily on the insides again the NSF beeing the worst.
I'm going to have to have a laser alignment done now. Do you have to book in advance with md tyres? I could almost pop in there on my way home from work

No advanced booking needed but if you go in peak hours (sat mornings etc) be prepared to que. I was in and out In just over an hour for two new tyres and wheel alighnment on Tuesday morning.

It is circa £25 and I asked for 'four wheel laser alignment' but the £25 covers measuring all 4 wheels and adjusting the front, adjusting the rears is an extra circa £20, my total for alignment was £47-50 as the rears showed as being quite far out so needed adjusting.

Heavy tyre wear seems to be because I have too much camber on the front wheels. Toe is out too but it’s cancelling out some of the affect of having too much camber so it has been left unadjusted or my tyre wear will get worse. Matey went under the front and pushed up taking a bit of weight of the suspension and the camber comes right, or within tolerance anyway.

So I suppose the questions are do the springs get weak and lower the ride height, or has it been lowered at some point? (I know you can’t answer that)

The 8 isn’t a sport but does have sport suspension as an option from new so it might have bit replaced over the years with wrong parts maybe? Strange really because the front looks higher than the rear. If I jack it up so the camber is right it’ll look like I’m permanently going up hill.

I’ll scan the report sheet in and take a photo of the tyre tomorrow.:(