Has anyone replaced the front upper and lower control arm bushings?
Trying to weigh the merits and cost savings of replacing the bushings only and retaining the old upper and lower control arms vs. replacing the upper and lower control arms entirely which of course would come with new bushings already installed.
Has anyone done this and does anyone have any insights or suggestions?
It's a 2000 A-6 2.7 bi turbo.
Thank you in advance
Kurt

 

To be honest, unless you have a press it isn't worth the time or effort with the money saved doing this.

I literally just went through the same debate myself about two weeks ago. Like a fool I ordered the bushings before really taking a look at how they are pressed into the control arms.

Not to mention the bushings are bonded to they need to be inserted into the control arm in just the right way or you risk greatly reducing the life of the bushing.

I would just bite the bullet and do all the control arms and get it professionally aligned afterwards and be done with it. The ball joints will be soon behind the failing bushings so you'll be back to square one again in a year or so.

If you're going to do all control arms, do yourself a favor and get yourself a universal ball joint separator tool for the control arms. Mine were seized into the steering knuckle and I wasted about 4 hours fighting them before I caved and spent another 25 dollars and bought the right tool. Made all the difference.

Oh... and a torch. The pinch bolt for the upper control arms will be seized in the knuckle and needs to be heated for about 5 minutes straight. Hit it with an impact to see if it breaks free, it not, heat some more and repeat the process till it moves freely then hit it was a hammer.

 

Nebuchadnezzar
Excellent suggestion and I agree and will replace entire control arms rather than mess with the bushings. I forgot about the ball joint and with my luck that will go next.
What vendor did you use for parts?
I am looking at Blauparts & ECS; just want to be sure I get the CORRECT parts the first time and not have to send anything back or wait for replacements.
Thanks very much for your excellent advice; I really appreciate it and it helps a great deal.

Kurt

 

I went with the Meyle kit from ECS tuning for just over $500 for the complete kit. It was a two day job just because I was stubborn and didn't want to get that ball joint separator tool, but with it I could have done it in about 4 or 5 hours.

 

I had never done control arms or tie-rod end replacements in my life and did all 13 piece control arm kit and the front break job in one 12 hour day with a few red bulls.

Serious. Just watched a few youtube videos. Worked out great, I've already got 40k miles on them.

Mines a 2002 a6 4.2; I'd imagine the 2.7 couldn't be to much different. The only thing to watch out for is not completely screwing the alignment up changing the tie-rod ends, then just get it aligned at firestone or what ever is available.

(I did not have a press)