awdinut

My strut exploded so I need a fix. If I could find a good German bag I would replace the airspring and re-use my shock; I watched the Youtube video and the job of switching the bag doesnt look too tough. All I can locate are Chinese bags, and I wouldnt take the time and effort to put a junk bag in the strut...I wouldnt bet on them having a long life.

Any one know a source for bags ?

richard-tx

Unless you find a part number it is going to be tough. I have searched the Conti websites in the past and came up with nothing. Did you look at the bag carefully? There should be something molded or stamped on it.

ltooz_a6_a8_q7

Condemn something without experiencing it due to being narrow minded is not nice. Your original German bag has just blown. It's all Karma, people replaced new bags and they blown up in a few hundreds miles, some don't.
As I said before, it's all in quality control and workmanship. The material may not on par with German with a certain part, but they're not bad enough to break too soon.
Study the air bag which you haven't, the bag is mounted to the metal case with metal ring pressed clamp. The bag material will not blow up in the middle but at the seam where the clamp is.
Air bag is not rocket science, elastic materials and metal, and no stupid Manufacturers would produce something without testing, even Chinese companies.
My Chinese bag has gone 1000 miles already. I would find out why my bag blew up before I replace a new bag, because it doesn't matter what bag I used, if the pressure is more than a bag designed for, it will blow regardless of German or Chinese. Again, it's Karma.
Btw, iPhones are mad in China with Chinese components. It's quality control.
Cheers,
Louis

plat27265

It is not just about quality control. Lots of made in China goods sold outside the original manufacturer don't even comply with that manufacturer's standards to begin with. You will find car parts that are knock offs made from the same factories as the OEM one and their prices are way too cheap. They even carry the same OEM part number. A lot do this on the side, i.e. behind the branded manufacturer's back and use substandard materials. Take it from me. I have purchased lots of suspension parts for my previous cars through this channel. I thought I was saving money. Yes, they'll go past 1000 miles easily but they won't last as long as the original Toyota or Honda part. And, if they fail prematurely, you have nowhere to run to make a claim. If it was an original part from the manufacturer, it will be backed by a warranty.

strawmanmarkA804

I bought my replacement off of ebay (top-quality-autoparts) item 302071829917. I've been very happy with it and the forum write-up on how to replace it was pretty accurate. My challenge was with the bolt holding the upper control arms - it did not want to come out! I also found I needed to replace those arms as they were worn so my advise would be to do it all while you are in there.
My strut had only leaky orings, and once I had done the bag replacement I discovered the real problem was that the piston in my pump was worn. Bagpipe Andy's kit was the trick to get my system back to 100%. Since I bought my car used and with a worn pump I had no idea how bad it was until it was fixed!

awdinut

the anecdotal evidence on AW....NOT narrow mindedness on my part... suggests that the Chinese have thus far been unwilling to exercise the quality control you speak of that it takes to ensure consistent reliability. And as to your own empirical evidence based on 1000 miles of observation; let's just say that I might be persuaded by 50,000 miles of smiles (and I sincerely hope that you DO get lots of miles), but at 1000 miles you ain't no where near out of the ditch yet...if I may paraphrase the punch line to a very old joke.

And for you and others who can do the R&R yourself I can see why you might take a chance on the savings. However, I can not do the work myself, so having a Chinese airspring/bag fail right away would negate my savings when I have to turn around and pay the R&R again.

And I agree the option that would be best is re-using ones own shock. But since no source of Conti bags like Arnott uses, or other high quality brand can be found, the replacement of the bag only is not a viable option IMO. And there is a company in Florida called RMT that will re-build my own strut, but when I called them today and asked for the country of origin for the bags they use the only answer I could get was that "the bags are tested in the US". Duh...I had no doubt that the bag holds air when it leaves their shop, but thats not the issue; so I am assuming that their lack of a specific country means that they come from China.

So, that left me with only two options: Arnott or Audi. Either Arnott variety costs $800 plus tax, my dealer cost from Audi is $1300 and no tax to pay. That means that for $500 more I can have a strut with as-new ride characteristics and OEM functionality PLUS proven 90,000 or better longevity. To me that seems like a relative bargain and today I ordered the Audi strut.

MP4.2+6.0

I'm of similar mind FWIW. W12's are a little different animal on the cost analysis too given their higher remaining values than a lot of the early 4.2's. But, you can also mark it down from $500 to a $425 difference, plus the tax savings. As in, sell your old one back to Arnott for $75; you don't have to buy from them to get a core credit. https://www.arnottindustries.com/recycle-cores The Audi one comes in a very nice wood crate. Put core in, get pre-paid shipping label from Arnott, and off it goes. BTDT on the one I replaced (passenger front) on W12.

BASARAB

Did anyone try out this place? https://aerosus.com/audi/a8-d3/audi-a8-left-front-air-suspension-shock-sport-suspension.html