Bill S

My '98 Avant, out of warranty, needs a lower and an upper control arm. Audi has offered to install a complete lower control arm kit (all four) at 100% goodwill coverage.

But they are refusing to pay for the upper arm. This is the second upper control arm that's gone bad (the first was under warranty). When I asked why, the dealer said that the lower control arms are a known problem, but that the uppers rarely go bad. So Audi considers them normal out of warranty expenses.

I have had as much trouble with upper control arms as lower ones. As far as I can tell, they have the same disease. And while I appreciate Audi's offer to replace the lowers, I feel that they should also cover bad uppers since they apparently have the same design defect. I wouldn't be asking for all four uppers, just the bad one.

I haven't decided yet whether to pursue the upper control arm with AoA. Any thoughts?

Thanks.

Kris Hansen

plus the sway bar links.. I could have been misinformed though.

Bill S

Service manager told me the kit excludes the upper arms, which Audi considers normal wear and tear items inappropriate for "goodwill" consideration.

Fortunately, the upper control arms seem to be a lot less expensive than the lowers. I was quoted about $265 to replace one upper.

Kris Hansen

<a href="http://zzmotors.com/cgi-bin/ePages.storefront/967889161/Catalog/16835-18044">Double Z Motors</a>

Bill S

$130 parts and about 1.5 hours labor (@$90/hour!). Their price is good enough that I won't argue, esp. since they're doing all four lowers free. Thanks for the info, though.

Kris Hansen

That does sound good.