a very rough Audi weekend

[auditude at cox.net]

Hi Marc,

Wow, I'm glad you are okay, and that your car made it through the ordeal without major damage.  Like you said, it could have been much worse.  I wrote more at the bottom.

Marc Swanson mswanson at sonitrol.net wrote:
>
<snip>I was doing about
80 and had just rounded a slight curve in the road when tire smoke
starting pouring from the right front and the car began veering out of
control.  Luckily I was able to keep things pointed southbound and I
headed for the nearest breakdown lane which in my case was on the left
(no way was I going to be able to make it to the safer right hand
shoulder).<snip>
So now that the car was dropped off at the nearest Home Cheapot lot for
AAA to come get me I could survey the damage:
http://tinyurl.com/hkdw
So apparently all this resulted from my RF ball joint popping out of the
strut and the strut just slammed into the fender and dragged itself
along until I managed to slide to a stop. The wheel was so Fubar'd that
in order to get the thing on and off the ramp truck(s) I had to use my
jack to raise the right front so the car could roll on the bed. I'm
really amazed I got away as easily as I did.  It could have been worse.
_A_LOT_ worse....
So the question on my mind was now why did the ball joint come out?  The
bolt was still in place!  Well, your truly, monkey lad extraordinaire
decided to use a stainless bolt to clamp the ball joint:
http://tinyurl.com/hkhf

Hey, since this is a safety topic, I think that bolt is the wrong way.  It is said that braking forces are much stronger than acceleration forces, and that it is best to have the bolt go in from the back.  This way if you somehow lose the nut, the bolt is less likely to be lost from braking forces.

At least that's what I remember Phil Payne stating, and it makes sense to me.

Ken