I have a 2009 A5 S-Line. I had the lower control arms replaced and the upgraded bushings replaced back in 2010 by Audi Dlr. Now I have an annoying squeaking sound from suspension or steering (bushings I think) that make the car sound like a jalopy when I'm going slow or turning into my driveway. I took it to the dealer and they are telling me that it probably needs to be lubricated. Has anyone heard of this as a maintenance requirement? I don't see it in the service schedule. Are there zirc fittings by which they lube it up? Could they mean that the chasis needs to be lubricated? Anyone know what might be going on here? Thanks.

 

miles on the car?? and when you say " upgraded bushings" do you mean the updated sway bar end links bushings ?? or like after market crap?

and why did you do lower control arm bushings?

 

I have about 31K miles on it. I was told that the ball joints (lower control arms) failed. The dealer replaced them under warranty and the car is riding like new again. They indicated that it is not uncommon but at this low mileage, it sounds very uncommon to me. I expected the ball joints to last alot longer than 31K miles.

To answer your question: the lower control arm bushings were originally replaced with factory upgraded ones due to squeaking when I first purchased it. Audi knew about it and supposedly has a TB for the issue. I was under the impression that it was for the lower control arms...I'd have to verify with the old receipts but it could be for the sway bar end links.

 

well there are updated sway bar end links, and the TSB that you are talking about for the lower control arm bushing is not for squeaking....
the TSB that you're talking about is from if you have wheel shimmy at highway speeds.
they replace both of the lower rear control arm bushings ( one for each side of your front suspension)

and i misunderstood why your lower control arms were replaced... i thought you were saying that they replaced them for the lower bushings.. ( those last about 80k-100k miles. but yes those lower ball joints do go bad between 30k-35k ( normally due to harsh driving condition aka you driving your audi with quattro like you should be) haha

also look out around 40k-45k miles your upper control arm bushings will start to split and be torn. just go before your car is out of warrenty and tell them you hear creaking sound from the front suspension over bumps and speed bumps, they should default to replacing your front upper control link bushings!!!

 

Yep - its been a while but you are correct. The TB was for the shimmy/vibration in front suspension. The dealer replaced the lower control arm bushings under the TSB but had to replace the lower LF ball joint as well (time coincident).

Do you know of any after market (good quality) ball joints to replace the stock lower ball joints? 30-35K miles seems way too soon for ball joints to fail/deterioriate. I had a 1997 BMW 540i that didn't need any ball joints or bushings replaced until after 120K miles.

Thanks for the heads up re: the upper control arm bushings around 40-45K miles.