2002 A4 -- loose front end

[Jonathan Monetti]

Its a good car, but frankly, I don't "love" my 2002 A4Q (1.8, sport package)
like I love my CGT, so I don't research the car much.  There may be
documented issues on this, but I didnt find any in the archive.

The car has gotten progressively looser in the front end, with a lot of bump
steer.  In the rack, there is a bit of play and some notchiness that I can
feel in the wheel and pedals when I turn back & forth past dead center.
It's only got 40k on it, and is getting worse.

Are there known rack, tie rod, bushing issues?  Other things?  I thought
they had solved many of the earlier front end problems with the new
platform.

My stealership is notoriously bad at diagnosis--they often just take the
shortest, easiest path to getting the car out the door.  I'd like to go
armed with some info.

TIA
Jon Monetti

I've stopped 13,250 spam messages. You can too!
One month FREE spam protection at http://www.cloudmark.com/spamnetsig/