Hey guys.

Just got a "really nice" 98 1.8TQ. You'll notice that "really nice" is in quotation marks, as I've run into some problems.

I'm going to preface my little story with a straight up, I AM RETARDED. I know.

I bought it under the impression that the inspection was good until nov 2007. Biggest mistake of my life. It turns out that I got pulled over 3 days later for an out-of-date inspection. I was shocked. There was no way I looked at the inspection sticker, saw the month of november was punched out of the sticker, and failed to notice it said 2006 instead of 2007, right? Wrong. There you have it, I'm an idiot.

So I got out of the ticket by showing the officer my 10 day inspection from the dmv. I promptly took it to my local shop, who has done a lot of work for my friends and I before, at very reasonable prices. A day later, I come back to pick it up from the inspection, and.... Turns out "7 of the 8 ball joints in the front end are bad, and the outer tie rod ends are about to fall apart". Dammit. "How much will it be to replace them?" I ask with a cringe, knowing that I wasn't going to like the answer. About 1800 bucks, with parts, labor, alignment, and inspection. So I said don't do it, I'll see if I can find the parts for cheaper.

The cheapest his suppliers can get the control arms for is 1200 bucks for the whole shebang. I found a kit on a couple sites for 500 bucks made by Meyle. Labor is 74 an hour if I provide parts, and it's approximately a 5 hour job. Plus inspection and alignment, of course.

I can also do the work myself, as my dad and I did it on our '00 passat 1.8T. It's just a pain in the ***.

How many people has this happened to? Is it common for 110k mile B5s? Should I have him do it, or do it myself? Is there anywhere else to get the entire front end control arm kit cheaper? Help!

Thanks. I'm going to cry myself to sleep.

 

http://www.ecstuning.com/stage/edpd/...ory=Suspension

ecs has the best prices around for alot of stuff

 

Thanks Lazer Viking. On that page they show the same Meyle kit at the same price, but with slightly better pictures. I ordered the kit, hopefully it'll be here soon. Anybody else have an idea how much labor should be for this job / if i should do it myself? Thanks.

 

Faulty control arm bushings and tie rod ends are common on A4s over 100k. Just buy the entire kit and replace the set...Funny I got my emmissions inspection done this morning. It was expired for just one day, I woke up to a ticket on my car right infront of my house. Its like those fvckers have nothing better do than cruise the blocks at night looking for expired crap.

 

Seriously, and what was crazy, I was doing 60mph (in a 55) on a 2 lane road, and he was going the other direction, somehow spotted the color difference, turned around, and pulled me over. For the first time, when asked "Do you know why I stopped you today?" I was honestly able to answer no. :-P

So much for the chip/dv/boost gauge for now....

Any more opinions on shop install / spending a weekend under the car?

 

At 110K mi. my tie rod end went. Jack the front of the car up.
Place your hands at 9 and 3 on the hangingtire and shake. If
it's loose, look for the bad part. With your hands on top of the tire
shake. If loose look for bad parts. If the 9-3 has play it's the tie rod ends.
The control arms and ball joints would show up loose with the top shake.
For a good front-end shop:
http://www.gsp9700.com/pub/search/findgsp9700.cfm
I paid $450 for the tie rod end job.

 

If you are capable of doing the job yourself then do it and save $370 on the labor. You still need an alinment so you might subtract $150 for that. If we dont have a DIY for that you could be the 1st to help many more out.

 

Yep, I'm going to do it myself. I'll try and do a nice DIY with pics in the next week or so.

 

If you could do a DIY with pics that would be great. Much appreciated.

 

Its not eveything but your gonna have to do some of the stuff shown here...

http://www.audiworld.com/tech/wheel43.shtml