Whats the deal on the recall for controll arms? My car is a 1997 a4 1.8T, can i get some new stuff for free ?

 

niver heard of it. here's the recalls for your vehicle https://www.audiforums.com/recalls-a...997/Recall.htm

 

It wasn't a recall, but a service bulletin, which basically tells the mechanics to look for possible wear or problems there.

If the car is under warranty and there is a problem, they would replaced it, if its out of warranty, your screwed.

 

Thanks alot guys ! The car is well past warranty so i will have to replace the controll arms. I just wanted to make sure because if I bought and paid to have them installed, then found out it was a recall I would be kicking myself!
I have read that when you replace the controll arms you should get a big kit and do the sway bar links, upper and lower controll arms, tie rod ends, sway bars, and some other stuff. Is this really necissary? Im sure it would be nice but we are talking pretty big bucks, when there is other stuff to fix aswell.

Thanks again for the help : Luke.

 

What symptoms are you having, or has someone told you you need certain control arms replaced?

If you do them all, you will just be saving yourself work down the road. Usually they say once one or two go, the rest are not far behind. But its not set in stone. If you can afford to do them all, your suspension is now mostly brand new, and those components should last you for another 100k or so.

Mine were squeking once in a while on my car. Somehow, maybe because I have been driving the s*it out of the car for a long time, I have not been hearing the noises for quite some time. Really since the end of last winter. It been cold again, and still no noises. Maybe its salt getting in there or something in the winter. But, my steering and suspension is working great, so I wont be replacing anything in the near future.

 

If i hit a bumb I hear a load clunk. I have quite abit of road noise aswell (and I have brand new kumo tires). If I am on a bad road they clunk and knock arond alot and I can kinda feel it in my steering wheel.
When i bought my car the guy said that they had to be replaced and that he had replaced them time and time again, due to bad roads in montreal.

 

Sounds more like worn tie-rod ends to me.

Is your steering real tight, or is there play in it? If there is play, look for worn tie-rod ends as the problem, rather than the control arms.

Jack car up, grab wheel on both sides, try to move it back and forth. If any play, your TRE's are bad.

Clunking could also be control arms, but this test will help rule out the tre-s first.

 

There is no play in my wheel, but I will try that test to make sure its not the tie rod ends. I have heard people saying that controll arms sqeek when they go bad, but dont some models have a ball and joint style controll arm. That would clunk right ? Is there a way to check the condition of my controll arms ?