[s-cars] Help with rear control arm replacement

[Mark Pollan]

You might have a tough time crawling around under a lowered car so an
alternative that would also obviate the need for a helper would be to squirt
some lubricant on each suspected area one at a time and bounce the car after
hitting one spot.  If the squeak goes away you found the menace.  Not too
effective for balljoints but works well for bushings.

Regards,

Mark

-----Original Message-----
From: s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com
[mailto:s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com] On Behalf Of Sean Douglas
Sent: Wednesday, August 09, 2006 1:49 PM
To: Dave Ellis
Cc: s-car-list at audifans.com
Subject: Re: [s-cars] Help with rear control arm replacement

Hi Dave:

The "track control arm" is a threaded rod with a turnbuckle in the middle
with 
a balljoint at one end and joint at the other. This is used to support the 
upper part of the wheel housing and adjust the camber of the rear wheels.
The 
balljoint may be causing the squeeking.

I doubt the trapezoidal arm (trailing arm in ETKA) is the culprit. The rear 
main bushing typically goes bad, but there is no real metal to metal contact

here.

Also, I forgot what year you have, but if its a 92-spec with the rear sway 
bar, the sway bar links (balljoints) may also be a source of the squeeking.

I'd have a helper bounce the rear of the car up and down while you crawl
under 
to see if you find the source.

Sean

Quoting Dave Ellis <UrS4 at sympatico.ca>:

> 
> Hey Sean!
> 
> O.k, now I'm a little confused.  In previous posts on the topic of 
> squeaking appearing after installing lowering springs in the rear, the 
> consensus was that new control arm bushings were needed.
> 
> Where I'm getting confused I believe is figuring out what part the rear 
> "control arm" being referred to really is, and what part is really at 
> the root of the squeaking.
> 
> So far I have two possible culprits:
> 
> 
> Possible Culprit #1:
> --------------------
>    Track Control Arms (ETKA)
>    Transverse Linkage (Bentley)
>       p/n 443 505 351 P -left
>           443 505 352 P -right
> 
> Possible Culprit #2:
> --------------------
>    Trapezoidal Arms (Bentley)
>    I can't even find this one in ETKA
> 
> 
> Any insight you may be able to offer to clear this up for me would be 
> appreciated Sean.
> 
> Thanks!
> -Dave
> 
> 
> 
> Sean Douglas wrote:
> > Dave:
> > 
> > Having just gone through a complete suspension overhaul, this is still
> fresh 
> > in my mind.
> > 
> > Bentley refers to them as "trapezoidal arms". Have you priced out a new
> set? I 
> > hope you are sitting down :-)
> > 
> > The trap arms are very robust, and are coated with a rubbery-like paint
to
> 
> > limit corrosion. Working on a donor set, I used a wire wheel to clean
them
> and 
> > painted them with an epoxy chassis paint and installed new bushings -
> actually 
> > if you contact Gabriel, he has my old set which were in pretty good
> condition 
> > and he may sell these to you. That way you can work on them ahead of
time.
> > 
> > Dave K's advice is spot on, I torched out the rubber and punched out the

> > centre piece, then used a sawzall, and carefully cut the outer ring.
Then I
> 
> > punched out the ring with a drift.
> > 
> > I used a press to install the new bushings - perhaps a machine shop can
do
> 
> > this for you if you don't have access to one.
> > 
> > Also, you may want to consider reconditioning the toe-adjustment bracket
at
> 
> > the rear and the front support bracket and related bushings.
> > 
> > Cheers,
> > 
> > Sean D
> > 1997 S6
> 
> 




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