[s-cars] Replacing my front bearings, do I need an alignment after?

[Mike Sylvester]

Half the bolts on the car have an "always replace" note.
I believe that the ball joint pinch bolt has this same note.  I could be
wrong on that, but I think that bolt is much more critical.
Also every bolt on the car has a torque spec.  Do use a torque wrench on
every nut and bolt?  I'm not trying to be an @ss, I'm just being  practical.
Sure if you have a new bolt use it, but I wouldn't go out of my way to get
one in this case.

The top mount with the slotted holes that I am referring to is the upper
strut mount.  This does not get removed when removing the strut tower.
There are 3 stud/nuts that hold the upper spring perch to the body.  The
holes in the body are not slotted, therefore an alignment is not required.

Mike

----- Original Message -----
From: "Igor Kessel" <kbattpo at verizon.net>
To: "Mike Sylvester" <msylvester at verizon.net>
Cc: <s-car-list at audifans.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2004 10:31 AM
Subject: Re: [s-cars] Replacing my front bearings, do I need an alignment
after?


> Mike Sylvester wrote:
>
> > I reuse them all the time and have never had any issue.  That is quite a
> > large bolt, I can see that you can put enough torque on it to stretch
and
> > not damage the bearing.
> > Even if it did stretch, so what?
>
> I guess Audi engineers foresaw a potential stress related problem when
> they made the "always replace" recomendation against that bolt in the
> official shop manual. I have neither enough knowledge to challenge their
> assesment nor the desire to save $4 per bolt to try to prove them wrong.
>
> > I'd like to know what it is that you are removing when you are doing a
wheel
> > bearing, because when I remove a strut tower I don't touch anything that
has
> > any affect on the alignment.
> > The camber is adjusted by the slotted holes on the top strut mount.
That
> > does not get removed in this job.
>
> How do you remove the strut tower w/o removing the top mount?
>
> --
> Igor Kessel
> two turbo quattros in the stable,
> the third one is in the works