[s-cars] Strut Replacement Discomfort

[Brian Pleet]

After 250k km and 15 years I decided to replace the front strut 
cartridges on my stock 1995.5 S6 because one wheel bearing had gone 
bad anyway.

The strut kit and bearings came from Blauparts. I dropped the strut 
assembly leaving the control arm and ball joint in place and gave 
them to the local Audi/VW shop. It took them 3 hours to disassemble 
and reassemble, because they said the caps holding the strut were fused.

Put it all together and the sway bar was 2-3 inches away (behind) 
from the sway bar mounts and the wheels on both sides were touching 
the back of the wheel wells. I asked the shop and was told there was 
"no way" they could be put back together incorrectly.

So I put it back together again, this time, securing one side, then 
the other of the sway bar, pulling the sway bar forward (with a 
crowbar) to secure the 4 nuts once weight was on the wheels. The car 
drives OK, but the steering wheel is not centered and I'm nervous 
that forcing the sway bar back is putting stress on the struts.

Help!


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E-mail:bpleet at telusplanet.net