So... yes or no? Are the special pinch bolts amongst those shown in the picture?

Not all of us have intimate experience in already knowing what every bolt involved looks like, especially if we've never yet done one of these CA jobs before and are in the process of getting all our parts and supplies gathered up before taking the car apart. At this point a picture that shows a pile of bolts is just that... a picture showing a generic pile of bolts, and all the DIY articles out there strongly urge that you must replace these particular special bolts with new ones, yet never mention that they are included with the kits... and some DIY articles even list the bolt part number individually which seems to suggest that it might not be included in the kits and needs to be bought separately.

I've already experienced buying an Audi parts kit that was supposedly 100% exhaustively complete except that it lacked one "special bolt" which only cost a measly $7 extra and no mention of that fact from the vendor, so I had to skip doing a portion of that whole job.

 

From the looks of it. The center 4 with washers are the lower control arm bushing bolts and the black bolts are for the upper arms (pinch bolt) then the shock bolts and then the swaybar link bolts and upper control arm bushing bolts (same style bolts) and then the tie rod end bolts. The small bolts below center are the other tie rod end retainer bolts

 

This is why I love you guys, nowhere else can I search for an OEM part number and get a ton of detailed pictures of the part from every angle.

 

Yes these kits come with pinch bolts.

Usually when a suspension kit says it comes with hardware it means it replaces every bolt/nut that you would have to remove to complete installation.

Jason

 

Excellent. I'm saving up my dollars for the ~$500 Febi kit now. I have a airplane buddy who owns an auto repair shop that specializes in German cars (but he'll work on other European cars too) advised me to buy the Febi kit. He also advised me to replace the axles, front wheel bearings and shocks as well... basically an overhaul of the entire front suspension systems and he even offered to let me use his shop and tools over a weekend when it's normally closed. That'll sure beat doing this job under my carport at my house like when I did the timing belt job. or in the hangar in front of my plane when I did the brakes.

 

With my two Audis, I sort of take the path of ' If it ain't broke, don't fix it.' (I know you can't do that with your airplane). The axles/half shafts, CV joints, suspension, wheel bearings will all let you know very clearly when they are shot, and my front wheel bearings lasted MUCH longer than my rears. I changed the right front bearing with my recent control arm job (FCP cheap ones) when I didn't have to, so the left front bearing may have 190,000 miles on it on my 2000 1.8TM. (changed right side bearing when I thought I heard noise over there, and the noise is still there after replacement - probably just the tire)

 

I did a new front brake rotors and pads job two weekends ago, and there was some play in the front bearings. The right side is noisy as well. Both outer CV boots are torn and I know that dirt and water have a path to get in there even though the car has no symptoms of worn CVs yet. All the control arm bushings (factory originals, only 85K miles on them but 15 years of age!) are visibly in bad shape and the ball joints are worn. It makes the characteristic rattle, especially on the driver side, when driving over bumpy pavement. The car still steers nice and tight and handles pretty well with only a slight tendancy to wander on highways, but the front tires are wearing in an abnormal choppy pattern so it's definitely in need of some front suspension work. While I have the car apart for this work, I want to do it all at once since I hate front end work with a passion, and don't want to be repeating any front end work for a nice long time!

 

Audi axles are pretty strong even after a boot is torn open- mine have been for i dont know how long prior to owning it ( 1k ago ) and even though most of the grease was gone, they still had grease all over and no dirt was found. I cleaned them up and the cage and ***** looked like new so i packed it with new grease and installed a another boot.

 

CBird,

You may just need an alignment. Control arms may be over-rated by the salesmen. my car never drifted at 185k miles. and the only thing that was really a problem was my tie rod ends which were loose and causing a clank when I turned a corner and hit a bump. i changed them about 50k miles ago, and now just recently. They are easy to replace and don't require removing anything. I broke the rubber boots on my lower arms many years ago using the joint separator when I did CV joints. and those joints are so tight they required a BFHammer to bust loose. You may want to consider just cleaning your current CV joints, rebooting them, and greasing them up. The CVs are German made metal, so they break down the sand and grit, vs the sand and grit breaking them down. Fly away!

 

For anyone doing front suspension work I would highly recommend doing your homework. Poor installation is the most common denominator for premature wear. Always make sure that the suspension is loaded (or at ride height) before tightening or the bushings will be in the wrong position and eventually rip.

A full alignment is always recommended after suspension work as well.

Jason