More probs with the S3..suspension this time :(

themanthatcan

themanthatcan

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Well she's been driving really nice for the last few days so I should have recognised the signs..something was about to go wrong with the car!!

I pulled out of works car park this evening to be greeted but a "twanging" sound from the front offside corner of the car when I turned the steering. Turned the wheel the other way and got the same noise. Sounded just like a spring vibrating and on further inspection that's what it is..the spring appears to be in one piece but isn't quite in the carrier.

Upon inspection of the top mounts I notice this:

The off-side top mount (with it's cover removed..sorry it's a bit blurry):

P1010959.jpg


The near-side top mount:

P1010957.jpg


Now neither of them look great to be honest. The offside is flush with the body but offset slightly to the right. The nearside is sitting about an inch off the bodywork and at a slight angle!!

Can anyone tell me why this might be?! Are my top mounts ********? I'm no expert when it comes to suspension and honestly can't remember what it should look like!!

Cheers,
Andy
 
i would say get new top mounts, just had mine done at an audi specialist £130 all in. Do you notice knocking?
 
doh!

Just when it all seems good another thing to bite you in the ***.

Sorry i can't really help other than moral support as i know feck all about suspension. But its on my to do list as mine is a tad clunky.

Gutted for you as the car was being good for a while and letting you know i can be a good car then whamo something else buggers up.
 
The top mount should sit raised from the body mate, so the nearside one looks fine to me. The offside one is defo not right. To have allowed the spring to have come unseated it must have lost tension, i would drop the offside strut out and have a good look, it sounds like youve got a broken spring possibly the tail at the top of the spring making it really hard to see on the car. On the plus side if it is a broken spring its a good excuse to get some H&R springs fitted.
 
S3BLX said:
i would say get new top mounts, just had mine done at an audi specialist £130 all in. Do you notice knocking?
Click to expand...

There have been the odd couple of knocks before when leaving work with the steering on full lock, but I was trying to ignore them! :sadlike:

I'm now considering getting everything replaced (bushes, dampers, springs and top mounts) as the car is on 118k and the suspension must be getting tired now. I'm just not sure it's worth splashing out silly money on a car with such high mileage. I'm planning on keeping her until she dies tho so it might just make sense.

I was planning on clearing my overdraft over the next few months as well..typical!!
 
118k loads of life left yet!!!!
 
Thanks for the responses so far guys. Snapped spring was my first though as well but my old man has taken a look (he was a mechanic for 18 years) and doesn't think it's broken.

I guess the only way to find out will be to get it up on a ramp.
 
S3BLX said:
118k loads of life left yet!!!!
Click to expand...

Would like to think so seeing as I only bought her 11k miles ago! :)

Is there any chance you could tell me how much the parts alone were for your top mounts? I take it they did the mounts and the bearings?

Cheers,
Andy
 
couldn't tell you mate sorry but there probably ripped me off.......lol. bet theres £40 parts if that.
 
themanthatcan said:
Thanks for the responses so far guys. Snapped spring was my first though as well but my old man has taken a look (he was a mechanic for 18 years) and doesn't think it's broken.

I guess the only way to find out will be to get it up on a ramp.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's hard to tell just looking at it, cos it's usually the bottom coil which snaps off, which would cause one side of your car to drop a little.
 
When I changed my suspension I bought new top mounts, nuts, the metal retaining plate and I'm sure it only came to somewhere between £30 and £40 that was for both sides and that was from Audi. It's not to big a job to drop the strut out to have a look but it is made much easier with the proper tool to spread the hub.
 
I changed the top mounts and top mount bearings on mine, I think the poarts where about £30 from vagparts.co.uk.

Pretty easy job really but far to cold to be messing about with the car (which is why mine is still sat on the drive broken :( )
 
top mounts and bearings for my A3 were around £36 all in from GSF, and arn't that hard to fit at all.

I'd say it's definately worht spending money on it still, my A3 is on 175k and I'm still spending on it, as I see no reason why it won't carry on for another 100k at least!
 
Well I managed to twist my ****** ankle last night after playing badminton so have been off work and not been able to get the car to a garage today. Hopefully I'll be able to manage it tomorrow.

If it turns out I need new top mounts or the spring is broken, then I think I'm gonna stump up the cash to get new springs and dampers at the same time. I'm in need of new front and rear discs and pads as well so may as well get it all done at the same time.

Nick - Are you still running Weitec suspension on yours? I'm considering getting the following as it seems like a cracking price but just wondered what your opinion of the Weitec stuff was:

http://www.europerformance.co.uk/pages/products/product_info.mhtml?product=3763111
 
Those top mounts look fine.

Its a famous VAG thing to have the strut tops lopsided and not necessarily level.

However, if they are old change them anyway, they are cheap, but dont expect the refitted ones to look anything like level or even the same on both sides.

If they top mounts are pushed through you dont get a twang you get squeaks, and it only happens when the car is moving, not if you turn the wheels when stationary.

However, a broken coil spring will exhibit the exact symptoms you described.

It will be the spring and I'll bet its snapped right up the top in the strut tower.

New OEM springs are stupid cheap too, like £30-50. Its the labour that will cost you but dont get it done at a dealer, go to an independant.

You mention bearings is a previous post, there are no 'bearings' in the front suspension setup there.

You have a damper, which is encased in a coil spring. You have a bump stop on the damper, which has a small metal insert and then the rubber top mount.
Then that all goes into the strut tower and on top you have the cups, you then have a bolt keeping the cups attached to the damper, which is what also stops the whole lot from dropping through.

The black bits in your picture are optional and are just rubber things to stop the strut cups from rusting and to make them look nicer. On other VAG cars they dont even bother with them.

118K is crazy mileage, you should be replacing your dampers and springs at around 60-80K for optimum life cycle, so I would look at getting a full set and having an independant replace the lot, its not a hard job, I did my own within a few hours on my driveway, and that included making a hub spreader tool with a 7mm allen key and a grinder.

Top mounts should be replaced anyway so £40, but it will be a broken spring, so another £50 max, plus an hour labour I'd imagine.

However, if you can stretch to replacing the lot, which would be nearer £300 I'd expect for like for like products, then you'll not have to touch it again during the life of the car.
 
Sorry to thread hijack but on a related note - had the bilstein / H & R set up fitted to my S3 for about 70K and over 3 years now. The ride is really crashy now, much worse than when originally fitted, which to be honest is doing my head in. I'd been wondering what i can do about this on a limited budget. Do i need a complete overhaul would you think or could i get away with renewing bushes? Of note i can't recall if i had the top mounts replaced originally. I suspect not!

Car is now on 133K but i do intend to keep another couple of years or so.

How long should the bilstein dampers last for?

Thanks in advance.
 
Hey Dave,

Thanks a lot for the really informative post. You're echoing my thoughts that I should really get the whole lot swapped out. Ideally I'd like to do bushes at the same time but my budget won't stretch that far at the moment.

So..shopping tomorrow for:

Top mounts
Dampers + Springs
Front + Rear discs and pads

and somewhere to fit it all and the new dogbone mount I've had sat around here for months. How much time do you reckon should be required to fit all of the above? 3..maybe 4hrs?

Cheers,
Andy
 
As an example, from Euro Car Parts:

£32 front pads (Textar, so OEM)
£18 rear pads (Textar Again)
£40 front discs (ATE) x2 as price is for one disc
£32 rear discs (ATE) x2 as price is for one disc

£132 Bilstein front dampers
£89 rear dampers
£7 front top mounts x2
£5 front top mount cups
£75 front and rear springs

Not sure on timings for all that, it'll be quite a bit unless you arrange a deal with your local independant
 
Well I've had it confirmed as a broken spring today so looks like I may as well replace the lot:

Weitec Ultra GT suspension kit: £315
GSF front discs: £80
Ferodo DS front pads: £80
Mintex rear discs & pads (eBay special): £55

Fitting of all the above inc new top mounts, bearings, bump stops, nuts, a new dogbone mount and 4 wheel alignment at ABTech (a local indy): £490

So a grand total of £1020.

I'm still waiting to hear back from Regal to see what their quote is like and I'll go with whoever is cheapest.

Is there anything else that's worth me doing while the wheels are off and the suspension is in pieces..only cheap suggestions please!! :)
 
So it was a broken spring and my parts quote plus labout makes £1004, your parts quote makes £1022.

I await my Blue Peter badge :)
 
Arb drop links, mine had some play in the rear and once changed it feels better and more planted, parts cost about £15 fitting is unscrewing just two bolts
 
Oh and I am well interested in how the Weitec set-up goes as that is what i will be purchasing in due course, i take it you went for the 15/20?
 
The top mounts do move like that, weirdly enough, it is quite normal and if you look at UKmkivs, there is a thread about it on the Mk4 golf too.

If you get someone to turn wheel lock to lock while you watch from under the bonnet, you will see the top mounts move about like they are srticulating. It is completely normal.

The twanging may have been a spring moving, but also could be an engine /gearbox mounting, strange as it seems.
Take the car out, get up to speed, check no one is behind you, and slam the brakes on HARD! If you hear a big TWANG noise I can pretty much predict is is a broken bolt on the gearbox side mounting, a right pain to fix as you need to drill the bolt out.
 
jesters3 said:
Oh and I am well interested in how the Weitec set-up goes as that is what i will be purchasing in due course, i take it you went for the 15/20?
Click to expand...

Will let you know how it goes fella. Should hopefully all be fitted by this time next week :thumbsup:

simch said:
The twanging may have been a spring moving, but also could be an engine /gearbox mounting, strange as it seems.
Take the car out, get up to speed, check no one is behind you, and slam the brakes on HARD! If you hear a big TWANG noise I can pretty much predict is is a broken bolt on the gearbox side mounting, a right pain to fix as you need to drill the bolt out.
Click to expand...

Thankfully it was definately a spring moving matey..I could see it twang when my old man was steering lock to lock.

Interesting to know that the topmounts are supposed to move though..you learn something new every day!
 
I had this happen to mine...
It was the top mount, I fitted cheap after market ones and... it happened again after 8k so i would buy audi top mounts . as labour twice over is more than the audi top mounts.
 
Well she's all booked in for Friday so all going well I'll have a decent-handling S3 with improved braking and smoother gearchange by the weekend! :) I'm dreading paying out the money but half of it is for work that needed doing anyway so it's not so bad.

I'll get the ARBs changed at some point but my budget just won't stretch to that right now!
 
themanthatcan said:
Well I've had it confirmed as a broken spring today so looks like I may as well replace the lot:

Weitec Ultra GT suspension kit: £315
GSF front discs: £80
Ferodo DS front pads: £80
Mintex rear discs & pads (eBay special): £55

Fitting of all the above inc new top mounts, bearings, bump stops, nuts, a new dogbone mount and 4 wheel alignment at ABTech (a local indy): £490

So a grand total of £1020.

I'm still waiting to hear back from Regal to see what their quote is like and I'll go with whoever is cheapest.

Is there anything else that's worth me doing while the wheels are off and the suspension is in pieces..only cheap suggestions please!! :)
Click to expand...

Is that including new suspension bushes or not?
 
Will defo be intetrested in how this turns out Andy as suspension is next on my list unless i decide to change cars before i get round to it.

Out of interest was Regal's quote anywhere near Abtech's?? as i don't think i can show my face at Abtech since my last visit :)

Also how much more would it of cost to do the ARB's do you know?
 
Lol yeah I can understand your desire to avoid ABTech Rob! To be honest I was hoping Regal were gonna come in cheaper but they were about £100 more on the labour. They quoted 3hrs to change the front and rear discs and pads! I think you're looking at around £150 each for the ARBs plus fitting.

bantam - The only thing I'm replacing this time round is the top mounts and bearings. I believe the wishbone and ARB bushes aren't too expensive but it's just a bit more money than I have at the moment. What I'm going to do is get the ARBs and all bushes replaced in a few months time when my bank balance has settled down a bit!
 
Yeah i am still looking for alternatives to Abtech might try these guys next http://www.independentvwservicing.co.uk/

I did my front discs n pads myself on the drive and to be honest it was all easyish just needed a few odd sized sockets and allen keys so you could save on a bit of labour costs there.
The rears are more difficult as you need a caliper wind back tool i think. As i have some mintex ones to fit somewhen.

where you getting all the suspension bits from Andy??
 
vrbob said:
Yeah i am still looking for alternatives to Abtech might try these guys next http://www.independentvwservicing.co.uk/

I did my front discs n pads myself on the drive and to be honest it was all easyish just needed a few odd sized sockets and allen keys so you could save on a bit of labour costs there.
The rears are more difficult as you need a caliper wind back tool i think. As i have some mintex ones to fit somewhen.

where you getting all the suspension bits from Andy??
Click to expand...

ABTech are just really easy for me to get to..they're only 5 mins for my place. Haven't heard of Independent..let me know what you think if you do use them.

I was tempted to do the brakes myself as like you say they're not really too difficult, but they're such a key part of the car that I don't trust myself!

The suspension kit itself is coming from Venom as they were £60 cheaper than anywhere else. The topmounts and associated gubbins are being supplied by ABTech.
 
yeah will let you know if i use them.

You would defo be able to do the front discs n pads and its pretty straight forward like car lego so you can't really go wrong as such.

Yeah gonna get my spacers from venom and had a look at the suspension kits which one have you opted for exactly??
 
Well the suspension kit didn't arrive in time so I've had to reschedule the work until next week. Nothing tends to go smoothly with work on this car!
 
U don't have a lot of luck Andy do you?? I can fit it for you and save you the labour if it helps mate?
 
Mike..thanks a lot for the offer fella it's really generous of you! ABTech have already ordered in around £100 of parts for me though so I feel obligated to get the work done there now.

Still no sign of the suspension and Venom are struggling to get an answer out of Weitec at the moment. It's probably not even been shipped!
 
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