After market Suspension arms

**smiley1609** · 15-04-2014,12:47 PM

Hi Guys, I am in need of replacing the front lower suspension arms, due to advisory on MOT last year, and upcoming MOT in May. I have a 2008 Audi A3 S-Line 170 tdi2.0.

I have been looking around and wondered on the forum opinion of using after market suspension components along the lines of Lemforder ? I am thinking that perhaps OEM would be best and to ensure no deviation from the standard Audi quality and to also ensure the geometry is as previous...

What is the opinion on Lemforder ? I replaced the discs and pads all round to Pagid earlier this year, and thanks to all the opinions on here and having read that they are a very good alternative to OEM

Would it be advised to replace the balljoint as well...I am not aware of any problem with the previous ones, although the car has done 95k on the original arms...

Despite the suspension arms having been advised with rear bush play for the last year I have continued to drive it...but now the job needs to be completed. I have also experienced more recently what can be described as minor driveshaft whurring noise when the steering is off center towards the near side, with a slight left hand turn situation. Could this be due to excessive play in a lower arm causing a driveshaft whurr on this side ?

thanks in advance guys...I very much appreciate the wealth of knowledge that is provided on this forum...and has helped in previous diagnosis and decision making !!

Kind Regards
Smiley

**tonyleach** · 16-04-2014,12:14 PM

IMO i wouldnt bother with non-gen suspension arms as the bushes/inserts are normally a poor material that are again knackered/spent in 6 to 12 months, as for the the driveshaft whurring it could be caused by this but i doubt it and more likely to be a worn cv joint but if the car is opperating normally i wouldnt spend any money until it becomes more definate as you could just end up throwing money all over trying to get to the bottom of it.

**smiley1609** · 17-04-2014,09:19 PM

thanks for your response Tony, I have heard that Lemforder are actually a very good manufacturer...in fact make a lot of OEM stuff for Europe ?

Ok, so another suggestion would be to overhaul the original arms with powerflex bushes...anyone have experience of powerflex upgrade for wishbones ? I have used powerflex on my previous car...Mondeo subframe which was fairly straightforward... but these are front wishbones and perhaps the old bushes could be a pain to remove ?!?

Thanks
Simon.

**Crasher** · 17-04-2014,09:47 PM

These are by Febi who are part of the Bilstein group of companies, NOBODY offers ANYTHING that can come close to these for quality and price.

You need to check if you have cast or sheet metal wishbones and there are two types of sheet metal, fabricated and pressed and these should not be mixed. The 170PS A3 should have cast wishbones. As a forum member I can offer you these at £85.82 each plus £10 P&P on a pair.

**smiley1609** · 17-04-2014,10:03 PM

crasher, many thanks for the advice and special price

Do these come with balljoint or without ? The pic shows with...but I know many are sold separately

Is there an OEM variant code to distinguish cast or sheet metal ? The model is an 8P1 variant, and with a BMN engine code... failing these codes, I can of course try and do some investigation...

-Simon

**Crasher** · 17-04-2014,11:39 PM

Febi do them without ball joint and I offer these on my eBay site for more.....

Audi A3 8P (07/06-) 2.0 168bhp TDI Febi LH Track Control Arm 1K0407151AC | eBay

They also do them with ball joint without bolts but I don't bother listing that. The one I have given you the price on is with ball joint and bolts, exactly as in the picture is what you get, you need the bolts anyway so it makes life easy, these kits are straight out of stock for next day delivery to you. The joint is often rotted solid in the holes on the cast version anyway, making them an evil nightmare to get off the car, it's easier to just drop the ball joint and bin the lot. The 170 should have cast wishbones and they are the best anyway (well except the ally ones) and can be retro fitted to all models. I tend to use them as my default option as an upgrade where stamped sheet or fabricated plate ones are fitted, the latter are ugly.

**smiley1609** · 17-04-2014,11:53 PM

Many thanks for your answers...and for the response so late !!

I will PM tomorrow AM...or give you a ring on your phone number from the website ? I will place an order for the pair including ball joints

Another quick Q for the morning...is there a need for geometry setup after replacement ?

p.s. thanks again for your help

Kind regards
Simon.

**smiley1609** · 18-04-2014,01:18 PM

Crasher, PM sent regarding purchase

Kind regards
Smiley

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

**Crasher** · 18-04-2014,01:56 PM

I have passed the info onto my business partner John and he will take over from here. Thank you for the order and I look forward to you posting some feedback on what you think.