spring install

[jfabes]

Wrong. You think the bushings you don't touch during installation magically adjust themselves? All of the bushings should be loosened and re-torqued at the new ride height if you want them to last, not just the bolts you removed. Even the lower control arm bushings...they spun as soon as they got loose enough at the new right height, so it was putting stress on them.

Since you need to loosen the bolts that attach the upper control arm bushings to the strut tower, you might as well remove them and not have to mess with the pinch bolt at all unless you like to torture yourself.

i didn't loosen the bolts that attach the upper control arm bushing to the strut tower, so i don't follow what you are saying. i thought the pinch bolt was super easy, but my car was new with only like 1000 miles when i did it. i guess i just disagree with you...the suspension has several inches of travel that it uses every time you drive the car, hit a dip, etc. i guess what i'm saying is that if you didn't loosen a bolt, the bushing isn't really going to go anywhere, the part attached to it may spring a little bit, but not "out of whack", it is a resilient rubber after all. now, if you put a bolt back in a bushing in its relaxed state, then tighten it and jack it up 8"...that's a problem. if you had to loosen then retighten every bushing affected, you would have to retighten the whole front end, not just what you removed for the install! i followed 3 different DIY's i found on this site, vw vortex and quattroworld, and nowhere did i read anything about loosening then retighteneing bushings that didn't need to be loosened in the first place. only bushing that had bolts removed needed to be done under load. if you have this info, please share it for me and the other members.

[PitchS4]

Can you get away without retorqueing bushings? Sure, if you want them to fail prematurely. But at least do the damn uppers since it will make it easier to get the strut tower out anyway and those bushings are the thinnest (weakest) and more likely to fail. As the owner of 3 lowered S4s and the wife's B5 Passat I can tell you first hand that control arms are the most common PITA problem on these cars. I've seen control arms shredded in 10k miles that weren't adjusted properly.

The bushing flexes back and forth over bumps you are correct about that. But what that means is it is over stressing the unadjusted bushing even more when the suspension compresses. Not to mention they will be stressed at normal ride height (parked) which is where the vehicle is 99% of the time. The rubber is not as strong as you think.

Don't get me wrong, I love that other people around here aren't afraid to pick up a wrench and we are having this technical discussion vice where to put our EZ Pass. But please stop being stubborn and admit you were misinformed.

Don't let this be you: http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...-Spring-Damage!

Also this is a good quote from the install guide, "Vulcanized rubber suspension bushings must be tightened at ride height or adverse handling and premature failure of the bushings will result."

[jfabes]

Good thread. As many people replied, it is surprising that a 1" drop with the small amount of twist in that bushing if not loosened and retightened would cause failure. on a technical level as i was typing yesterday, i agreed with you, but on a realistic level, i'm looking at longevity at 100k miles when things start failing for age, not overstressing, etc so that's why i was arguing, but it is what it is, the premature failure thread is proof. you know how these forums are...you don't hear about the 1000 good things, you hear about the 1 bad thing...and I'm sure the 1000 people that did not retighten we will never hear from. I've lowered (myself) my previous cars two B5 A4's, e46 M3, mkv GTI, 986 Boxster and w203 C230k and never read about that. Maybe its true across the board or maybe the Audi bushing are more sensitive. So, thanks for the info. I do wish that info was in the diy's...i tried looking at the stasis thread imbedded but it said i don' thave access. and thanks for choosing your words carefully "stubborn and misinformed as opposed to "wrong"...i wish my wife thought like that! :)