My car ('99 A4 1.8T Sport, 5-speed) has been very good to me over the past year, but early this past December I began hearing a noise comming from the right front corner. Sounded like a rattle and would present itself going at even very slow speed (crawling). I did a quick visual inspection about two weeks ago and noticed a TRE boot was bad and I figured that might be where my noise was comming from. Well, last week it started making a different noise from the same corner. No more "rattle" but now it squeaks over the smallest bump in the road or turn of the steering wheel. Could this actually be a control arm problem? Do they usually squeak when they start going bad? It's been getting louder every day but it all still seems tight. No play or rattle. Any idea would be helpful. Thanks.

-Tim

Tie rod ends usually clunk when going bad because the balljointdeteriorates and causes lose metal on metal play..and control arms normaly squeek when they go bad because the bushings wear out and become weak. Try blasting your control arm bushingswith some grease/wd40 and see if the squeeking goes away. jack one side of your car up and jiggle the TRE around, if there is any movement in the joint, replace the tre with the udpdated beefy Meyle typle. Get them from www.purems.com. they have the best prices on them that ive found. Just did mine actually. But if you are saying its squeeky then i would suspect a conrtol arm/bushing problem. For those, check out www.getcoolparts.com they have the best price for the kit (Meyle)that comes with all parts needed including tie rod ends with free shipping.

Jack the car up. With your hands at 9 & 3 on the
front right tire shake it. If loose, check what link
is moving. Also shake with hands at 12 & 6.

Ya if you want to check your wheel bearing condition ^ that works too. Its amazing all the things you can check just by jacking one side of the car up isnt it?

Thank you for the responses. Bushings make more sense now that you mention it. I guess I was so worried that the ball joints were going bad I focused my attention on them only. I'm going to pull it into my garage Sunday and check things out a little closer. I've PM'd a member here that is selling TRE's and I'm waiting for a response back. Thanks again.

-Tim

Sorry 99a4now I gave advise on how to check all suspention components to determine what was wrong but because I insulted onepoint8tee and crazyhawk in the process onepoint8tee deleted my post and I'm not about to retype it all again. Good luck.

I believe it is your ball joint.

we cover common problems and make suggestions, (sorry you dont approve) common suspension probs=control arms and tie rod ends... since specific components on these parts are not replaceable you must replace the whole thing. im not sure if you realize this?


"Tie rod ends usually clunk when going bad because the balljoint deteriorates and causes lose metal on metal play.. and control arms normaly squeek when they go bad because the bushings wear out and become weak. Try blasting your control arm bushings with some grease/wd40 and see if the squeeking goes away. jack one side of your car up and jiggle the TRE around, if there is any movement in the joint, replace the tre with the udpdated beefy Meyle typle. " (onepoint8tee)

this is good advice so im a bit confused when you said we all give bad advice.. you may know cars but that doesnt make you an audi expert.