Well thats a little more work yeah. I just don't understand why people have problems with the stupid pinch bolt. The trick to getting it out isn't to spin it out with an impact, you don't need liquid wrench, anti seeze or any of that ****.

I'll give you a little tip since you think im full of smoke.
When doing the pinch bolt, break loose the 16mm nut because thats the easiest part. Loosen the nut to where its almost all the way off the bolt but not all the way, now get your BFH and wack it on that nut until the nut hits the steering arm. Now remove the nut.
The pinch bolt is now out of the steering arm an inch or so, now put a 15mm open end wrench on the neck of the bolt and put it up against the head of the bolt. Grab your BFH hammer again and wack the wrench. Now you're using the wrench as a press, pushing the pinch bolt out of the steering arm. Once its out, grab that hammer and hit straight upwards and pop out the upper links with one big slam, (may take a couple if you need to lift some weights) Gauge where the links are positioned as compared to the strut tower then zip them out with your air gun. Put them back in at the same height and re-install.
When you do somewhere in the vicinity of 4,000+ of them it gets pretty easy, and boring.
If i had a rack i have been known to do all four upper control arms, both tie rod ends and performing a 4 wheel alignment in under an hour. I guess im just full of hot air.

 

from all of your experience doing these control arms how often is the whole front assembly bad? because its a bit disconcerting to me that i went to replace the tie rod ends and came to realize every balljoint (other then the swaybar links) needed replacing, along with both of the front wheel bearings!

now the audi has been like this for maybe 1000 miles only god knows how much longer it would have been until some sort of inevitable catastrophe but i could feel the car kind of float and walk on the highway.

along with that, 3 out of the four springs were cracked (the only one corner that didnt have a cracked spring was the drivers side front)

so from your experience i have a couple questions that are just plaguing me while i undergo this job:

A. how much of a difference is there with all new control arms, balljoints, and dynamic suspension parts replaced? im hoping for it to be very responsive and the only reason i ask is because i have never driven the car with good balljoints thus far.

B. the front camber appears to be non-adjustable. are there very serious camber consequences with a modest drop. I have the option of buying an UCA camber kit which replaced the two uppers but meh... thats kind of a bitch and they run 600 dollars.

C. what are the labor hours associated with a 12 peice front control arm replacement? i'm curious incase im ever in the position with my audi buddies to capitalize on my experience of having done this before.

D. have you EVER seen a rear axle's ABS sensor strip rust off? when i pulled out the rear axle out of the curbside.. The abs sensor ring just fell off. i guess im going to need to get a CA kit for the rear and get some new axles in tomorrow.

and yeah if we cant laugh at each other then whats the point? ive worked in a shop for 3+ years inbetween school doing labor hour jobs (this was 4 years ago) and im never afraid to hold someone up to their word. all respect though.