Vicl

Hello, everyone!

Now is my time to replace the bushings in upper control arms.
So, I've done the research and I do not feel comfortable pressing the bushings in. I was thinking to buy the control arms. 3 Qs I have:

1. What is the best place to buy OEM upper control arms? I'm in Canada and Audi Canada will sell me 4 upper control arms for 1084.8 CAD ( 832.78 USD taxes included ) And yet if I'm going to Auto Parts in Canada! - Canada Auto Parts Online – the price is significantly less expensive, but I have no way to make sure the part is OEM
2. Maybe someone can point me to the kit for Audi A8 2007 (D3 4.2 FSI) with the reasonable price tag.
3. Audi Canada indicated there is no alignment needed after replacing the upper control arms. That is controversial with my knowledge. Does the alignment need to be done?

Thanks everyone!
Victor (Audi A8 2007, D3, 4.2 FSI)

MP4.2+6.0

I can't tell you about where to buy in Canada since I am in U.S. But what you want to get are either the dealer ones OR ones branded as Lemforder. Those you could get from an independent parts seller. Lemforder is the OE supplier for the upper arms. Lemforder also has the bushings available, which maybe you could find a machine shop or similar place who would do press work for you if you don't want to.

Alignment: what they say is super narrowly true, but in real world is false and unrealistic. The issues they overlook are several. The most important is if the car was ever aligned before with any wear on the prior arms, now the wear is built in to how car is aligned. Replace parts with no wear and now it is misaligned. Only exception there would be if alignment were never touched from day it came off factory line. Or more likely, frankly alignment gets knocked out of whack over time anyway. Any dealer or country representative who thinks their uber cars are somehow immune has been watching too many commercials. Especially by 9-10 years.

Also if doing upper arms, likely do sway bar end links. Again Lemforder is the OE. Available in U.S. now for around $60 USD for the pair.

Vicl

Thanks a lot for the comments!
1. As for the Lemforder – that is the thing. The price I can get on the web is 2 times less expensive! That’s what makes me thing how it is possible.
2. As for the alignment. I’ve done the research and I got similar impression. The interesting thing is following. My car never had the alignment (I have almost 100 K km on it = 62K Miles). 2 times I wanted do the alignment, but once they set the car on the stand and measure – they say it is almost perfect, so I never did it. Consider that I’ll install the parts and will see how good it is. Otherwise I’ll do the alignment.
3. Also I was planning to replace the stabilizer links, but not the sway bar. I hope it is still ok, not so much mileage on the car.
Thanks a lot for the reply!

Panelhead

You did not mention mileage, or road conditions. The bushings seem to be a 50 -70,000 mile wear item. The rest of the suspension is solid.
As MP said the sway bar links are a cheap wear item. 120.00 USD for front and rear. It is a 20 minute job to replace them.
My 2005 suspension is still tight and the rubbers look great. Did the front upper control arm bushings and sway bar links at 70,000 miles. Only one bushing was torn out.
And definitely do an alignment. Some have reported rear upper control arm bushing failure. This will show up when aligning. They can spot other potential wear items while aligning.
Some have 200k on the original parts. The front end is solid except for the bushings.

Vicl

My car has almost 100 K km on it = 62K Miles. A8 2007.
So, not much at all.
The issue I’m getting is inconsistent small vibration when I decelerate. That is noticeable only on the highways on the uneven roads. Visual inspection shows the good wear for the upper control bushings. And I do not mind to replace only bushings, but after all research; I’m not comfortable to leave the car potentially disabled for few days… That’s the only reason why I’m considering buying the new control arms.

Thanks for pointing me to the rear links. Never thought about it  Hopefully those are not expensive at all!

MP4.2+6.0

1. In USA Lemforder complete arms sell for maybe 60% of discounted on line dealer equivalent. You are avoiding one to two extra layers of profit and distribution--Audi corporate/country and dealer. The sway bar links sell here for about 3x EACH what the set of two Lemforders sell for discounted together.
2. Yes, align. By those miles seems very likely.
3. We are saying same thing I think. Sway bar also called roll bar, or antiroll bar. or stabilizer bar. The links are the wide U shaped aluminum pieces with small rubber bushings at each end that bolt the end of the sway bar to the lower front control arms. You only replace sway bar itself if the bushings on them that bolt to the subframe go bad. That is not so common, seems more an early (2004) issue, and also probably at a good number more miles than yours.

MP4.2+6.0

Yes, small vibration can go w/ worn upper arms too, from experience. If you find that, behind it can be chewed up inner front tire tread. That costs more $ with ruined tires if not dealt with.

Go with work you are comfortable with. I also did complete arms. I was over 100K miles, and dealer had previously done mine under warranty, but bushings only. In my case I switched to S8 ones, but those are dealer only--though also oddly somewhat less expensive than A8 ones. I also bought a set of bushings and have the old arms boxed with bushing for future job where I can have press work done ahead of time. They are like 50-70K mile wear cycle, so it's an odd, almost quasi-long term maintenance item.

I would buy new bolts too. More so in harder weather environments. If you have followed prior posts on this, pinch bolt bolt that holds the ball joint end commonly corrodes and gets stuck. Literally worth spraying penetrating oil on it now, many days before you work on it. That one is a 100% for sure replace. Nightmare scenarios have happened when bolt breaks or people start hitting it with hammers and pry bars and breaking steering knuckle/hub assembly. Finally, buy about 10 plastic push pin rivets from dealer that are used to hold plastic fender liner in. Way easier--almost necessary--to pull to get at the inner arm bolts. Then you just punch out old ones at start of job; the majority of old ones end up unusable anyway and they are pretty cheap.

ltooz_a6_a8_q7

Are replaced. Night and day even with cheap ones. Mine were vibrated when decelerate and brake. Gone.
Cheers and good luck,
Louis

richard-tx

Did you try Amazon? That is where I got mine. TRW is what I bought.

Mike141

How did those work out for you? I need to replace mine and have used the Lemforder in my prior A8, but these TRWs are a fraction of the cost. Was strongly thinking of picking the TRWs up, price seems really good. Thanks!