Lower Ball joint wear

[skymaster]

Hi

My A4 (3.0tdi, 4 + years old, 34k on the clock) started making a grinding noise when I turned the wheels last week. It's still under Audi Used car warranty... took it in... Lower ball joints wearing! Not covered by warranty :-( ... I had both arms replaced... (and paid for it) Problem sorted..

I got the impression from the dealer staff that this is a common problem on B8 A4s. Anyone else had this? Seems a bit rubbish at such a low mileage.

[derekm]

Had the ball joints replaced on mine two weeks ago, it was making same noises.
Car is MY08 80K miles.
Audi paid for it even thou it was out of warranty which I thought was decent of them.

Just out of interest how much was it to replace them?

[skymaster]

Mine was fixed by my local dealer, I bought the car 150 miles away and the supplying dealer were awful with some initial complaints I had with the car. So aside from making an Audi UK customer care claim I had no choice but to pay the dealer to replace them. The dealer wanted £420 to do it... crazy as it's less than £50 a side in parts costs. Haggled them down to £325 in the end. On my old B6 and B7 A4s I drove these up to high miles and the suspension was always spot on. The tech I spoke to seemed to suggest there was a 'date range' of arms that were prone to premature wear... So maybe the ones they are fitting now are improved?