[s-cars] Hey look, my front wheels are pointing in opposing directions, can your car do that?

[Taka Mizutani]

Serge-
The strut housings are expensive, that's for sure. As for $1800, at
the dealership, that sounds reasonable. With labor at $90/hr., strut
housing being ultra expensive, that's not out of line.

Not to alarm you, but if that happened with one side, I wonder how the
other side is doing- while it's there, I'd check the other side very
thoroughly before putting the car back on the road.

Taka


On 5/31/05, Serge Filanovsky <s6serge at verizon.net> wrote:
> Just wanted to share my experience with you guys to see if anyone has come
> across anything like this.
> 
> While operating the 95.5 Avant the way it was intended, the steering started
> feeling a bit strange. Anytime power was applied, it felt like there was
> wheelspin, and I would have to counter with the steering to compensate. If I
> would lift, the car would abruptly snap sideways. No neat spot to pull over,
> so I decided to take it easy and proceed to a friend's house nearby. Made it
> to his driveway, it was late, so I decided to put off investigation until
> the next day.
> 
> Moved the steering wheel left to right, passenger-side front wheel turns,
> drivers-side front does not. Steering rack, right? Wrong, taking the front
> wheel off revealed the strut/wheel bearing housing has sheared along a weld
> that goes around the strut cartridge housing tube. This makes the strut turn
> independent of the wheel hub assembly which remains still, yay!
> 
> Now, I drive on some poor quality roads, for sure. This takes a toll on the
> suspension. And this is something that could have developed slowly over
> time. That said, I would expect some other failure before something like
> this. Even the most severe impact would surely bend something (like a rim,
> or a control arm... something). The other thing that concerns me is the
> neatness of the shear around the weld. It seems plausible that the weld
> itself made the surrounding metal right a bit brittle, and prone to
> cracking. I will try to have the repair shop save the parts for further
> inspection.
> 
> A few years ago, I remember reading a post from a lister who described a
> crash that he had where the car violently snapped sideways for no apparent
> reason (unintended sideways acceleration? UISA). He had no explanation, the
> car was totalled....no follow up. I don't think this is any cause for alarm.
> If this was a real manufacturing problem, it would have surfaced on the list
> by now. I just wanted to make it public, in case another lister has had any
> BTDT with something of a similar nature. Let me know.
> 
> 
> Serge Filanovsky
> 
> 95.5 S6 Avant
> 
> 
> p.s. Car was towed to Bell Audi, Rahway, New Jersey. Anyone familiar with
> this shop? They are quoting $1800 to fix (new housing, strut bearing, wheel
> bearing... labor), seems a bit high. Or does anyone have a spare driver's
> side strut assembly? TIA
> 
> _______________________________________________
> S-CAR-List mailing list
> S-CAR-List at audifans.com
> http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/s-car-list
>