Wesley Walls

Not less than three weeks ago, I had to shell out $600 for a new timing belt and pretensioner when the pretensioner failed (luckily, the belt didn't come off!). And now, my car's front suspension is giving out!

The thing creaks like the worst bedspring you've ever heard, and the dealer's telling me that the front control arm bushings are wearing out. He told me that to replace all four, it could run close to $700! When I complained, he said.."let me see what I can do." Believe it or not, he calls me back and says that Audi's going to take care of the whole thing at no cost to me! I mean, I'm 20,000 miles OUT of warranty! I guess I shouldn't ask too many questions though since it's being done for free!

Has anyone else been experiencing excessive repairs at 70,000 miles?

Thanks,
Wesley Walls
'98 A4 1.8TMS APR

markbradford

That's a joke right??? :-)

KrautRice_A4 atl-atl

Geez, I havent heard of this, I hope I dont get it!?!

Twister

Im taking it to the dealer tomorrow. Its a 97 by the way, and I do have the extended warranty, but im still aggravated. I mean, 20,000 miles? Thats unacceptable on a hyundai, much less a 30 thousand dollar european sedan.

punjabi-A4

I'm Getting 2 upper control arms replaced this week. it stinks!!

MartinH

Consider yourself lucky you reached 70k. Here's a copy of what I posted yesterday ref my creaky bedsprings.
Front suspension noise
Posted by MartinH on 2001-04-30 18:32:21
I know tons of owners have had similar problems, but, at the risk of boring many, can someone please give me a clue to solve my front suspension problem, based on their experience. It's a 1996 A4 2.8 with 40k of normal road use. The stabilizer bar connecting links, lower control arms and lower links were replaced at 20k due to noise. Now at 40k (I don't get out much!) the front started creaking again. Diagnosis from the dealer is that all the front suspension links need replacing for $2300. Of course no warranty now, so dealer (Audi) offers $1000 discount due to low mileage. Is 20k the expected life of these parts, so I should start saving up for my 60k experience? Seems like some suspension designer didn't use their calculator correctly. I tried various efforts to persuade both Audi customer service, as well as the dealer, to shoulder (what I see as) their joint responsibilities, but without success. Am I expecting too much for the A4 to survive more than 20k without large maintenance costs? Can the wear be related to age as well as miles - as was suggested by the dealer? Maybe the bushes mysteriously wear away while sitting in the garage overnight! Should I accept their generous offer and then sell before 60k arrives! Many, many questions from an owner of many previous Audi's (but possibly no more)! Assuming I drive 20k per year (not unreasonable) this would be $192 per month in maintaining supension alone.

Ben3.2TT@BC

The first was with stock suspension, second time was with Vortrag suspension. She is not the only one either, there are quite a few who got theirs replaced. The rubber bushings do wear out overtime. From what I read in the archive, you can't just replace the bushings alone because they come with the control arms (lower one?). I don't think there is even a part number for the bushing. That's why when the bushings are worn out, the control arms have to be replaced. I think even the newer models are plagued by this problem.