carlosyep

My 1999 Audi A6 Quattro 2.8 has 220K miles and I was thinking of replacing shocks and struts to restore ride performance. Purely a performance move. My mechanic says shocks and struts last the life of the vehicle and suggested replacing control arms for a better bang for the buck and significant ride performance.
Any thoughts?

tester123

IMO, nothing lasts for life of a car as you'd have to define where that "life" ends or when you'd part with it. And, your mechanic maybe right or he stands to profit from a nice chunk of labor time involved. Either case, inspect your control arms first. If the boots are busted or you see any cracks etc., time to replace them. Shocks are not going to last forever and ride quality will definitely improve with newer shocks (provided control arms are still in good condition). Springs "may" last much longer as long as they are not rusted. If I was in your situation, I'd opt for shocks first AFTER inspecting control arms. It's your call.

carlosyep

Great input, thanks!

4Driver4

Just do new front shocks. The rears are much more expensive and rarely need replacing.

(Your car does not have struts)

SloopJohnB@mac.com

Wow…I replaced all four shocks on our 2K4.2A6Q with Koni yellow sport shocks at 107K. Ride improvement great even with relatively soft non-sport springs. Worst problem was with upper shock mounts…RR died 10K after replacement, moral of story is to replace rear upper shock mounts when replacing shocks. Ended up destroying the shock to get it out of the failed upper shock mount and had to replace an essentially new shock.