Suspension kit for A6 3.0TDI Le Mans, 58 reg

[funavant]

Hi guys,

Could any of you please recommend a reasonably priced good quality front suspension kit?
My car's front arms and links are wearing down and need replacing, the rubber parts are perishing.

I'd like to replace the whole set, for piece of mind.


Thanks for any input.


Martin

[B5NUT]

I just used lemoforder (they are OEM arms supplier for Audi) parts, went to my local motor factors who sourced them for me, but you can also get them for ECP and Amazon UK!. Avoid the cheap ebay kits they won't even last a year.

I would also look at the back-end mine was worse than the front. I changed all the springs, shocks, arms & bushes on my 3.0TDI and it's made the car drive like new. Well worth the money.

[MarkTM]

Would agree with B5 but in some cases the bargain ones do fine, depends on your driving conditions and mileage.

I used the cheapest I could find due to budget in 2013 due to an MOT failure and they are holding up strong 2.5yrs/25k miles on, whether they hold up the 8yrs of the originals is yet to be seen.

I think for mine you could fit beefier Allroad arms, however am not sure if they'd work on an S6...am sure someone will be along to clarify.

[funavant]

Thanks guys.

I've checked Lemforder on Amazon, yes, they are more expensive than cheapos on ebay. The problem is how to make sure the kit would fit, Amazon shows 3 possible kits for my car?

I wonder whether just changing rubber parts would do as Lemforder also sells a repair kit for control arms? It's a shame to throw away metal parts when there's nothing wrong with them, only the rubber bits are worn...Anybody ever attempted this? Just changing the rubber bits and bushings?

Mark, could please send me a link to the kit you have used? Because there's plenty of them on ebay, too... Just want to make sure I've picked the one that fits my car.

Thanks again guys!

[MarkTM]

Fun it was over 2 years ago so no link.

What I do when unsure on parts is to s peak to my local/friendly dealer and they give me the prices and part numbers.

However from what others have said most aren't so accommodating

Totally doable to push out the bushes with the right tools*...they were all done on my profile pic car and replaced with polish.

*Some have just used a large vice and various widths of metal pipe

[funavant]

Thanks Mark,

I guess I need to speak with my friend and persuade him somehow to try and change just the rubber bits. He's got a big hydraulic press in his garage, so pressing out some rubber should not be a problem for him. Doing it that way may solve possible fitting compatibility problems of metal parts in case a wrong kit has been ordered.

[as400]

...... I changed all the springs, shocks, arms & bushes on my 3.0TDI and it's made the car drive like new. Well worth the money.

Can you give a ball park figure as to how much that cost?...also what are the symptoms that this kind of work needs doing?....

[B5NUT]

With parts alone it was just over £1600, and as stated it was all lemforder Arms and I fitted a eibach pro B12 kit, while I was there I also replaced all of the outer bearings and I also stripped back some of the arches as they had rust on them, also fitted new brake hoses. I should add I did all the work myself, except for the tracking, which was done by Audi.

My symptoms were 200K miles on the car, creaking on one corner of the rear suspension, ride was nowhere near as comfortable as my older A4 that I had already done the same work on. Also the self leveling on the Xenon's was not working, and the lights were fine, it was the control arms that attached to the leveling sensors.

The problem is with the A6 is you won't see how bad the the arms and suspension are until you strip the car down, all of my shocks were dead (1 leaking) all rubber bushes where shot you could move the arms around with easy with a single figure. Now I know that some people with 200K will say mine is still fine and you are talking $$$$ but they have never stripped the car down, and it's only when all the arms are free from the uprights can you see how much play there is, when it's all joined together it all appears to be tight, but almost 2 ton of car will move them around.

I'm working on a right-up but will put some images of the damage that I found later this evening.

Also you don't need a hydraulic press for the bushes, I've got a 10ton press and I never used that, on the cars arms. The key item is a proper bush removal tool, I purchased one of these as I needed it for some of the rear arms and pressing the bushes into the rear bearing housing. 28PC PRESS & PULL SLEEVE KIT Remove Bearings Bushes Seals Garage Tool Puller | eBay

I could have just changed the front bushes but there was a small amount of play on some of the ball joints, and the rubbers around the joints were not in the best of condition. Also the upper arms were damaged when trying to remove the pinch bolt, to remove that bolt requires lot of heat and pressure, and the heat damaged the rubber seals on the arms, but arms are around £300 for all 4 and the uprights are around £500 each, and as they are made of alloy they are easily damaged. It was the first time in 10 years that bolt was removed, it will now be removed every year cleaned up and re-greased with copper slip and put back, and replaced with a new bolt every other year.

[B5NUT]

Here are some images of the carnage that I found...

They are the self leveling arms, the ball joints were rusted solid and did not move.


Passenger side upper shock mount, it fell apart when I removed the bolts.



Bump stops had started to split.


There was so much corrosion on the CV joint grease was starting to come out.


Fair amount of rust on the upper of the wheel arch.


The clip holding the brake pipe to the chassis was rotten and fell apart when I touched it, then allowing the brake pipe to move up and down through the hole


Anti-roll bar bushes started to distort and crack.


top arm bush was shot the rubber was falling apart..


Grease coming from the wheel bearing.


Will find a few more of some of the other issue I found later.

[B5NUT]

Here are some images of the carnage that I found...

They are the self leveling arms, the ball joints were rusted solid and did not move.


Passenger side upper shock mount, it fell apart when I removed the bolts.



Bump stops had started to split.


There was so much corrosion on the CV joint grease was starting to come out.


Fair amount of rust on the upper of the wheel arch.


The clip holding the brake pipe to the chassis was rotten and fell apart when I touched it, then allowing the brake pipe to move up and down through the hole


Anti-roll bar bushes started to distort and crack.


top arm bush was shot the rubber was falling apart..


Grease coming from the wheel bearing.


Will find a few more of some of the other issue I found later.