Who was the OEM for front and rear suspensiopn parts for this vehicle ?
I am tryingto rebuild front and rear suspension without having to go to Audi dealer for parts and would like to source OEM parts myself for this project.
Thank you in advance
Kurt

 

ECS Tuning or Blau Parts will have a kit. OEM will cost more than the car is worth. I used Meyle and it's fine. $500-$600 for a complete kit.

 

ECS Tuning or Blau Parts will have a kit. OEM will cost more than the car is worth. I used Meyle and it's fine. $500-$600 for a complete kit. The front is critical. Not much to do on the rear unless you have a collapsed spring or need new strut cartridges. Control arm link might be loose.

 

Thank you Huskerbob
Good info and you make an excellent point about Audi cost for parts vs. value of car.
Kurt

 

This is a pretty simple repair if you do your own work. You can borrow a torque wrench from most auto parts stores if you need as well as pickle forks etc. Good luck.

 

We redid front shocks, control arms & tierod ends on son's 2000 2.7T A6.
Several DIY guides on the web. Two tough issues are common.
1. Seized UCA pinch bolt
2. Seized Tierod end.
Be sure to lube these well with BP Blaster & let it soak in.
Son's car has been Florida car most it's life, so no road salt conditions that likey make these problems worse. Pinch bolt came out easy, but had a very tough time breaking free DS tierod end.
We went with Blauparts Upper & lower kit w/ Improved Tierod ends. So far so good.

 

And don't forget heat is a great persuader of stuck pinch bolts. Propane torch is good enough. Don't worry about burning rubber parts as you will be replacing all of those anyway. Have fun. remember to position your suspension at "ride height" before torquing your bolts.

 

Checked out ECS & BlauParts today; Blauparts seemed very good.
Have 3 torque wrenches so that part not a problem but not sure how to torque with vehicle on ground as it is hard to get under it when it is on the ground.
Where do I find the torque values for the various bolts?
Pretty cold here in New England right now so will have to wait for weather to warm up.
No room in garages as the other "toys" are kept inside out of the weather so this will be a driveway job.
What are your thoughts on replacing entire control arms versus just replacing the bushings in exisitng control arms to keep costs down and wife off my back.

She doesn't understand why I need 5 cars since I can only drive one at a time, so would like to do this job as cheap as possible but still use good parts since I really like the car and want to keep it for a while longer.
Thanks for all your input
Kurt

 

Torque values come with the kit or Bentley manual.

Measure from the center of the wheel hub to the bottom lip of the fender. Write that down.

Raise the vehicle evenly on jack stands, remove wheels, remove struts w/upper control arms, remove control arms and replace, remove lower control arms and replace, remove sta-bar links and replace, replace struts, jack up the wheel so that the center hub to fender lip dimension, (ride height) is what you wrote down, torque all fasteners to spec, put wheels back on, lower car, drive away.

I did both sides at the same time so that each step is repeated twice. As for replacing bushings versus complete control arms I always go with Occam's Razor, the simplest solution to a problem is always the best. Way easier to replace the complete arm than to mess with bushings.

There are a couple of sticky places on the lower control arms but the instructions on line and on Youtube videos will help. Nothing you can't handle. Pinch bolts get replaced so don't worry about cutting them or ruining them with a hammer and punch. Lots of PB Blaster and heat should do the trick. Have fun when the weather warms up.

 

Couldn't find all the individual bushings & ball joints for our car, so went control arm assy.