I have a 2000 A4 quattro. We recently did a full front suspension swap. Tie rods, upper and lower control arms, sway bar links, etc. The swap went fine and everything went back together perfectly. After aligning the car we noticed that it was riding very poorly. The readout from the alignment is spot on and we had it realigned again hoping it would fix the problem. Still no luck. When the car is lifted in the air the front toe is drastically in. I would guess the front tires are about 45 degrees in on each side. With this type of multi link suspension the geometry shouldn't change to that extreme. As a result the car feels like it's about to jump off in either direction while driving and is quite unsafe. If anyone has had any experience or an idea about this I would greatly appreciate any feedback. Thanks again.

 

Did you preload the suspension?

 

No I didn't. I've never heard of preloading. I'm assuming that should be done?

 

You must get the suspension to "road height" and then tighten everything down. That is what is meant by preloading. Use a floor jack to get everything into position.