Panelhead

Remember someone saying they were about to install the cheap Chinese upper control arms. I have them for a little more than I paid for Lemforeder bushings.
The upper arms are not complicated or massive. But 30-40 dollars for the arm, ballpoint, and bushing sounds too cheap.

AudiBoston34

Guys - Sorry - I have read the sticky, and many other posts, and know about the issue with bushings. Originally posted to see if that is what most thought it to be the wheel shimmy/vibration was most likely to be. Then was inquiring if there was a post that had the proper/exact step by step process (which I have seen on many of the issues I have had to tackle thankfully posted by others), and help more novice audi tinkerers like me. There were many articulations or specific problems/solutions along the way but, I was not able to find a step by step, so apologize if it seemed I had not looked.

MP4.2+6.0

And per the sticky, sometimes...that's what manuals like Bentley and alldata are for if you don't have the background/prior suspension experience to be comfortable just jumping in. I have both, and still look at them for quite a few things. I would not go for "crowd sourcing" here on the specifics of "how to" in general--aka I read "it" (in 50 flavors) on the Internet so it must be right.

For the "color commentary" like tips on things like the pinch bolt, general issue spotting, what is OES, risks/real "costs" of cheaping out on a lot of the aftermarket junk parts, work arounds for loosening inner bolts with tight clearances, other jobs that can make sense to do at same time like headlight bulbs (since wheel liner comes out as a practical matter), etc. board can be good as a supplement since shop manuals don't get into that kind of stuff.

AudiBoston34

After reading as much as I could, I spent the day replacing upper front and rear arms (Lemforder OES arms and sway bar links). All went pretty straight forward - except being from Boston(salt/snow) I turned the pincher bolt once and the head snapped off (even though dousing with penetrating oil for 3 days). Came out pretty easy by tightening nut until end of threads - then unloosening and putting washers in - tightening again and pulling it through - did that as far as I could then sledged from the other side. installed all new bolts, with anti seize. Question....I read that bolts should be tightened up with weight of car. I installed wheels back, and find it almost impossible to get to the side arm bolts with any wrenches and would love any tips and tricks for torquing these to specs with car back on ground. Thanks!

MP4.2+6.0

Good work.

On bolt tightening, I did it by basically putting things back together in several steps. Probably that's too late for you, but I have another simple idea/method.

In my case, after I got new arms in, I left bolts just barely snug. Then with wheel liners still off I put the wheels back on, put weight on the suspension and tightened it up firmly. Then with it up in air again and wheels off, I gave them the final tightening, put fender liners back in and wheels on for last time.

In your case if wheel liners are (back) in, try plan B. With weight on the wheels, simply note the arm position relative to vertical/level. Basically they should be sitting about "flat" with weight on wheels. Or, take a measurement, like from the top of the arm ball joint up to some point in the fender liner area. Now go ahead and take wheel off, take out the pinch bolt again, free up the arms and then bolt them down tight on the bushing end. Simplified version of this is basically to bolt them so they stick straight out--90 degrees to vertical. That is their approximate position if you look (varies a bit by sport/non sport, any VCDS height tweaks you did, if you leave it in sport/dynamic typically, etc.) In any case, once you bolt them firmly in the typical approximate at rest position, just pull them down and use pinch bolt to get them back in place. They aren't very hard to pull down one at a time, and the force you are using is no different than they are under when you jack up a front wheel.

AudiBoston34

Thanks MP - I had not reinstalled inner linings yet - so I will re-jack and do final tightening.

mishar

Take the wheels off, support under the lower arms at the wheels end, lower the car to those supports and tight those bolts.

AudiBoston34

Put the jacks under lower arms at wheels end and drop car onto that w/o wheels? Can you tell me exactly what u mean by wheels end/where to support? At the furthest outside end of the lower control arm? Thanks Mishar

mishar

I meant supports like a wooden blocks or similar and yes, outside end of the lower arms, under those big nuts. That way suspension will carry the weight and come close to the normal working position. Switch off Jacking Mode too so it will adjust exactly to that level. Don't forget to turn it on before you lift the car to put your wheels back on. Be very careful while working under the car. Always think what would happen if it fall of the support.

AudiBoston34

Thanks very much Mishar. I was going to actually ask about the jack mode and if that would affect setup. Have a bigger fish to fry now..........after loosening the knuckle to retighten at the appropriate suspension level, I noticed a crack on the knuckle where the pincher bolt tightens it---used a screw driver to inspect------it broke right off!!! So cars out of commission, but I was lucky to find an OEM knuckle on eBay and shipping it out overnight.....I guess I have more reading to do on replacing this.