RobC

There has been some discussion previously about worn control arms and tie rod bushings/seals. I have a noise that sounds like worn CV joints, but appears to be something else. Some have suggested the control arms bushing as well as tie-rod bushings.

Well, just yesterday I noticed that I could reproduce the sound by moving the steering wheel slightly back and forth when stopped. There's no play in the steering, but there's definitely noise. So it sounds like tie rods. Do I need to replace the whole rod or can just the bushings and seals be replaced? Part numbers and price anyone?

TIA.

S4Patrick

I had those exact symptoms on my A4.....turned out to be the lower control arms

Andy_FL

But with a worn TRE, you would probably have play in the steering. Good luck

Andy

LaserK04

After some time/mileage, the tie rod ends tend to seize up and become nearly impossible to separate and replace. IIRC, from Impex, the outer tie rod ends are about $50 each, and the whole assembly is $80 each. Bear in mind, if the shop has to fight with the ends (which I hear is extremely common with Audis), your labor charges will go up considerably. IMO, buy the whole part and replace it and anti-sieze everything when reassembling. You'll have the peace of mind of new inner and outer ends, and reduce your labor time.

I had the same squeaking you do, and replacing the tie rods did the trick.

ECS Tuning-Brian

<ul><li><a href="http://www.ecstuning.com/stage/edpd/pagebuild_v2.cgi?make=Audi&amp;engine=2.7T&amp;mod el=B5%20S4&amp;submodel=Sedan&amp;category=Suspens ion">ECS S4 suspension web page.</a></li></ul>

TRM

exactly what you describe occured on my S4 and was due to bad seals on the upper control arms. the seals can crack and get small holes in them. if you drive in a fair amount of wet conditions, they will rust inside and screach/squeek when turning the wheel and/or going over bumps.

<img src="http://www.velozt.com/elements/tech/oe-ctrl-arms/oe-arms.jpg">

i have a pair of upper control arms (slightly used) for the driver side if you're interested in buying them.

RobC

I guess I'll just have to try to reproduce the sound with the wheel off to figure out what part is bad.

Thanks all for the inputs.

BaysideRS4

I had mild thumping when stationery, and at weird times when driving under 15mph.

There were loose bolts in the steearing knuckle.

k04/rs6north

I hope these are not the arms I sent back to Don.

https://forums.audiworld.com/s4/msgs/1274218.phtml

Driving Excitement!

My tech lubed the lower controls up with grease and the problem went away until I drove the car really hard and in a lot of rain. So now I'm pretty sure that is the problem unless he lubed up something else also.