newa6er

pics from my car

audia6s

No, the part and the rubber was just fine. I reused the old bolts. Replaced only right side where the noise was coming. It must be the sway bar bushings, I am thinking.

MainlandMig

im sure u know but just so others know... thats not a sway bar link in 1st pic

i cant tell for sure from pic but is the rubber piece in 1st pic worn

audia6s

MainlandMig,

You have any pics or guidance on how to replace sway bar bushings?

NR04

Just unbolt the clamp (#3) and replace the bushings. The best (and safe) way is to place jack stands under the car and make sure both L and R front suspension hangs freely. If the bolts do not line up after replacing the bushings, loosen the rest of the bolts so you can move and guide the sway bar. If you are uncomfortable doing this job you can easily have a local mechanic do it for you for very cheap. Shouldn't be more than 1hr worth of labor.

The first picture in above is the upper control arm. I have only 50K miles and my upper control arm bushings are failing.... Tackling this project myself in about two weeks. My local indie shop wanted $500 in labor.... no thanks. The hardest part is to push out the old bushings and press in the new ones. My local Pep Boys agreed to press them in for a reasonable price if I bring the control arms in. I'll report back how well the project goes.

audi bug

In case you did not see this guide. Actually hardest part was to remove the frozen pinch bolt.
https://www.audiworld.com/forums/sho....php?t=2808193

NR04

Of course I saw your post! I have it bookmarked and plan to follow your steps. I live in Socal and the car is always garaged so I'm hoping I won't run into any seized bolts....

Btw, was the removal and installation of the bushings relatively straight forward? I was planning to tackling it myself with rented tools before taking them to a shop with a press.

Thanks for your informative post btw.

audi bug

It was pretty easy with a vise I have, but I don't think it is that hard with the bushing removal tool with right size busing adapters.

The pinch bolt was frozen by galvanic corrosion due to aluminum knuckle and steel bolt not by typical rust. Hope you don't have that big a problem.

audia6s

So today I found the source of noise. I even took it to mechanic to get a second opinion. The problem seems to be within lower control arm. The noise is coming from ball joint (pics attached).

1. Now, the mechanic is telling me that the lower control arm and the ball joint come all in one piece. Is it true? I don't want to but the whole control arm when I only need a ball joint.

2. Also, if I was to replace the whole thing, should I be doing both sides?

3. Lastly, the mechanic also said that upper control arms on these cars suck and told me that I should be looking into replacing mine very soon. Any feedback on this?

For all upper control arms, plus one lower, plus labor, he wanted $1060. For lower control arm he wanted 125 for labor plus 305 for the control arm. Since the labor is only 125 (he quoted me the same for the AC pressure sensor), it seems that I could do it myself.

Kraftstoff-Direkteinspritzung

I had the same ball joint go out. Known as the "Lower Front Left Front" control arm.
I tried tackling this myself, however the ball joint was SEIZED into the hub (even with using proper tools), had to take to my mechanic to cut off the ball joint and drill it out. If the ball joint is not seized its pretty simple, probably an hour job.

I ordered my OEM control arm from partsgeek for $175 shipped.