the front control arms on my sports suspension needs to be replaced. I was thinking about getting a Meyle or bilstein kit for 96-01 A4 but after going to the dealship I have a few questions that needs to be cleared before I make the purchase. basically I found out from the dealer that the control arms on the sports suspension are different than the normal one but they don't know how its different. All they know is the sports suspension rides 10mm lower and is stiffer which i already knew. I've heard that sports suspension is from the S4, does that mean I should get the control arms kit for the S4? Does anyone know what the difference is between the sports control arm and regular control arms?

 

sports suspension is not from the s4. dealership is retarded, they are same exact setup except the strut/springs are different. ignore those dumb *****

 

^ +1

Ignore the stealership.

And, if you want to save some money on it, I recommend the FCP full front suspension rebuild kit, available on ebay for 200-300 dollars, depending on how lucky your bidding is. The kit comes with all 8 control arms, 2 sway bar links, 2 tie rod ends and all the nuts and bolts to put it together. I just had my kit installed and I'm very impressed with the quality of it and I've heard from other people on the forum that have installed the same kit that have been very satisfied with it even with the test of time (mine's been on for about 6 hours so I can't give my input there, but other people have given the kit props after having it installed for a year or two or more)

 

dont buy an ebay control arm kit. they are known to have shitty bearing in them that will go out faster than anything. go with a meyle or ocap kit.

 

I called up another dealership this guy sounded like he’s been in the industry for awhile and basically said the control arms are the same as well. The guy I talked to the day before was just some kid that read out part numbers from the computer. Every time I asked him a suspension question he had to run to the back and talk to a mechanic lol…

I know there are some parts in the 2001.5 that’s different from the rest of the pack, front wheel bearings for example I have a spare set for the 96-01 sitting around cus I didn’t do enough research ahead of time -_-

 

Blauparts have complete kits from meyle and ocap but meyle is $100 more... actually meyle seems to be the most expensive kit i've found for $570, is it worth the money?

 

i dont know i just dont seem very convinced that the parts those ebay companies buy from wholesale companies in china just arent up to par or have the same quality as those you can buy direct from germany that are OEM.

http://www.blauparts.com/proddetail....d=M1A1101-01-A

 

i think its worth the money... i dont want my control arms going out in another 40k miles just cuz i didnt spend the extra money at the time to buy quality parts.

i ordered the meyle kit last week and am anxiously waiting for it to arrive so i can start on this project

 

buy quality german products....or go with a good company like STERN their control arm kit is fully adjustable and are made really strong...ebay kits will seriously only last you like 40k like nhltfour said

 

I went thru Blauparts and bought an Ocap kit. It arrived the next day. They have great customer service as well. Previous owner installed a Meyle kit and I am left to wonder if the person who installed it did it correctly. Oh well, good luck. Check the wheel bearings out when you get everything apart. Might as well tackle everything at once instead of having to do it again.