Front *creak* suspension *creak creak!*

[Oranoco]

About 4 months ago I found a lot of play in the front lower rear drivers side ball joint. Unfortunately the local parts place only had a Quentin Hazel item. Now the car has developed a really nasty creak whenever th esteering or suspension moves. Not only is it a bit worrying it's also ****** embarrassing.

Been on the phone to Euro car parts and thought about changing all the arms for new but that's looking costly. Anybody have experience with their pattern arms as there is a huge price difference between their OE items and pattern (£80 for an arm as opposed to £25).

I was even ctemplating doing all 4 lower arms this month and then changing the top arms next month. Going on Holiday and have a kitchen that needs finishing so cash is tighter than a nuns **** at the mo

 

[ALPINE]

i just boughts these...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....m=110293393754&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=001

i have a nasty creak / clonk also when i pull away... its my lower arms.


hope this helps.

 

[aragorn]

Well a little update on my car.

I fitted those cheap arms to it around June and have probably done 5-6k since then, and have recently started hearing a bit of creaking from them, mainly when manoevering from lock to lock when the cars been sitting, ie after work or first thing in the morning.

I figured that while cheap and probably wouldnt last the same as audi arms, they'd last at least a year or two, at which point i'm unlikely to still have the car. However the creaking already has me a little worried about it!

Having had mine start creaking already i'd suggest you steer clear of more pattern items. Meyle do arms which ive heard decent things about, They've supposedly been upgraded over the OE spec with larger balljoints and suchlike. My brother recently ordered a full Meyle arm kit from german ebay for about £280 delivered. Theres a few uk suppliers that sell the individual arms too if you only wish to replace the faulty ones. The full kit seems to be to be a good buy though espeically as it contains new fixings and track rod ends too, and seen as the full kit would probably cost about the same as 4 lower arms from audi i'd be heading down that road if i were you!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=230292061797

Thats a link to the auction my brother got his arms from.

 

[AndyMac]

Yes I got the same cheapy set that Alpine got and I'm getting creaking now as well and they've only been on for a month, so seems like a big false economy. Can't face changing them again let alone the expense! Not happy.......

 

[aragorn]

yer, mines due an MOT in a couple weeks, and if they fail i'll be seriously ****** off!

As i said i figured they'd not be as good as OE stuff, but 4 months is mighty taking the ****! and for the difference in price between them and the Meyle's looking back i should have fitted the better ones!

Mine were also from the same guy, might be requesting a refund from him if they do fail this MOT!

 

[Oranoco]

Oh dear. I've just ordered a pair of o/e arms from ECP. Bit painfull on the wallet but judging by some of the posts I think it was the right decision.

 

[PaulJC84]

I think I will go for the Meyle ones when I need them.

Just hope its not the same story with those!!

 

[AndyMac]

Just reading up on the Meyle ones, they definately seem to be the way to go
http://www.blauparts.com/audi/audi_control_arm/meyle/meyle_audi_control_arms_repair_kit.shtml

 

[ALPINE]

Yes I got the same cheapy set that Alpine got and I'm getting creaking now as well and they've only been on for a month, so seems like a big false economy. Can't face changing them again let alone the expense! Not happy.......

unlucky dude...

hope mine are ok. i know 3 other people with this kit fitted for quite a while and they seem ok. maybe you got the runt of the littler

 

[Siena]

Try me for OEM Audi ones.

 

[AUDI TURBO]

ive replaced mine with local audi/vk continetal spares who use german made oe spec parts ive had 4 or 5 arms replaced and no problems at all...........so far

 

[AUDI TURBO]

they were aboyt £40.00 a arm though

 

[Oranoco]

Try me for OEM Audi ones.

********! I've ordered and paid for them now

Expect a PM next pay day mate. Don't think you're a million miles from me either

 

[Adam-D]

im glad i was to skint to order them,

my audi specialist garage said they attach a mic to each arm, drive the car to locate the noisy one, then change it, they also said only ever use audi stuff.
i dont know about the meyle ones

i still havent changed mine yet lol
it quiet when its wet, so winter is coming, so it shud be quiet for a while to come

 

[aragorn]

imo replacing one arm is a bit like replacing one wheel bearing or track rod end. I would never replace one wishbone if the car had standard mac struts, in the same way i'd never replace one brake disk or one shock absorber. Its going to make the car handle funny, and the other worn arms are likely going to put a lot more load on the new tight one.

They've both pretty much done the same amount of work, and if one has failed the others wont be far behind it. Not to mention replacing 10year old arms with brand new ones totally transforms how the car feels to drive, it really is worth doing them all. OK the Audi OE arms make that a bit prohibitive, (istr they're about £4-500ish for the set) But the Meyle kit is half that price and if your in there replacing one, its not THAT much extra work to replace the rest anyway.

 

[Oranoco]

well 170 quid later and I have 2 lower arms. Thankfully they seem to be the most expensive. Will bolt them on and change the others in a couple of weeks.

The ECP arms for OE are made by Lederford. They seem a lot sturdier than the Quentin Hazel arms. Job for Saturday I spose.

 

[aragorn]

well 170 quid later and I have 2 lower arms

Ouch!

 

[Adam-D]

i await to hear good things about the meyle kit before i part with my money

everything ive done to this car has ending up costing a fortune, i still havent managed to get help fitting my seats or actually the motorvation to do so

 

[aragorn]

Well we'll be fitting a Meyle kit to my brothers S4, hopefully this weekend if his shocks arrive and the rain stays off.

Clearly it takes a while to see how they actually perform though.

 

[auroan]

Well, guess what. I now have the dreaded knocking from the front suspension.

But...... I've found a UK supplier for Meyle, who so far seems spot on !.

Jason at allgermanparts in leeds (http://www.allgermanparts.co.uk/) is ordering me a complete set of meyle units at £355 delivered to my door.

Seemed really good on the phone and even spoke to Meyle on another line there and then to check stock levels.

Thumbs up so far, fingers crossed I'll have the kit on friday.

 

[aragorn]

erm, you can get them delivered from germany for a good bit less than that price mate!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....m=230292061797&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=013

thats the auction my bro won, thing the shipping was another tenner or something.

Under £300 anyway!

Fitting went pretty well too, nothing was siezed surprisingly!

 

[auroan]

******.... I searched for a good hour looking for the kits.

Oh well bought and paid for now plus I get a two year warrenty with allgermanparts... backed with a 4 year manu. warrenty.

 

[aragorn]

ebay.de is the way to go for things like this, you just need to work out what the adverts are saying

 

[AndyMac]

Be really interested in how the Meyle arms are longer term. I emailed the autoteile guy on ebay and he only wanted 14 euros for shipping. Strange thing is I jacked my car up to look at the creaking issue I have with the cheapy arms and since then the creaking has stopped, very wierd. It only started after the MOT at Regal, and the guys said the upper bushes had split already, but they look fine to me. Why can't I find a garage that doesn't **** something up on my car everytime I use them?
Last time the idiots I went to blew up my gearbox by brake testing my quattro on a single pair of rollers. I just dread MOT's now.

 

[Oranoco]

Well this is getting more painfull. I put the new lower arm on and the creak continues. It seems to be coming from the top though. Got the hump and just ordered the 2 upper arms and the lower front arm. £145 all in. So far it's cost me £220 to do one side of the car and next month I will do the other side and that's before I shell out for the Weitec kit I promised myself

 

[aragorn]

you really should have just gone and baught the meyle kit!

allgermanparts do the meyle arms individually, and unlike these expensive but not OE parts your buying, theres at least some reports of them being half decent!

 

[auroan]

My view is if your changing one arm you might as well do the lot. Hence why I've gone and got he full kit for my motor.

 

[auroan]

My kit turned up at work today !!!! Very impressed so far. Looks very solid.

 

[dappadan786]

ive installed all 8 control arms with the meyle kit i got from the US including the tie rod ends and sway bar links! so far so good no creaking or clunking even after 7000miles of having them on. the kit i got said Heavy Duty uprated dont know if that makes a difference?

 

[aragorn]

ye the meyle balljoints are uprated over the stock ones, you can actually see the difference in the size of the trackrod end one especially, theres a bit more metal around the others so its a bit harder to see.

 

[auroan]

Well, someone can have my kit. Turns out my knocking on my motor was a loose caliper. So I have an up-opened Meyle box of suspension with the bolt kit.

I paid £355 (delivered) for it, so some one can have it for the same and I'll take the hit on the postage cost.

 

[bobbinz]

hi auroan, daft question time.....

Which models does the kit fit?

 

[auroan]

Any B5 1995-2001

 

[s2ie]

I had the same problem with really bad creaking during acceleration/ braking. By simply tightening up the bolts at the rear end of the lower front control arms the problem has disappeared, completely. So before replacing parts give this a try...

Cheers,

Stewart

 

[phoenixv6quattro]

ITS THE NIGHT OF THE LIVING THREAD!!!! GRAVEYARD SHIFT............

 

[Oranoco]

But it's quite funny as the other side of my car has just started creaking. lol