Loose front end. Any ideas of what to replace first ?

[dulux72]

Hi Guys

I have a 2004 A6 Tdi Saloon with nearly 160000 miles on the clock
The car has become skittish and loose, especially in corners
At first I thought this might be worn rear suspension bushes but I have replaced these and it made no difference

Any ideas of what I should replace first to try to solve this issue
Thanks in advance

[zollaf]

you could replace the suspension arms, the shocks and springs and that will take care of the front, but will be expensive, or why not go to a garage and get it checked. one worn damper or one worn bush or balljoint can make them drive like a boat. could also be a tyre.

[dulux72]

Thanks for the advice. Just needed some common sense. I've replaced the tyres too so looks like it needs to go in the air before I change anything else.



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[kid-jensen]

The symptoms you describe point to the dampers being clapped.

At your mileage the dampers (shocks) will have almost no damping at all, so these would be the first things to replace. Front and rear, unless you've managed to make the rears do less mileage than the fronts...

Last time I looked, a front damper and spring asembly was about 65 quid at ECP, so very reasonable, especialy if you could just buy the damper separately.

Obviously, when the suspension is apart for the fitting, check for play in all of the 6,348 suspension joints, there's so many of them that a small amount of play in each one adds up to a very uninspiring drive.