I had the exhaust fixed and the tired aligned today, and the guy calls me just before closing and says they put the car up to get it aligned and said all 8 of the front control arms were bad..... He quoted me a price that someone else in town gave him at $1800 (no chance im paying that much, I could travel to England for that much). I looked at a DIY for it and it looks quite complicated to do that so basically my question is what are the chances that all 8 are bad and if I dont get them fixed what is going to happen. I havnt notice any difference in the ride of the car or anything of that matter so what could happen?

 

If you need to replace all front control arms, there are a few options you have.
Many have purchased the FCP Groton kit from eBay (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Audi-...Q5fAccessories)and have enjoyed saving money on the parts.

I purchased my control arm kit from Blauparts (http://www.blauparts.com/) and paid a little more, but I feel I have piece of mind.

For the installation....I am by no means a auto mechanic, but with the help of a friend of mine, and his garage for the weekend, I was able to install the parts myself and saved big on labor. He is the DIY write-up I followed:
http://www.audiworld.com/tech/wheel.html

If you do not have the mechanical inclination, then yes look for a shop to do the labor. I did run into two shops that simply refused to do the work, hence the reason I tackled the job myself.

 

There's actually very little to it technically - undo bolts, replace arms, torque new bolts. The pinch bolts that hold the upper ball joints are usually a serious pain to get out but tge key is to open the pinch sections, put the nut back on, and wail the hell out of them with a big hammer until they come loose.

 

Ok now what would happen if I didnt get them done?

 

only thing that would happen is your tires would wear quicker. if your upper arms get bad enough, your car will veer to either side of the road and highway driving will be unbearable, trust me on that one. it really isn't complicated, you can do it if you have a set of wrenches and sockets and jack. the only problem you might run into is the pinch bolt, the bolt that holds both upper arms at the spindle. otherwise soak everything in PB and start taking bolts off and replace arms. there's absolutely no thinking to it

 

Alright thanks guys

 

When you drive/turn do you hear any clunking noise?


I am still on my stock set.