I had an advisory on my last MOT for one of the front upper suspension arms – only taken me 10 months to do something about it. I was originally just going to replace the offending item, then decided I’d do all the top arms, and eventually decided it was a good excuse to just go ahead and do everything. So I started looking for a full kit.
First thing I realised when you search for a front arm kit for the B5 S4; there are a lot of results. I’m almost certain the vast majority incorrectly claim to fit the B5 S4. And then there’s different part numbers for steel and aluminium uprights. Bit of a minefield. However I eventually narrowed it down to 2 kits, the Lemforder or Meyle HD (no surprise there). For anyone who’s read the full thread, you’ll know I try to go for genuine parts or as close as possible when it comes to servicing and maintenance, which probably points to the Lemforder Kit. However, I also don’t like spending money for the sake of it. The Lemforder kit was coming in at close to £500, the Meyle HD kit was coming in at just under £300, and both seem to be fairly well reviewed amongst fellow owners.
So I took the plunge and went for the Meyle kit. As above the best price I could find was a shade under £300 and that was from Autodoc for anyone looking. I was pleasantly surprised when it arrived from Germany, quality seems very good and crucially all the parts were correct!
I thought I may as well share some part numbers in case anyone else finds them useful, but use at your own risk.
Part no. for full Meyle HD kit for B5 S4 (steel uprights) – 116 050 0029/HD
Full kit made up of the following:
All the required nuts and bolts
RHS front upper arm – 8E0 407 506 A (Meyle part no. 116 050 8298 HD)
RHS rear upper arm = 8E0 407 510 A (Meyle part no. 116 050 8293 HD)
LHS front upper arm – 8E0 407 505 A (Meyle part no. 116 050 8297 HD)
LHS rear upper arm – 8E0 407 509 A (Meyle part no. 116 050 8292 HD)
RHS & LHS front lower arm – 4D0 407 151 P (Meyle part no. 116 050 8228 HD
RHS rear lower arm – 8E0 407 694 AG (Meyle part no. 116 050 8300 HD)
LHS rear lower arm – 8E0 407 693 AG (Meyle part no. 116 050 8299 HD)
RHS arb link – 8D0 411 318 D (Meyle part no.116 060 0008)
LHS arb link – 8D0 411 317 D (Meyle part no. 116 060 0007)
RHS & LHS tie rod ends – 4F0 498 811 A (Meyle part no. 116 020 0008 HD)
If you have aluminium uprights, the THINK front lower arms you need are 4B3 407 151 K. I don’t have a Meyle number for this, not even sure they make a corresponding part. And I’d take the letters following the OEM part numbers with a pinch of salt, I believe some of these may have been superseded over the years, but the numbers should be correct.
Anyway I didn’t fancy doing the installation myself; don’t have much time for car stuff these days with the wee one and who wants to spend the time you do have playing with seized bolts. Easily a week long slog for someone of my skill level and patience. So off it went to a local VAG specialist I’ve been using for the last 10 years. 2 people, 4 hours, a blowtorch, and the job was done. I had a look at the old arms when they came off and sure enough they were original. You really cant argue with the quality Audi were producing back in the day, 22 years isn’t a bad shift! That being said, most of the rubbers were knackered, split and crumbling away. I’m very surprised I wasn’t getting any knocking.
The only thing I didn’t have fitted were the track rod ends. I’d seen a couple of people report that the Meyle ones weren’t the best and didn’t last very long, so I stuck with what was already on the car.
I’ve only driven the car from the garage back to the house but I can already feel the difference. Everything feels tight and solid; it’s just a better driving experience all round. I wasn’t expecting to feel a huge difference, as above I had no knocking and I thought it handled fine, but the old arms were clearly past their best. Very happy with the outcome.
In other news, I recently had the wheels on my daily B8 refurbished. I’ve never thought this style of wheel suited the B5 (sorry to anyone running them…) but I’m sorely tempted to try them after seeing how well they turned out! Think the colour would work well against the noggy, they’re slightly darker than my Superturismo’s.
Would highly recommend Quick Coat Alloys in Irvine if anyone in Ayrshire is looking to have wheels done. My usual place couldn’t take me until January so tried somewhere new. Excellent service and results from Andrew and a pleasure to deal with.