Overhaul of Front Suspension.

valveman

valveman

Member
Its finally time to overhaul the front suspension of my 1.4TDI Sport (90Hp) as the ride is almost rigid at the front, plus the inside edges of front tyres constantly wear down to the canvas. I suspect the front dampers and alignment so I am thinking of Monroe Reflexes but called Audi yesterday to discover the sports springs are £75 each! Anyone know of a good spring replacement that will replace the standard item and are more affordable than from Audi? I am not looking to lower it - I just want to replace like for like. I will probably have to replace other parts too when the struts are removed as the car has done 114K miles.
 
The wear on the inside of the tyres is almost certainly going to be an alignment issue as you say.

You would perhaps be better off buying a complete set of struts and springs with new top mount bearings. I will leave those that have experimented more than me to make a recommendation.

Worth checking the anti roll bar bushes and drop links while everything is out (you probably planned to do that anyway)

With the front suspension sorted I am sure it will transform the ride back to original. I actually prefer the standard sport suspension, very firm, but the car does seem to feel very tight and predictable with a decent standard Sport setup.

I am planning to lower my A2 "project" slightly (for appearance as much as handling) but the current (low mileage) standard sport suspension is perfect and so I am holding off a little.

Steve B
 
Birchall said:
You would perhaps be better off buying a complete set of struts and springs with new top mount bearings.
Click to expand...

I had thought about buying a complete kit but all the ones I have seen so far are all "lowered" in some way and I am trying to keep the ride height standard.
 
I think that there are many that would suggest that you stick to Audi parts wherever possible and I would agree.

But to me it is more of a case of always fitting the best parts that you can afford.

Since these come with a 2 year guarantee and are not "unbranded" copies, I would think that if your budget dictates it, these should be fine.

I would consider using these if I was looking for a standard height.

Steve B
 
Front Suspension now overhauled

I can confirm that I have now completely overhauled the front suspension using the kit above from eBay (Meyle Products and Suflex springs) as Steve B recommended (Thanks Steve B). The quality of the kit is good and about the same as from Audi. In fact the springs are better IMO as they are coated in a very tough shiny plastic coating preventing corrosion. The only thing I had to do was to cut off the plastic bush which holds the lower part of the rubber gaiter in place which ultimately protects damper shaft. I just cut through the bush with a small sharp saw and I slid it back over the new strut and secured it with 2 cable ties as shown in the image. This holds it in place as there is no stress on this part at all.

A2-Strut.jpg

I have driven the car and I can confirm it performs exactly as before only better. The main problem however was not with the dampers or springs but with the top mounts as these were completely knackered. The rubber had perished causing the complete bush to collapse. So if you are suffering from crashy suspension I would strongly recommend you check/replace the top mounts as these seem prone to failure. Finally I had the suspension checked for alignment this morning as this car seems to wear the inside edges of its 205/40/ZR17s. Everything was perfect except for excessive negative camber which the engineer said is causing the excessive wear. However there is no adjustment for this as it would involve the fitting of a competition strut mount kit that then gives you the ability to move and adjust the angle of the top mount. Has anyone else had this problem? I may start a new thread on this.

A word of warning: The work involved to overhaul the suspension on a 10 year old car is not to be underestimated. It was fraught with problems, mostly from seized nuts, most of which had to cut or ground off even after liberal use of penetrating fluids. This plus access to some parts (off side strut mounting in particular) is severely limited and requires disassembly of the air inlet pipes, plus the brake fluid reservoir and holding bracket. Thankfully I have a large heated garage and a good friend who was available to help plus a vast array of tools collected over 40 years. Next time (should I ever have to do this again) it will be easier as I have coated all the bolts and nuts with copper slip. However, if this is the first time the suspension has been taken apart I would seriously suggest you consider getting a garage to do it.
 
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