Arb`s clonking

[gumball b]

hi can ayone help my 02 S3 is clonking over bumps and is realy annoying me now,i took it to audi in finchley and they quoted me £800 they said you have to change both the anti roll bars now i want to get an eibach kit which is £300 nearly and i was wondering what else will i need to renew coz on a bit of a budget ins due next week any help would be appreciated thanks gumball b.

 

[<tuffty/>]

Has your car been lowered at all??

<tuffty/>

 

[gumball b]

hi mate no it hasent all original...

 

[Mr.G]

WHAT - £800?

For what? ARB's are:

S3 front - 54.61 +vat
S3 rear - 44.12 + vat

What the hell is the £800 for? Labour? I think not. Tell them to stick it where the sun don't shine robbing idiots!!

Get yourself some R32 ARB's if you plan on keeping it standard, a well worth while "slight" upgrade to aid in less body roll.

Prices:

R32 front - 56.35+ vat
R32 rear - 74.36 + vat

Fitting should be about £150 at any reputable garage!

Again another Main Stealer strikes again!

G

 

[<tuffty/>]

Ok, I would get a second opinion unless you are sure its the ARB's... usually its the tie bars that go (A3/S3's eat them), they connect from the ARB to the dampers. Might be difficult to be sure without undoing them as they will have tension from the rest of the suspension components.

The ARB sleeves do go though so it could also be that. I wouldn't change the ARB's to Eibachs or any other aftermarket ones unless you are doing the rest of the suspension as well as from what I understand this could make your car actually handle worse due to the mismatch of uprated ARB's to the factory (and prob tired) dampers.

Tie bars are about £20 each and pretty easy to change. I would still go to an independant (preferably a VAG specialist) and see what they have to say. Dealers tend to change everything for the hell of it.

<tuffty/>

 

[gumball b]

thanks mr g that sounds good to me mate will i need to change any other parts ta gumball b.

 

[Mr.G]

Ok, I would get a second opinion unless you are sure its the ARB's... usually its the tie bars that go (A3/S3's eat them), they connect from the ARB to the dampers. Might be difficult to be sure without undoing them as they will have tension from the rest of the suspension components.

The ARB sleeves do go though so it could also be that. I wouldn't change the ARB's to Eibachs or any other aftermarket ones unless you are doing the rest of the suspension as well as from what I understand this could make your car actually handle worse due to the mismatch of uprated ARB's to the factory (and prob tired) dampers.

Tie bars are about £20 each and pretty easy to change. I would still go to an independant (preferably a VAG specialist) and see what they have to say. Dealers tend to change everything for the hell of it.

<tuffty/>

The R32 ones aren't aftermarket and are a slight upgrade on the existing ones. I never told him to go for aftermarket ones! The R32 ones won't make the car handle worse and would only aid, and we are talking a small amount here in less body roll.

It's a "common" thing for Audi S3 owners to do, see vwvortex.com, most do it on a standard car with standard suspension setup which has been on the car from day one!

That £800 is just outrageous. Unless they are replacing more than what they've told you about i dont see where the costings are coming from.

As they have not mentioned the Tie bars i'd leave them as is. If they were that bad then they'd have snapped and you really would know about it then, car would be very very unstable and virtually dangerous to drive.

Where's my thanks, think you clicked on the wrong one

G

 

[<tuffty/>]

The R32 ones aren't aftermarket and are a slight upgrade on the existing ones. I never told him to go for aftermarket ones! The R32 ones won't make the car handle worse and would only aid, and we are talking a small amount here in less body roll.

It's a "common" thing for Audi S3 owners to do, see vwvortex.com, most do it on a standard car with standard suspension setup which has been on the car from day one!

That £800 is just outrageous. Unless they are replacing more than what they've told you about i dont see where the costings are coming from.

I think you replied as I was typing mate

The R32 ARB's are the same thickness more or less as the aftermarket ones (23mm front and 19mm rear) I am not sure if the 'stiffness' is any different but as ARB's are typically classified under a thickness then it could be argued that a 19mm R32 rear ARB has the same properties and would have the same effect as an Eibach or Neuspeed 19mm ARB.

Agreed that the R32 bars (or any other thicker ones for that matter) will be better than std and will give 'an' improvement but suspension components are typically choosen as a balanced package and just adding stiffer ARB's will alter that balance. I believe Glen (Ess_Three) has done quite a bit of work on this when he had his S3 and I am certianly not talking from experience here but all I will say is that fitting uprated ARB's without consideration of the other suspension components (especially dampers) could affect the handling detrimentally when pressed...

That said... I am looking to change mine for R32 ARB's once I have recovered from my BT conversion but I do already have Bilstien B8 dampers..

As they have not mentioned the Tie bars i'd leave them as is. If they were that bad then they'd have snapped and you really would know about it then, car would be very very unstable and virtually dangerous to drive.

Where's my thanks, think you clicked on the wrong one

G

My bad... I meant drop links not tie bars... terminology confusion!!! DOH!!

<tuffty/>

 

[gumball b]

its all a bit confusing to me will take it to audi speacialist and see what they think ive heard there good thanks for your help though gumball b

 

[Westy]

Paul you're right mate because I'm having a standard ARB replaced because a different Arb on standard suspension could put you in a bush.

Ess wrote of an experience where he was in a car accident where he had bigger arbs and standard suspension on his integra type R.

See post number 7:

http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/showthread.php?t=19489&highlight=arbs+integra

 

[Mr.G]

I've already spoken to Ess over the phone!

Had advice on ARB's and supsension setup, He was very very helpful and i'm due to ring him again later! Hope he's in

I've spoken to various companies regarding parts i.e ARB's etc.

Companies have said that Stiffer ABR's will be fine on the standard setup and the boys over on VWvortex also have done it. I read a big post on it a while ago. So i'd have no trouble in upgrading mine to R32 ones.

This person OP is working to a budget, therefore i just gave him the advice that i'd been given over the phone by two companies, both of which had used the R32 ARBs.

I've no personal experience to speak of here either. But i do trust when companies say to use certain items. There's usually a reason for it!

Neuspeeds are 22mm and 19mm respectively where as the Eibachs are slightly over that.

H&R are 25mm and 21mm. I'm tempted by this setup and will speak to Ess about it later.

Anyway, hope the OP - Gumball gets it sorted, let us all know how you get on. It's always good to hear of peoples experiences.

G

 

[Westy]

I'm having new wishbone bushes and a new standard rear ARB fitted on Wednesday. I expect this to make the car feel quite different as these components have been shot the whole time i've had the car. If both ARBs needed replacing I may have gone the R32 route but there's no way i'm only doing the rear by itself! I'll let you know how it feels.

 

[Westy]

Ok I had the work done today and the car feels brand new now! I can't believe how much difference 2 plastic bushes and an arb can make. The car is now planted through bends and I no longer knock my fillings out going over speed bumps.

It just goes to show how much suspension components deteriate over the space of 8 years! We all slate the s3s handling but I can't help but think that straight out the factory that these cars were alright.

 

[Fuzzy felt]

Sounds like you had a result

Do you mind if i ask what the cost was ?

 

[Dansmith]

Mines in on friday for new anti roll bars (front and back) i went for standard S3 ones (but the new ones with the updated sleeve) and fitted its costing me £190

Went for the standard ones in the end cos I got them for pretty much £100 cheaper than the R32 ones! and as I've said before im not an aggressive driver and i thought that the car handled fine with 2 cracked anti roll bars!

 

[Westy]

You'll be amazed how your car feels with two new stiff arbs on mate. I paid £216 for the wishbones and arb.