JWG

200,000 miles required new bearings as they began to leak, crunch, and fail. Car now rides much more quietly than before the replacement, but I have not taken it to the canyons for testing due to winter rain storms this evening. Dismantling suspensions to remove axles and press out bearings (even with a special tool that allows bearing removal without removal of the bearing housing) takes some time even for professionals that do this stuff often. Thankfully, I did not need a wheel alignment due to the use of the special bearing removal tool allowing changing of the bearings without touching the alignment adjustment points.

Amazingly, my original control arm ball joints remain in great shape and nice and tight after 200,000 miles. My mechanics and I had a high-level concern going in to the service over the ball joints due to their age and frequency with which other drivers destroyed their control arm ball joints. The upgraded urethane bushings I had installed nearly 100,000 miles ago must really force the suspension to function properly and within tolerance to prevent long-term wear of the ball joints. Apparently, the "zero-deflection" nature of the urethane must prevent odd angles and pressures which wear the ball joints.

Warning for anyone reading this, with urethane bushings, the steering feels and squeaks like a slot-car rather than a luxury car, but it makes the car very responsive and fun during spirited driving.

Just thought some of you might feel interested to hear that control arm ball joints can last upto 200,000 miles even with a spirited driving style over the rough roads which I drive commuting to and from Downtown Los Angeles almost every day.

EDIGREG

Are the urethane bushings available for the C4? And can you definately attribute the life of the ball joints to the new bushings? If so, it's definately worth the upgrade!

MikTip

how you drive, and where you drive.

Not all drivers, and roads are created equally. ;O)

JWG

He has to explain to their parents how the kids "broke" their or their parent's cars.

For example, you should see what some people do to their clutches and flywheels. I saw a clutch and flywheel with less than 20,000 miles that looked worse than mine did at 180,000 plus.

Near my home, the roads are great; near my work, the roads look like they just saw a biblical catastrophe. Yet, these kids still seem to find a way of destroying their suspensions despite the nice well-maintained roads.

However, I have to say that my car's precise neutral-leaning-on-slight-oversteer suspension set-up and incredible road feel give the driver the ability to better avoid most pot-holes and road debris. I cannot avoid the same things in my wife's mostly stock and cushy A6, because I cannot sense the car's adhesion as well and the car does not react quickly enough.

MikTip

for finding every pot-hole on the road! /

Luxus Panzer

kuz she knows you can fix it, lol