[s-cars] Help diagnosing suspension issue
Graham Hicks
urs6turbo at yahoo.ca
Wed May 24 00:02:07 EDT 2006
I've got a '97 S6 and need some advice on what to look for.
Coming home from work there is a great sweeping left that is slightly down hill and great for running up speeds. I regularly run 140kph in that stretch, (90mph) but the other night there was a bad vibration. Bad enough it made me think my front right wheel had come loose!
I pulled off and the wheel was tight and the tie rod was tight so I continued home and started jacking up each corner to see if there was something loose.
Tie rod ends are good, no movement up down or lateral from any corner, and a 2 foot pry bar revealled no play in the suspension when jacked up. Based on my visual inspection the left rear lower, inner control arm bushing looks like it needs to be replaced but still seems solid. The reason I say that is because it looks like the metal sleeve has separated from the rubber part (at least partially).
I have repeated the corner at various speeds and above roughly 120kph and under acceleration the vibration or feeling that the right front is wobbling has been duplicated so there has got to be something wrong. I swear its in the front passenger but would the the rear control arm give me a wobble feel if when weighted there is actually play in the bushing? (note that the steering wheel translates the vibration and that if I straighten out and lift off the throttle - it stops)
Also, IF the front passenger wheel bearing were gone, would there not be a noise or movement to tell me there was a problem? Does anyone have experience with the control arm bushings to tell me what kind of bill I am looking at to have them replaced? I believe I could remove the control arms, but I do not have a press and would have to have it re-aligned afterwards right?
Graham Hicks
UrS6Turbo at Yahoo.ca
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