[s-cars] Help diagnosing suspension issue

[Sean Douglas]

I concur with the other responses, replace both control arms. The
aftermarket ones are cheap (TRW) and come with new outer bushings as
well.

A tip, there is a thin metal sleeve / tube that goes inside the control
arm on the inner sides that needs to be replaced as it is usually
destroyed when removing. This little piece is critical to prevent
movement and is dealer-only item I believe.

While you are at it, you might as well replace the inner stabilizer bar
bushings, it need to be detached for the control arm re/re.

Cheers,

Sean

> -----Original Message-----
> From: s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com 
> [mailto:s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com] On Behalf Of Graham Hicks
> Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2006 9:02 PM
> To: S-Cars list
> Subject: [s-cars] Help diagnosing suspension issue
> 
> 
> 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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