Control Arms Question

[silent_wolf]

Hi guys

Quick question, I have a 2001 s3 amk.

When I first went to look at the car the front suspension was making a noise on full lock. I thought it was a bad cv and they agreed to fix it before I bought it. When I test drove it the steering wheel was properly aligned.

When I got the car they said it was the bushes that were making a noise and they were replaced. The steering wheel was off to the left a bit and it was still making a noise.

After 3 weeks of it being at a garage they found the driver side drive shaft was damaged and had to be replaced and they found the control arm part numbers were not correct.

8N0 407 166
8N0 407 165

These were on the car, they looked practically new. I'm guessing they just put these on cause they fit the TT and probably thought it would fit my car as well, can any tell me what the difference is. Partsbase say they are for "modified vehicles", What does this mean?

 

[<tuffty/>]

I suspect they are the early ones with the smaller front bushes... these were changed to larger front bush versions as part of the recall on the TT's handling issues...

They can be retrofitted to stiffen up the front end but other than that they are physically the same...

They are not available as they were superseded by the revised part...

AMK/BAM S3's should come with the larger bushed versions but its plausible that early S3's used them or a previous owner fitted them as an 'upgrade'

<tuffty/>

 

[<tuffty/>]

There are two types of bush on cast arms for the TT/S3/LCR/R32

I beleive there to be a couple of other variants too... some early arms had what looks to be a boss for an ARB drop link as used for the FWD over the driveshaft type ARBs...

So there could be three or four variants of the arm... but... they are all the same geometrically so as long as the replacement arm has the correct sized front bush then it will be fine... its not unusual for VAG parts to be superseded by a different part number but are functionally the same

<tuffty/>

 

[silent_wolf]

Thanks tuffty, I suspect one of the previous owners fitted them or the mechanic that supposedly replaced the bushes, when I took it to be checked they first found the bushes weren't fitted properly before finding the part numbers being wrong.

I had them fit new arms from Audi and have the old ones lying at home, I was just really worried that they aren't genuine Audi parts cause I'm in South Africa and here you can never be to sure, especially seeing as it had the Audi stamp and part numbers.