[s-cars] Alignment and suspension questions (long-ish)

[jpb3wvu at frontiernet.net]

Dave,
I basically had the same problem 2 weeks ago.  My DS front tire
was worn badly on the inside shoulder and the PS wasn't much
better.  In addition to this my car would develop bad vibration
north of 80 mph when going through fast sweeping turns, so much
so that I was scared to drive it that fast.  I took it to my
Audi tech (not the stealer) and asked him to take a look at the
alignment.  I had 4 new Pilot Aplins to put on for the winter
and did not want to put them on the car with the alignment so
bad.  I have a 95 S6 with all stock suspension bits.  The tech
asked me to come to his shop so I could have a look at the
problem.  Basically all the control arm bushings as well as the
sub frame bushings were shot.  The subframe bushing was in
really bad shape, so much so that the bolt had worn through the
metal "spacer sleeve" inside the bushing and was tearing the
rubber bit to pieces on the DS.  His thoughts were that it was a
complete waste of $$ to have an alignment with the bushings being
so bad.  He doubted if he could get it in alignment in the first
place and said that even if he did that it would not stay there.
 So to make a short story long I had to bite the bullet and have
all bushings replaced and the alignment done.

It really tightned up the car though and it was well worth the
$430.00 he charged to do everything.

HTH....probably just tells you what you already know!

John



> ----- Message from UrS4 at sympatico.ca ---------
>     Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2005 14:55:37 -0500
>     From: Dave Ellis <UrS4 at sympatico.ca>
> Reply-To: Dave Ellis <UrS4 at sympatico.ca>
>  Subject: [s-cars] Alignment and suspension questions
(long-ish)
>       To: Scar <s-car-list at audifans.com>
>
>
> When it comes to suspension and alignment issues, I've not
> done any of
> my own work in these areas (yet) so I'm a bit of a noob in
> this area,
> so please bear with me.
>
> My '93 S4 is still on it's orginal suspension components, and
> as you'd
> expect the control arm bushings, tie rod ends, sway bar
> bushings, etc.
> are all very loose and in need of servicing.
>
> Over the past two months I've noticed the car is tramlining
> more and
> more on some roads with ruts on ths road, and that the
> steering has
> become quite loose, inaccurate, and sometimes "darty" when
> hitting
> bumps or chaning lanes on rutted roads.  I've also noticed
> that the
> front driver's side wheel is being worn away on the inside
> edge, so I
> know that a front alignment is badly needed.
>
> At the moment money's tight (it's after the holiday's after
> all) so I
> can't afford to have all the suspension bits replaced at the
> moment,
> and would like to fix the alignment issue for as little as
> possible for
> now until I can afford to address the suspension proplerly
> later this
> summer (and finally put those Eibach springs I have sitting in
> the
> basement on).
>
> My question is will it be possible to do a front end alignment
> with the
> various suspension and steering bits so loose and worn?  Or
> should I
> just park the car until I can afford to do everything right?
>
> For the S-car listers in the Ottawa area, what local shops
> have you used
> to do alignment or suspension work you've been happy with, or
> have any
> of you done the work yourselves?  If you've done suspension
> work in the
> past yourselves, are you planning any suspension jobs in the
> (near)
> future I could help out with to learn the correct
> methodologies?  While
> the Bentley is o.k, it assumes a basic level of familiarity
> with the
> suspension systems that I don't have, and I'd rather not have
> any
> "learning experiences" if I can avoid it.  :o)
>
> Thanks!
>
> Dave Ellis
> '93 S4
> Ottawa, Canada
>
>
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>
> ----- End message from UrS4 at sympatico.ca -----