Check your front suspension arms people

I have never fitted anything other than Lemforder to any of my German cars. On this occasion though I couldn't find a Lemforder arm for my 2003 TDi so I reluctantly ordered TRW https://www.carparts4less.co.uk/cp4...c43adfa940a70632aad43b38e70d56d747f168&000320

I later discovered TRW are a Lemforder brand and the arms I have are Lemforders with Lemfroder references removed. Car Parts 4 Less are a bit rubbish to deal with but with 14% off at the minute that above is a Lemforder for £94 delivered.

Alan, where are the arms you ordered? As soon as they arrive it should be possible to identify if they are TDi arms or not.
 
Thanks for replying Phil:
Alan, where are the arms you ordered? As soon as they arrive it should be possible to identify if they are TDi arms or not.
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The order is still pending at AutoPartsPro, pending confirmation that I am ordering the right parts.

I see carparts4less in your link say the arms are on 7 days back order. A search at AutoPartsPro for TWR https://www.autopartspro.co.uk/carp...13359&model_id=4382&maker_id=5&brandNo[0]=833 shows 2 TWR arms in stock for AMF and not for BHC but an earlier post by Skipton says they should be OK The matching AutoPartsPro OEM ref is 8Z0407151L and 8Z0407152L

Earlier Skipton showed a parts diagram where they were OE 8Z0407151J and OE 8Z0407152J. Maybe J is the petrol and L is the diesel - hopefully not a AMF/BHC differentiation.
 
philward said:
I have never fitted anything other than Lemforder to any of my German cars. On this occasion though I couldn't find a Lemforder arm for my 2003 TDi so I reluctantly ordered TRW https://www.carparts4less.co.uk/cp4...c43adfa940a70632aad43b38e70d56d747f168&000320

I later discovered TRW are a Lemforder brand and the arms I have are Lemforders with Lemfroder references removed. Car Parts 4 Less are a bit rubbish to deal with but with 14% off at the minute that above is a Lemforder for £94 delivered.

Alan, where are the arms you ordered? As soon as they arrive it should be possible to identify if they are TDi arms or not.
Click to expand...
Thanks Phil, just ordered a pair for my upcoming front end rebuild, £189.21 delivered.
 
I have just had the experience of the right hand track control arm collapsing during heavy braking. Ordered a cast aluminium one on ebay from German company. They sent a VAICO, cast steel one, so after a few messages they have offered a part refund. The cast one weighs 3.2 kg, but much to my surprise, the remains of the hollow steel one weigh 3.5 kg. You do not need to remove the cast aluminium sub-frame to install the new arm, just a bit of ingenuity. Also, as far as I have been able to ascertain, all cars use the same arm. I am not worried about the fixed ball joint as I expect the unit to last another 100k. Incidentally, mine passed the MOT on February 27th, one week before the failure.
 

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I’m doing this job next week, or perhaps the week after. Have woodworm in the attic to sort out.
I have new rear bushes to replace. Not sure that can be done on the car?
 
These arms are unbeliveable, the one I removed looked no worse than Ian210’s... Well, without the collapse. How did you get the hex bit of the arm out the bush? To be fair, with the bend you now have in yours it might be easier to remove than a solid one is! :D
 
Pulling out wasn't difficult, as you say, the bend was a help. I just used a lever at the front end. Just another thought, the rear bush looked perfectly ok on mine at 113k and the hex tang on the arm was a very tight fit.
 
Perhaps those bushes are as solid as they are chunky? I didn’t think they looked like 14 year old rubber bushes on mine, they looked very good.
 
Cast arms and bushes just arrived from AutoPartsPro. Arms marked JR CDP12 053 and an O in a triangle. Plastic wrap marked Lemforder with labels 27036 02 and 27037 02. Weight 3.25kg each arm. Booked in for fitting on the 9 May. Let's hope they fit!

PS Came from Germany
 

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Noticed that Audi TT alloy arms are roughly the same design, with the hex piece and the bush but with removable ball joint. I wonder how similar they are....
 
B4Andra said:
Noticed that Audi TT alloy arms are roughly the same design, with the hex piece and the bush but with removable ball joint. I wonder how similar they are....
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Well that question came up earlier in this thread. I just looked again and there was no definitive answer but RAB said "Don't be tempted unless you are keen to pay return postage! The 1.2Tdi suspension is so different from any other A2 (and the Lupo 3L for that matter)!"
 
B4Andra said:
Noticed that Audi TT alloy arms are roughly the same design, with the hex piece and the bush but with removable ball joint. I wonder how similar they are....
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Audi TT ones are very different, they are changeable with a golf mk4 Leon etc as they are in the same family however if I remember correctly New hubs are required. Certainly would not fit an A2


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Alan_uk said:
Cast arms and bushes just arrived from AutoPartsPro. Arms marked JR CDP12 053 and an O in a triangle. Plastic wrap marked Lemforder with labels 27036 02 and 27037 02. Weight 3.25kg each arm. Booked in for fitting on the 9 May. Let's hope they fit!

PS Came from Germany
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If you don't mind me asking do you have a link for these and price? Cheers Mark.
 
If anyone is interested, these photos show one of the arms I removed from my 2001 TDi last weekend alongside one of the new Lemforder replacements. As you can see, the originals are Lemforder and look identical to the replacement. It seems a bit petty to make the OEM supplier grind the Audi references off, but there you have it.

As far as I can tell from looking through the full documentation that came with the car, the removed ones are the originals, so they've not done badly. :)

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Although the earlier conclusions seemed to be that there was no difference in the suitability of the arms for petrol or diesel the manual does show some differences in the bush dimensions for the different models which is interesting;

Screenshot from 2018-04-24 19:57:55.png

Can only think this must be something to do with the difference in engine weight?

Simon.
 
TFG said:
If anyone is interested, these photos show one of the arms I removed from my 2001 TDi last weekend alongside one of the new Lemforder replacements. As you can see, the originals are Lemforder and look identical to the replacement. It seems a bit petty to make the OEM supplier grind the Audi references off, but there you have it.

As far as I can tell from looking through the full documentation that came with the car, the removed ones are the originals, so they've not done badly. :)

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Yes i'm very interested, could you supply me the link for where you got these? Thanks.

I can only think it's Audi that make lemforder do this and i've seen exactly the same thing were the part numbers are ground out on an S6 C4 top mounts i bought for my car. Something like £100 from Audi yet £20 from Lemforder. Go figure. :rolleyes:
 
Not unique to cars. Until a few years ago Nurofen was made by Boots (the original inventor). It was made in the same unit on the same machine using the same ingredients as the Boots ‘own brand’. Price was quite different though.
Also hilarious when customers complained the Boots one ‘didn’t work’ only the Nurofen one did! Smile and nod.


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