Your Opinions on these Advisories

[mancdan]

I had a full service carried out at Awesome GTI in Manchester on 04th March which was all fine, however they noted down quite a few Advisories which got me a little concerned. Now I know that they are exactly what they say, just advisories, but I wanted your views/opinions on which I should maybe look at getting done and in what order of importance.
This is the list with prices where provided:

Aircon Clean & Regas advised - £66
Both front engine mounts leaking hydro elastic fluid.
Both rear flexible brake hoses starting to crack on outer sheath.
Rear Anti-roll bar worn.
Alternator belt replacement advised - £52.80.
Both top suspension arm bushes cracking but no excessive play.
Front discs corroded and lipped on inner edge, down to 40% - replacement discs advised with next set of pads.

Now my first thoughts were that I needed a set of Eibach lowering springs, a cupra R splitter and some silver wing mirrors, but then sensible took over and said come on Dan, lets maybe look at some of these advisories first and then the toys can follow.

I am considering the RS4 rear ARB as a replacement for the standard rear ARB of course.
Open to suggestions on discs & pads or is it better just sticking to OEM.
My car has 87k miles on by the way.

So what does everyone think?

Cheers, Dan.

 

[mancdan]

Forgot to add, my business will be paying for any/all of this so my wallet will not be touched, thank god.

 

[B5NUT]

I love that one "Rear Anti-roll bar worn." it's a lump of metal ***.... That list reads like it's from an Audi dealer, but if the engine mounts are leaking then they should be replaced.

 

[Giosabcsl]

Well Dan,

I shall start from the top.

1: So aircon clean and regas the only reason I would say you need this doing is if your aircon smells or you have run out of gas so pretty straight forward.

2: Front mounts leaking is generally quite common for a car with 80k+ miles if you unsure of them being trustworthy you can always slip under the car yourself and have a look at the mounts. You will notice there is a purple fluid that will either be running out or has stained on the mount itself. Now regarding a replacement you can either go for the stock mounts for you car or you can go for the rs4 replacements that are stiffer and about 10 quid more expensive per mount and will last longer. Also to test you can open your bonnet and start the engine and give the engine light revs and have a look between the gap of were the bonnet is open and see if the engine is rocking then its quite easy to tell. Or better yet if you getting any vibrations in the cabin or shaking at idle.

3: As for the rear brake lines again quite a common one pretty straight forward you can see them for yourself they easily visible as with rubber it does perish so no doubt if they replace them it will be a brake fluid change as well as all the brakes bleed. So if you haven't changed your fluid in a while might be good one to do.

4: The roll bar is a tricky one when they worn I don't believe that BS to be honest. How can a thick piece of metal be worn its either corroded or its cracking. Usually with the first gen Anti roll bars the mounting material used to hold the bar in place tends to cause the metal to corrode which is exactly what Audi told me. But there was nothing wrong with the bar itself was more of a "how can we get more money out of you". Personally I would look at that one yourself and see were its "worn" can almost assure you that it will be corroding on the left and right side of the mounting brackets. As for the Rs4 roll bar its a great upgrade for a quattro car as for me personally made a great difference for turn in etc considering you got a front wheel drive car I wouldn't worry about it to much but then again its your choice and money.

5: 52.80 for a belt....!!! are they having a laugh. That belt from TPS is £19 from Audi its 28. It takes 5 mins to fit the thing. Literally just pull the tensioner back with a 14 or 16 open head spanner pop the old belt off and remember how it came off as it goes around the crank, power steering and alternator. 06D903137E is the audi part number if you want to check for yourself. Or you can just go to someone like euro car parts that sell the Continental Contitech belt which is practically the same belt just with no Audi logo on for £13.80 I understand you say its "your business" that will be paying but your business still needs to make money to pay if you get what I mean, so I still think a saving to your company is a benefit to you.

6: The top arms again common issue and this one I wouldnt worry about at all. All the arms crack you can go fit new ones on tomorrow and they will tear. I will almost bet my car that if you go look at any Audi like yours fwd or quattro the rubbers crack or tear. Just a normal thing. As they said there is no movement until the rubber tears all the way round which it wont it takes quite a while even if your car has 80k + miles.

7: As for the discs if you not pushing a lot of power and happy with your car the way it stops dont bother going better or bigger. Just stick with OEM. Front discs and pads from Audi is a fixed price of £269 and 2 year warranty on parts and labour. My recommendations are if the car is stopping fine then so be it wait for the discs or pads to wear out which ever comes first. Either or when the time comes you will need both replaced anyway.

That is my thoughts.

Your move

 

[mancdan]

Great reply & info Giosabcsl, just what I was after. Many Thanks.
Think I will look at the front engine mounts first, any idea on price for these?

 

[Giosabcsl]

No worries,

Assuming you have a manual transmission as the mounts are different for an Automatic.

Stock mounts

Trade £90 , Retail £112

Rs4 mounts

Trade £92,Retail £114

Might have gone up maybe £5-10 quid since last time i checked which was roughly last year October.

 

[jdp1962]

Totally endorse Giosabcsl's comments on anti-roll bar and brakes (RS4 rear anti-roll bar all the way!). The others I don't know enough to comment on.

 

[Joe_Murphy21187]

Agree with the above, although how long it is since you had the air-con regassed? I thought you were supposed to get it done every 2-3 years in order to keep the system lubricated and no dry out any of the insides?

Maybe maintenance is not necessary as long as it's blowing cold?

 

[mancdan]

Agree with the above, although how long it is since you had the air-con regassed? I thought you were supposed to get it done every 2-3 years in order to keep the system lubricated and no dry out any of the insides?

Maybe maintenance is not necessary as long as it's blowing cold?

Had the car since May 2011 and never had it re-gassed, and it does still blow relatively cold.
I may just get it done as preventative maintenance anyway as I have had the car almost 3 years now.

Cheers jjmurphy.

 

[Joe_Murphy21187]

There is also a difference between an air-con 'service' and just a 're-gas', although some places often confuse the two.

You can check the system for leaks (using special dye) and I believe you can take apart elements of the motors/flaps and re-lube as necessary, however there will be a significant cost difference between the two. Wouldn't worry about anything other than a re-gas unless it's giving you problems though

 

[Camster]

Some good replies here! I'm definitely planning the RS4 ARB but some matching engine mounts sound good too. Do the mounts match up to any engine or do different engines use different mounts?

Thanks,
Camster.

 

[Giosabcsl]

Some good replies here! I'm definitely planning the RS4 ARB but some matching engine mounts sound good too. Do the mounts match up to any engine or do different engines use different mounts?

Thanks,
Camster.

The engine mounts vary. As the automatic cars have diff to manual and some diesel cars have diff ones to the petrol as they have built in sensors. As well as some of the higher up stuff from the s4 etc

 

[Camster]

Recommend any mounts for a manual Quattro 2.0tdi?

Thanks.

 

[DieselJake]

4: The roll bar is a tricky one when they worn I don't believe that BS to be honest. How can a thick piece of metal be worn its either corroded or its cracking. Usually with the first gen Anti roll bars the mounting material used to hold the bar in place tends to cause the metal to corrode which is exactly what Audi told me. But there was nothing wrong with the bar itself was more of a "how can we get more money out of you". Personally I would look at that one yourself and see were its "worn" can almost assure you that it will be corroding on the left and right side of the mounting brackets. As for the Rs4 roll bar its a great upgrade for a quattro car as for me personally made a great difference for turn in etc considering you got a front wheel drive car I wouldn't worry about it to much but then again its your choice and money.

It's not the metal that gets worn it's the plastic bits connecting it (which are fixed as one).

Recommend any mounts for a manual Quattro 2.0tdi?


Thanks.

Go with originals as RS4 are a bit shaky, ask how I know haha. RS4 should last the life of the car though which is why I went for them, only difference is sensors (which you don't really need).

 

[Giosabcsl]

I understand its not the metal that gets worn its the plastic bushes that hold the bar. But saying its worn is not really the correct terminology, reality is one could just replace the bushes to the new rubber ones.

How comes you against the RS4 mounts?

Bad experience? From what I have seen and read its nothing but good they just firmer than standard. Oh and can force you engine to sit tad higher

 

[DieselJake]

I understand its not the metal that gets worn its the plastic bushes that hold the bar. But saying its worn is not really the correct terminology, reality is one could just replace the bushes to the new rubber ones.

It's not the bushes it's the actual plastic on the bar... well it could be bushes too but personally it was the plastic on the bar not around it.

How comes you against the RS4 mounts?

Bad experience? From what I have seen and read its nothing but good they just firmer than standard. Oh and can force you engine to sit tad higher

Not sure about the engine sitting higher haha but yeah just more shaky.

From personal experience RS4 RARB's aren't much cop on FWD cars and RS4 mounts are similar to originals but you will notice a bit more shake on idle and when driving slowly. From a performance point of view these should be excellent mods but reality is there's not much in it.

 

[jdp1962]

I had an RS4 rear anti-roll bar on a B6 with FWD, and it made a huge improvement. It's not really relevant which wheels are driven. If you increase rear roll stiffness relative to front roll stiffness, understeer will be reduced.

 

[DieselJake]

Did nothing for me, everyone here rants and raves about how good they are but decent suspension and dampers makes a much bigger improvement and if that's in place there's really no need.

 

[Giosabcsl]

The difference is one cost 150 quid the other cost what 400/500. Excluding fitment

Reality is since the change of the RARB the car feels perfect as it is.

So as much as a suspension and dampers may make the difference I rather not fix something that aint broke

 

[DieselJake]

People can and will do as they please; but improving looks and performance justified springs and dampers far more than the roll bar for me and when the bar was added nothing beneficial was really noticed. Plus worn roll bars generally won't collapse (only reason mine were changed was because of this whole worn thing but as said it was only the plastic).

 

[DieselJake]

Every mod here comes out as "best thing I've ever done", would happily break down what has or hasn't worked for me but only way to truly know what's good is experience and it appears yours is from reading on the Internet

 

[Giosabcsl]

No way mate, if anything I don't believe half the s*** I read on the net. So believe it or not I am on your side when you say " every mod comes out as best mod ever done" bla bla because quite frankly its bs most of the time learnt my lesson already.

I generally only comment if I have tried it or experienced it and that's about it if I am honest.

And same goes for me I only changed my bar because it was worn also because of the plastic bits which came out in pieces when I removed my old bar.

 

[mancdan]

Thanks for all replies & comments so far chaps.

Think I am going to leave the RARB alone for now, but will definitely look at Front Engine Mounts and possibly Alternator belt.
I have requested prices from Stoke Audi on their parts thread but have so far had no reply.

 

[ruairi83]

i emailed stoke on here a few times and waited two weeks for price request. i also found their prices very high compaired to some other audi dealers.

I am from northern ireland and i only deal with aberdeen audi as Malcom in parts beats any price i get local or from stoke.

 

[mancdan]

Thanks ruairi83.