Weird suspension issues

fARQUARE

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just wanted to put up a post about some weird handling on my A4.
Since I got the car 8 months ago, I've always thought the suspension was a little twitchy.

This was especially noticeable when either:

cruising at motorway speeds then lifting off the gas (car would sway to the side a little)

when breaking (car would initially sway to the side a little)

if breaking in a corner over a bump it almost felt like the back and the front of the car were not connected.


Both of these things sound bad - but in reality it was a very small sway. I knew I had a clunking sound coming from the O/S/F going over bumps, and that the O/S/F tyre was wearing a bit more than the others so I figured I had -ve camber + some toe in to boot.

After searching the forums, I was sure the rear axle bushes were shot (symptoms sounded similar) and I'd need at least 1 control arm on the front and tracking as a bare minimum.

Gave the car to the mechanic and let him loose, turns out the rear axle bushes were fine, but I needed O/S/F top rear and lower front control arms (one of the arms wasn't even tightened properly).

After getting all the work done the car feels much more positive. It goes, stops and turns in a predictable fashion.
Happy boy (till the next thing breaks)!
cheers
 
If they havent been done, a full set of front arms will make an immense improvement on any B5 with more than about 80k on the clock.

We just changed the rear axle bushes on ours, and again the difference was unreal. You didnt really notice the sway before, it just felt as it always had, however after changing the bushes the difference was similar to that you'd expect from fitting lowered and uprated springs and shocks. Even from the passenger seat it was a massive difference.
 
b1gdave: He's already fixed it.

My point was just that replacing all the front arms and the rear bushes is good practice on any car driven in anger if its a highmileage motor.
 
aye, as aragorn said, the problem has been sorted.

Arms are just cheapy ones from the local motor factors i guess, if they go south (which i'm sort of expecting as aragorn and others have pointed out in other posts)then i'll get the lot sorted with some Hq replacements.

I am aware that that changing 1 or 2 control arms at a time is probably nor best practice, however, the full set was perhaps a step too far if this did not solve the problem.

The difference as suggested has been huge, and as i dont do a lot of miles (3000 this year), i'll just be keeping an eye on things come mot time in the spring.

cheers.
 

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