Ok, first time psoting here. I bought a 2003 A6 Quattro for my oldest daughter about 9 months ago. 105k miles and the car has been very meticulously taken care of. We've had no issues so far other than an emergency flasher relay.

We had a little snow storm here in Denver. I took the car to drop the youngest daughter at school. I was amazed at how nicely the car handles in really slick conditions....that is where fun begins. Older kid heads off to south end of Denver to do some Xmas shopping (seriosuly on the slickest day of the year?). She made it down there fine but managed to slide into a curb at fairly slow/fast (depending on your point of view). From the looks of things, she hit the curb almost perpendicular to the direction of travel (straight ahead) with the wheel turned hard to drivers side.

It cracked a chunk out of the rim. Ouch. ...and appears to have pushed/bent the suspension back about an inch so the tire now interferes with the wheel lining. The car is unhappy going forward but goes backwards easier (that is how I got it on the trailer). Going forward it seems to bind up (lfifting that corner a bit), then it will break loose and go ahead with heavy rubber friction/squeeking sound. I put the car up on jackstands. Both front wheels appear to be able to spin. Neither feel free however with a slight tight spot 110 degrees free then tight for 10 degrees then 110 free, etc. No cluncking fron the axle/CV joint or visible bent stuff that I can see.

I jacked up the back. Started car and put the car in gear. The passenger side (accident side) must have more friction as only the driver side spins. No noises during spin. I do get a strange noise after braking and going from D to P (with all four wheels off the ground). I am guessing this might be a bunch of the ABS abd traction control systems struggling with the spinning without weight on wheels.

So the questions - I don't see anything physically bent but that is tough to know for sure. I know the wheel needs to go toward the front of the car 1/2-3/4 inch just so I can drive the car to the alignment shop. What is the procedure I should use to get this done? I ordered the Bentley book but won't be here for a couple days. Second - what are the questions I need to ask the alignment shop to insure they are not knotheads and have done Audi work before? Specific name of procedure or just ask if they have done a lot of Audis or ?? This is not aligning my dodge pickup.... Anything else to help me understand how the alignment works?

Thanks so much for reading my post. Looking forward to any guidance you guys might be able to provide.

Merry Xmas all.

britt

 

OK - Bentley book came yesterday. Upon closer inspection, the passenger side lower rear guide control arm is bent. I found an awesome YouTube video done by the Bentley guys. BTW - My manual is Hard Cover...nice! The one for my Porschen 911 is soft cover and getting beat up.

So I have removed the bent piece. It does not appear as though the front lower control arm is bent and from an eyeball glance, the tops seem good......except I notice cracks in the rubber bushings on both top control arms ON BOTH sides. I'll try to attach pics in a next reply.

Should I replace all of them? Or is this one of those common"they crack but are fine like that for a long time" item?

Thanks in advance. This Audi stuff is new to me.

britt

 

One phot of bent part, two each of the drivers and passenger cracks I see in the top contol arm bushings. I don't thnk the cracks wer caused by this accident. Thoughts? Replace them or let it ride?