Hi,

My first post here. I bought a 2006 A8L w/46K last week. In addition to rear brakes, it needs new upper control arms b/c the bushings need to be replaced.

My indy quoted $750 to replace the bushings after I pointed out that they are serviceable. I was thinking about tackling it myself if I could find a bushing tool that would fit or if I could find a machine shop that would press in the new bushings.

Then I came across this: Replacement Front Control Arm OE replacement

I found the same part at a couple of other sites for similar $. $72 for all 4 control arms seems too good to be true.

Has anyone tried these? I'm skeptical but I think they are worth a try...probably rebuilt but still, the bushings alone are $70+.

I ordered a set and will update once I get them...and again when I get them installed.

Thanks...looking forward to contributing.

 

You answered your own question.


$72 upper control arms for an $80,000 car. Sounds logical?

 

+1

Carry on...

 

the question should be
would "I" drive my family in this car with those arms?

 

I received the control arm set. It's all 4 arms. They look like rebuilt oem arms. They're aluminum with new bushings and ball joints. I'll take some pics.

I'm also going to raise the car up and compare them side-by-side on the car before I tear it apart...I agree that a cheap part is not worth it but an inexpensive part is not necessarily a 'cheap' part.

I'm treading carefully on this and if I deem these arms are not worthy, I will not install them.

BTW, anyone know the part number(s) for the pinch bolt hardware?

 

I installed the new upper control arms last week. Here are some pics of the new arms vs the OEMs I took off.

All the arms were shipped in bubble wrap. I removed it for pics.


The OEM is on top (it's black due to someone painting the wheel well.


Side-by-Side OEM is on left.


Close up of new arm bushing...it's looks the same as OEM.


Ball joint. OEM is on top.

 

Also, the pinch bolt was a snap to remove. No issues whatsoever. Guess having a car that lived it's life thus far in FL helps.

Since I replaced just the upper control arms, I did not remove the air shock and to set the angle of the control arm, I left the bolts connecting the arm to the shock tower loose and put the wheels back on and set the car on the ground and suspension setting to "Standard", let the car level out, rolled it back and forth and then just tightened the bolts...it's a tight fit for your arms and hands, but do-able. Of course I could not get a torque wrench in there.

So far, so good with the exception of my nightmare dealer visit for an alignment that they didn't do but charged me for anyway...I swear this is why I do my own work, no one is trust worthy.

Anyone have any slick tricks for getting the car up on jack stands? I think I've spent more time jacking the car up and down than I have actually fixing it.

 

you are slowly convincing me to look into these. Good job and how are they riding? Feels any better so far?

 

I'm pretty happy with them. After installing, I immediately noticed how much tighter the front end was...and no more clunking/grinding when turning with the steering wheel locked to one side. I've got about 700 miles on them and they are holding up well.

 

Well, my question is if it is normal for a car like this to go through control arms every 2-3 years?
In my case they were replaced about 2 years ago, (20K) miles ago and now they are acting up again.
My other question is where to get the real Audi OEM part not some junk from far east!
I am not even sure that in my case it is the control arm that needs to be replaced. At speeds higher than 60/mph when I apply the brake the front of the car stars swaing. I need to mention that the brakes and the rotors are just fine!

Thank you,
A.