Swartz

I took my car to an independant that specializes in German cars and here is what they said. But first, some background:
THe right front suspension started creaking a week ago. After putting it on a set of oil change ramps, I had my wife turn the steering wheel back and forth so I could track done the creeking. It was pretty obvious that it was coming from the lower control arm, as I could feel it vibrate when it creaked.
Upon taking it to the shop, they confirm it and said that it was also the other lower arm. They told me that it was not a safty issue and the bushings appeared to have no free play in them and should have many miles of life left. That is if I could put up with the creaking. They gave me an estimate for $546 (Audi Parts), $144 (Labor) and $70 (alignment) if I wanted to replace both arms. They recommended that I leave it alone until the creak turns to a clunk which should be many miles down the road.
They felt that $700 odd dollars was a bit much to fix a squeek. I agree. I'm sure the Audi dealer would not have done that.
If anyone else in the Dayton, OH area is looking for a great independant then Foreign Exchange is the place to go. (Plus they are always working on some cool race cars and have several Porsches, Ferrari, BMWs and a couple formula race cars for sale. Good eye candy.)

Noel

Alf Arkin

Re: "leave it alone until the creak turns to a clunk " ... a clunker ?

Andy Hedin

.....the front lower control arm in the right-front wheel-well was bad. New part was $280 and I got hit with a $200 labor charge due to the damn elusive nature of the noise. They ended up installing and removing two other control arms in that area trying to find the problem. This after spending a lot of time trying to isolate the noise. Unfortunately, it took them a while to find the bad one.

Also received new tie rods (got an awesome price on the parts and install) and a new clutch master cylinder (ATE SuperBlue killed my original one).

Great to have my A4 back with a quiet front-end :-)

vatolocomike

That is freakin weird. I bought a 98.5 two months ago and this past two weeks I have noticed what sounds to be the same creaking... all seemingly linked to the steering. I still have 3 weeks of warranty. Is it covered? I didn't pay more bucks for a clunker! I also have squeeky brakes even though Audi tells me my brakes are in fine shape.

Andy Hedin

Get in there ASAP while you still have a warranty!

Swartz

I envy your quite ride!!! Thanks for the update.

vatolocomike

Nice ride.
What kind of bike racks did you get? How much were they and do they fit into a special bracket like vw's?