UrS and 200 ball joint failures

[Bernie Benz]

If you relube them every time you’re in there, they will last forever.

Bernie


On Aug 12, 2008, at 9:48 AM, robert weinberg wrote:

> interesting story.
>
> where do i get the TRW balljoints/control arm assembly? autohauzaz  
> only has the moog/Meyle
>
> how long do ball joints usually last? my car "only" has 114k on the  
> clock. other than 3 initial years in colorado, it's been a  
> california car since 1994.
>
> Robby
>
> --- On Mon, 8/11/08, mike claire <mike.claire at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> From: mike claire <mike.claire at gmail.com>
>> Subject: UrS and 200 ball joint failures
>> To: "s-car-list" <s-car-list at audifans.com>, "200 20v List"  
>> <200q20v at audifans.com>
>> Date: Monday, August 11, 2008, 6:23 PM
>> Hey guys - I saw a bad accident today, and it gave me a lot
>> to think about.
>> Some of it is Audi related.
>>
>> The cops have my statement.  Basically what happened is
>> this:  We were each
>> going 60 in opposite directions.  If you could freeze the
>> action as we
>> crossed each other, we were at an overpass expansion joint.
>>  At that
>> millisecond, I heard heavy metallic pop, or a bang come
>> from her car.  It
>> sounded unsprung, and it sounded like something she needed.
>>  I glanced at my
>> side mirror to catch a glimpse as she passed.  Short
>> wheelbase, high center
>> of gravity, I don't think anybody could have saved it,
>> but she went down
>> swinging.
>>
>> A little more about the conditions, then the Audi content:
>> Rt 101 on the
>> Milford/Amherst NH line looks like an Interstate except
>> it's one lane each
>> way, no median.  It was 11:30 AM, the road was dry, it was
>> bright with high
>> cloud cover, and there were only 3 or 4 cars within sight.
>> She was driving
>> a late model car at a normal speed.  Something happened,
>> and in the count of
>> 2 seconds it was over.  It's as random as it gets.
>>
>>
>>
>> AUDI CONTENT:
>> I have seen too many emails about sudden ball joint
>> failures, and we've been
>> lucky (as far was we know).  It has happened in the
>> driveway, rolling thru a
>> parking lot, etc.  Somebody speculated that gyroscopic
>> action holds a failed
>> components together until the speed's too low.  I
>> suppose it's
>> possible....but when I hit an expansion joint at 90 I
>> don't want to wonder
>> if that's what's holding my front-end together.
>>
>> Here's my question:  Is a clunk-free UrS/200 control
>> arm/ball joint
>> definately safe?  There's a concensus that TRW's
>> are good, and Meyle is
>> terrible.  I replaced the arms 2 years and 15K miles ago.
>> They might have
>> been Meyle.
>>
>> Suppose they were Meyle, and suppose it passed a
>> "real" inspection by an
>> indy who works on UrS's all the time.  Would you track
>> it with those arms?
>> If the car is heavy enough to snap something without
>> warning during an
>> agressive maneuver, I'll change out parts next week
>> (assuming TRW will
>> correct the risk).
>>
>>
>>
>> Mike
>> _______________________________________________
>> 200q20v mailing list	
>> http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/200q20v
>
>
>
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