Hi folks,

I had to have my 2001 A4 Quattro control arms replaced about 1.5-2 years (20,000 miles) ago. The cost as you would imagine was a bit hard to swallow. Then I was pretty disappointed with the quality of the parts and have strongly felt that the recall that applied to up-to year 2000 models should have covered my car also. I contacted Audi (USA) then but received "Unfortunately recall doesn't cover your car" type of response.

A couple of weeks ago I noticed knocking sounds from the front whenever I turned, accelerated or decelerated the car. Today I took it to the independent repair who told me that the driver side control arm has about 1/8" play in it and needs to be replaced. The repair shop is the same one that fitted my car with two new (and as they claimed then and now OE) control arms. I expressed my disbelief that those parts can go bad in such a *short* time/distance.

I want to complain to someone and may be even have *them* pay for the repairs, but have no idea whom. The repair shop are the honest people I know well and I trust them. The part seems to be the OE, and the last time I complained to Audi, I had no satisfactory answer - in fact the representative told me that the only way they'd extend the recall to newer A4s was if enough people complained about the part.

To me it just sounds like either" a) design flaw, b) low quality, c) inconsistent quality or quality control issue with these parts. Especially considering that at other newsgroups many people say their control arms lasted 100+ K miles and still no problems.

I'm looking for your opinion as to how reasonable does it sound to have control arms needing replacement so often (considering I drive the car with care and never put any unnecessary strain on it).

I would also like to hear about your experiences with control arms and any successes in getting someone admit the fault and/or pay for the repair.

Thank you,


Dave

 

The upper control arm bushing life greatly depends on how it was installed.
For instance if the link was set too low from the strut tower then bolted on the steering will feel a little loose because the there is not enough tension on the bushing. If its set too high, the bushing will have a greater amount of tension on it and it will wear prematurely. Anywhere from 2-3X as fasterthan normal.

 

auditech79, Thanks for reply. would I be able to tell if that's the case? I'm not quite sure how exposed the part is until I get under the car. Do you think I'll be able to take a photo?

 

The only way you can tell how the link was installed is you have to jack up the car and take out the pinch bolt off the steering arm and pop out the links from that. The links will sit in thier static position or where they were installed before they were torqued to the strut tower (un-less the bushing is falling apart then your screwed). When you get both of the links popped out of the steering arm check the angle of the control arms to the tower, it should be slightly down at about a 20-30 degree angle. If the links look like they are really close to the tower they guy F****d up the install.