Originally Posted by 142 guy

Front control arm with ball joints - so this is just the upper control arms which is what your picture shows? The upper control arms on the B8 and B9, specifically the rubber bushings in the control arms seem to take it on the chin so earlier that expected replacement may be normal. At 100,000 km yours might be a little earlier than normal.

Your photo of the bushing does not really show the condition of the rubber. If the rubber just has surface cracking, that does not require replacement. Deeper cracks lead to a replacement diagnosis. Unfortunately, examining and assessing the condition of the rubber is somewhat subjective. I am not aware that Audi provides a quantitative assessment such as "cracks deeper than x mm require replacement". If you are getting noise from the suspension then they are probably due for replacement. Meyle who is an OEM supplier for Audi makes HD versions of their bushings. Unfortunately they do no appear to make one for the A4 upper control arms. I am not aware or anybody else claiming to make HD versions of the bushing.

Originally Posted by duffman316

correct, just the upper control arm. whats odd is that the independent shop I took it to advises fixing it but the audi tech who diagnosed it today didn't say anything is wrong

Originally Posted by minmet

The tech didn't say anything is wrong without your description or he dismissed it even after you pointed it out to him?
As I looked at the bushings on my upper control arms, they all looks sort of having a small crack but very uniform all around each of them. Been like that for at least couple of years since I started checking those myself. Nothing getting worse so I thought that's the way it is.

Originally Posted by duffman316

I wasn't able to speak with the tech, just the services department rep who insisted the tech is thorough and they trust the opinions of their techs over independent shops

I specifically did mention for them to look at the control arm as part of bringing it in