Hi y’all, my name is Charles! I have a 2012 Audi A6 3.0T Quattro (C6) and am in desperate need of replacing some of my control arm bushings! Every shop I have received quotes from are asking $1k-$2k for the job and will not let me supply the parts as their insurance will not cover the installation of “aftermarket/customer-supplied-parts”. Just was wondering if anyone in this group has ever done a job such as this before or even if anyone would be willing to help me with the removal/installation! I would be fine with paying you as well! Just let me know! Either reply to this message or send me a direct message and I will respond ASAP! Like I said, this job need to be done ASAP… I bought the car over a month ago and have already put 5,500 miles on it in the past month. Not sure how long the bushings have been like this either so… Let me know! Thank you!
Hello. Nice Car.
If you are a member, the sooner you get your “geen dot” the better:
And there are rules concerning the automotive work you are suggesting, including “No automotive work in exchange for money or other services.”:
If you are not a member, then (AFAIK) you aren’t allowed to have any work done on your car here, even for free…there are liability concerns at that point, and we aren’t a mechanic shop.
Either way, best of luck :–)
I understand. I will not pay anyone. I wanted to make the post to see if anyone had any experience in this field and would be willing to “help”! I do intend on signing up and having a membership! I did a tour yesterday morning and grabbed a key fob so, I will join soon! Like I said, just was curious if anyone would be able to help me with this job or if I’ll be doing it alone! Thank you!
-Charles
Able to, yes.
Experience in this realm, yes. @TLAR is our resident teutonic titan and might be willing to weigh in. Plenty of other experienced members, many of whom are much more active in person than on Talk, so hanging out is a great technique to make connections. Thursday evenings are Motorsports days, specifically.
Doing it alone? Hard to do at DMS, if I’m honest.
Awesome! and, understandable! I do plan to become a member and come out for Thursday Motorsport day! What time specifically should I show up? I would like to get my lift certification as well!
Beautiful car!
Since I know nothing about control arm bushings I have no idea how long that job will take you, but you will need to work on it continuously once it’s at DMS.
You can see the Automotive rules at this link.
I am fully aware; this is why I wanted to see if anyone on the forum or discord had any knowledge and could help me before I go order the parts and start the job on the lift! Don’t want to take up time that is not needed and be running around looking for parts. I will come prepared if I decide to do the job here!
Motorsports starts at 7 pm. If you’re a member and you want lift training, they usually recommend showing up at 6:30. And… if you’re sure what week you’re showing up, I can ping a couple of guys who usually volunteer to do that lift training. After all, it’d be annoying if you showed up, but all of “those guys” were off doing a holiday thing. Mind you, there will very likely be folks there at that time. They’ve been being pretty quiet over on Discord this week…
Thanks for the kind words. I just got in from San Antonio and will look at my schedule amd reply shortly.
Is the car from here ? Dallas area?
Awesome! I’ll try to make it there this Thursday!
Indeed! Dallas area
Surprising that any of the bushings have worn so badly on this particular car in this area of the country.
I’d suggest putting the car on the lift to verify the bushings are actually worn out BEFORE ordering any parts. Your Tech’s photos are useless.
These front suspensions are great but the lower arm bushings are a known wear item. The key to a “longer bushing life” is to use OEM (TRW & Lemforder are the OEM brands) arms and not to tighten the arm pivot bolt until the arm is loaded.
This generation Audi has an aluminum bearing housing that the four arms connect to (not cast iron like the earlier models) so the long ass pinch bolt at the top that holds the two upper arms in place tends to seize in cars from the rust belt - often resulting breaking the aluminum upright, stranding the car on the lift or where ever the work is being done. You really want to avoid this.
I would strongly suggest replacing all the arms at one time with a “kit” or “kits” FCP Euro or ECS tuning as they back their parts with a lifetime warranty and you will need it.
I am no fan of franchise car repair shops, but if you plan on keeping the car a while, you may want to opt for a “Lifetime alignment” at your local Firestone.
You will need the VIN or the date or manufacture in order to get the correct bushings as there was a manufacturing split.
Also if you opt to press in / press out the bushings - the large lower bushings must be ‘clocked’ in the correct position.
Hi folks.
My money is on bent structural steel. A arm or something its connected to wrinkled a bit.
shouldn’t be too tough to get sorted.
Lift training 12/28?
ahhh. 4 arm system. i’d like to see it.
Clearly you are clueless. You may want to try YouTube.
Wow, all of the boots are gone!
Boots go and joints follow. They’ll prly hold together for another 2 years, then it’s straight to the ditch–fast!
What broke all those boots? Time, not salt, or maybe both. I’d expect that after 20 years of Chicago salt, or 20 years of Texas heat–seems premature for that Audi, but a lot of manufacturers experimented with synthetic neoprene as a replacement for organic rubber, starting 25 years ago. Ii didn’t end well. About 10 years ago, that neoprene started devolving into wall walker goo. I have stories…
Sure! Looking forward to meeting you. I bet you drop that little attitude.
I’ll admit, I’m more of a solid axle guy. Always looking to learn new things!