New lower control arms (orange rubber thingy and plastic)
#11
03-21-2012, 09:14 AM
ughh, i cant believe it took me a whole day of wondering, pondering, etc to do just 1 side, lol. But at least now I know how to do it right (do it exactly like the bentley video on youtube says, move the swaybar too, you have so remove the bolt from the other side too), the other side should take me hopefully only 2 hours, of wondering and pondering, etc. lol
the reason at least the lowers need to be at curbweight is because the rubber bushing will twist as you drop the car and wear out very fast (also, its creating more down force if you tighten it with the suspension all the way down). The upper arms we can torque with the strut tower out of the car because we know exactly what angle they should be at... Well it doesn't even have to be out of the car, you just have to have the right angles either way.
I drove it around the block and i hit a small bump and the bump felt completely different this time, it felt like I was in a brand new car, lol. There was nothing dramatic about hitting the bump this time. Also the car was pulling to the left quite a bit, which suggests that the passenger side lower arms are still pushing down a lot.
I'm going to do the upper arms too, and then I have a set of brand new michelin pilot sport a/s plus which I got off tirerack for $557 incl shipping, but I get a $70 prepaid credit card with purchase (its until March 23 only, so if you need tires, these are really good and you have 2.5 days left)... Then I'll do a wheel alignment at an audi dealer (i'm tired of replacing control arms and tires all the time, they should do it RIGHT and not 0-0-0-0 which most likely is not how our wheels should be aligned)...
the reason at least the lowers need to be at curbweight is because the rubber bushing will twist as you drop the car and wear out very fast (also, its creating more down force if you tighten it with the suspension all the way down). The upper arms we can torque with the strut tower out of the car because we know exactly what angle they should be at... Well it doesn't even have to be out of the car, you just have to have the right angles either way.
I drove it around the block and i hit a small bump and the bump felt completely different this time, it felt like I was in a brand new car, lol. There was nothing dramatic about hitting the bump this time. Also the car was pulling to the left quite a bit, which suggests that the passenger side lower arms are still pushing down a lot.
I'm going to do the upper arms too, and then I have a set of brand new michelin pilot sport a/s plus which I got off tirerack for $557 incl shipping, but I get a $70 prepaid credit card with purchase (its until March 23 only, so if you need tires, these are really good and you have 2.5 days left)... Then I'll do a wheel alignment at an audi dealer (i'm tired of replacing control arms and tires all the time, they should do it RIGHT and not 0-0-0-0 which most likely is not how our wheels should be aligned)...
The bolts are 18'' and 16'' right?
#12
03-21-2012, 10:19 AM
18" 16" huh?
I put a lift under the lower rear control arm where it meets the wheel hub and raised it up to the point where the entire car was about to lift up. Thats as close to curb weight as I'll get.
When your going to be changing them, you need to move the wheel hub around to get them out and put them in, and you will also need to twist your sway bar down to get the front lower arm in correctly, do it exactly like this video:
Audi A6 1998 - 2004 Front Lower Control Arm Replacing - How To - YouTube
I put a lift under the lower rear control arm where it meets the wheel hub and raised it up to the point where the entire car was about to lift up. Thats as close to curb weight as I'll get.
When your going to be changing them, you need to move the wheel hub around to get them out and put them in, and you will also need to twist your sway bar down to get the front lower arm in correctly, do it exactly like this video:
Audi A6 1998 - 2004 Front Lower Control Arm Replacing - How To - YouTube
#13
03-21-2012, 10:21 AM
i did not need to mess around with the subframe at all. I first removed the lower rear arm at the ball joint and then wiggled the arm and bolt to get the bolt out, but its easier to put it in than to take it out, with light taps from a hammer.
Last edited by badinstincts; 03-21-2012 at 10:24 AM.
#14
03-21-2012, 10:28 AM
in the last picture in that video he shows the jack stand under the lower arm ball joints. I noticed the bolt for the sway bar links are wrong. He put the bolts in the wrong way, in the bentley it shows the bolts go in the sway bar link side and the nut on the sway bar side, he got it backwards... I see the threads from the bolt sticking out in the picture at the end of the video..
#15
03-21-2012, 10:32 AM
its funny how he didn't show how to remove the ball joint from the front lower arms, I needed to use a 2 arm puller to get that one out. The tool he used for the lower rear arm doesn't fit to get the lower front arm out..
#16
03-21-2012, 10:36 AM
One more problem I had...
When tightening the lower arm ball joint nuts, the entire ball joint was spinning WITH the nut, so I couldn't fully tighten the front lower arm to the ball joint (but its probably not a problem since the strut and around 1/4 of the weight of the car is on that arm pushing down...
The rear one I put the jack under to push up and it locked enough so I could tighten the bolt to around 100Nm I had to feel it, I didn't have a torque wrench that would fit in there...
Also the nuts for the ball joints did not have a lip or washer, It looks like the nut on the front lower arm could go through the hole. I'm going to find a nut with a lip or put a washer in there just in case... but like I said that arm has all the weight on it...
When tightening the lower arm ball joint nuts, the entire ball joint was spinning WITH the nut, so I couldn't fully tighten the front lower arm to the ball joint (but its probably not a problem since the strut and around 1/4 of the weight of the car is on that arm pushing down...
The rear one I put the jack under to push up and it locked enough so I could tighten the bolt to around 100Nm I had to feel it, I didn't have a torque wrench that would fit in there...
Also the nuts for the ball joints did not have a lip or washer, It looks like the nut on the front lower arm could go through the hole. I'm going to find a nut with a lip or put a washer in there just in case... but like I said that arm has all the weight on it...
Last edited by badinstincts; 03-21-2012 at 10:41 AM.
#17
03-21-2012, 10:55 AM
I do my upper arms just like in this video:
Audi A6 1998 - 2004 Front Upper Control Arm Replacing - How To - YouTube
but I measure the angle and distances instead of putting it exactly like the old arms were, sometimes they could be broken and in the wrong position when you take them out.
Also there is no need for a ball joint seperator, the spot where the ball joint goes in, under it there is a hole, you can take a bolt and hammer it up to free the ball joint parts. Always use antiseize on the pinch bolt. I never had a problem getting mine out, BY HAND.
Audi A6 1998 - 2004 Front Upper Control Arm Replacing - How To - YouTube
but I measure the angle and distances instead of putting it exactly like the old arms were, sometimes they could be broken and in the wrong position when you take them out.
Also there is no need for a ball joint seperator, the spot where the ball joint goes in, under it there is a hole, you can take a bolt and hammer it up to free the ball joint parts. Always use antiseize on the pinch bolt. I never had a problem getting mine out, BY HAND.
#18
03-21-2012, 11:02 AM
Tightening using the Bolt Head or Nut
I read this and still have no clue. lol
I would guess that you should torque with whatever side has the least friction, right?
I read this and still have no clue. lol
I would guess that you should torque with whatever side has the least friction, right?
#19
03-21-2012, 10:19 PM
heh, it took me 2 hours to do the passenger side lower arms, mostly wondering and pondering, lol. I could probably do it in 20-30 minutes of non-stop working but everyone always has to call me when I'm working on the car... I decided to change the tires after I finished the lower arms (I took each wheel off and cleaned off all the dried grease from the cv joints that used to always blow apart, I have new axles now so I'm done with fixing them for good). While driving vibrations were reduced a lot after I finished the passenger side (all the bushings on all the lower arms were destroyed (stupid mechanic tightened them with the car in the air, suspension hanging). After I put new tires on there are ZERO (0) vibrations!!! YAYY, FINALLY, I HAVE A NORMAL CAR AGAIN, LOL. Tomorrow I'll do upper arms and my brother-in-law says we are supposed to change struts every 20k-30k miles, I know the ones in the car are original, and the guy who changed my tires said the struts are bad, front and rear... So I'll change the struts before I do an expensive alignment at the dealer...
#20
03-22-2012, 01:44 PM
I remember when I did mine... great feeling and difference. I also had no vibrations after changing the tires, struts, control arms and axles ... what a pain this job was and not cheap either!
But in the end it is so much more fun to drive again
But in the end it is so much more fun to drive again