lmbroz

Hi all-

I have a 04 4.2 allroad that I have had for a bit over two years. Of course with the expiration of my CPO warranty comes a driver's side front airbag failure. I took it to the dealer (it hasn't gone elsewhere yet due to the warranty) and they said that at least the driver's front requires replacement and the passenger front may as well. The quote for the driver's is $1298.

After suffering a bit of sticker shock, I was reading about other options here. The Arnott system sounds appealing, with the positive reviews. Just to make sure I am understanding thing correctly, does their air spring replace the airbag? Or is there an airbag as well? I found this kit http://www.arnottindustries.com/part...24_gid531.html on their website and it only mentions the spring. It seems like people have been very happy with the ride on the Gen II?

I am not really a DIY repair person, so I also wondered if anyone had any independent shop recommendations in the greater Seattle area? Not sure if I should also post on the Pacific NW forum?

As of now, the car only loses height on the driver's side when left in the lowest height. I usually keep it at 2, and it seems fine there. Because of this, I feel like I have some time to investigate options before forking over $2500 to the dealer.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Lisa

ricam78

DO NOT GO OEM ON THE AIRBAGS UNLESS IT IS WARRANTY!

OK, now that that is out of my system, have you asked anyone in the regional forums about a good indy? You can go to the APR website and look for dealers in your area too as those performance shops are sometime pretty good. SOMETIMES, so check regional.

If your front driver side is leaking, you can get an Arnott GenI bag and replace only the driver front and be done. You can also get a set of Gen II bags for the front and leave the OEM bags in the back OR you can get a set of 4 Gen II's and replace all of them. Labor from an indy will prob be $100-$150 per wheel for R&R airbags, so $400-$600 in labor on top of the materials from arnott.

Best of luck and I am pretty sure Arnott still have a 10% coupon floating around that might still work.

lmbroz

Thanks for the quick reply. It does certainly sound like OEM isn't the way to go. A mere two months earlier and it would have been under warranty. Sigh.

So just to make sure I understand, the suspension airbag is the same thing as Arnatt's airspring, right?

I have read some people's accounts on here of really liking the Gen II. The dealer thinks that the passenger side likely needs replacement as well, so I am leaning towards just switching to the Gen-II all around if they are better.

finiki

A search for "Seattle shop" in the allroad forum....https://www.audiworld.com/forums/sho...t=seattle+shop

ricam78

If you have the $, then do the Gen II's all around. Soon a dust sleeve will come out for the Gen II's which they will send out to you free once developed, but they will need to be added. This will help in making them last longer. Also, the suspension airbag is the same as the airspring.

Basically there is a shock that goes inside of the airspring and that is it. Arnott also sells all 4 Bilstein shocks with a lifetime warranty for 799 which if you do all 4 bags you will not have any extra labor to replace the shocks at the same time if you do need them.

waikylam

Hi Lisa, i would recommend LBR in bellevue/redmond area. Harry is the office manager and was great when i did my 100 point inspection before buying my 03' AR. Since then my fronts have started leaking at level 1, but i mainly drive at 3 and 2 on freeways of course. but when i am ready i will go to them. they specialize in european cars. they also offer 10% off for new customers.

If what everyone has told me the rears rarely fail so unless you just want to change over the whole suspension for piece of mind, i would just change out both fronts. How many miles do you have? i have 96k and most of these great AR folks have told me that i can weight until to change my springs until 110-120k.

Waiky