I have a 2000 2.7. How can I tell if it uses shocks or struts, or can I use either one?

 

All audis have struts. A shock would be external like on a truck, or a big *** american car.
Most european and japanese vehicles use struts.
Look at your strut assembly, most struts have the springs around the strut which is a clear giveaway. Another dead giveaway is to look under the hood, a strut will have three large bolts on the inside of each fender holding in the strut, along with a large bolt on the bottom holding the bottom of the strut.
A shock will have one bolt going through the top, and one on the bottom. The spring would be all by itself.

 

Thanks Auditech, you always come thru for me! I appreciate it. I'm thinking about going with some Bilsteins. I don't want anything dramatic and I don't want to lower it with springs. These roads are way to bad and it's an everyday driver. I had a shop owner tell me that the springs don't go bad, just the shocks or struts. is that true?

 

AudiTech, what brand of tie rods do you recommend?

 

Well springs usually don't go bad, but i have seem some break off before. I wouldn't worry about it too much, just give them a look over to make sure none of them have broken.
Tie rods are all good, the ones from ECS tuning will work just fine.

 

when I look at the parts sites for struts, they show shocks. Is it the inserts that they are showing? I put in 2000 A6 2.7 and I get different shock options. I'm looking at the heavy duty bilstiens. are they what I need?

 

yes, when you look for them, they'll show shocks
there are several options, yuo can just go with some OEM sport shocks or Koni FSDs

 

Something to consider - If you are replacing the shocks due to a bad ride or you feel there is loosness in teh front end, it might not be the shocks.

I was all fired up on replacing my front shocks and I got some advice to check the control arms and sure enough the real problem was the lower control had failed so I was getting a very strange ride. after doing that I drove it for a while and decided the shocks were just fine.

It might be worth checking especially on a 2000, I have a 2000 2.8 Avant.

Just my 2 cents

 

EVERY car has shocks.

Struts are the housing shocks drop into. And shocks on Audi's are usually not the problem. Not saying its impossible. But its most likely something else

 

Thanks guys. It has about 110K on it and it bounces a little extra when I hit a bump. The springs are fine, they aren't broken, it's just not nearly as tight as it was when I got it, then again it only had 55k on it then. I'm replacing the tie rods and I'm gonna get the rest of the suspension checked when I take it in for alignment.