Lower control arms: Meyle HD...not good!

[NuVega]

Little back story on car, it's a 2009 A5, a lot of miles on it, and the control arms have gone bad, well the bushings, due to normal wear and tear. Upper control arms first to fix, got OEM, pretty simple install and no issue. Lower control arms, decided to go the cost savings route and bought MeyleHD arms. The lower straight arms are fine when combined with OEM or TRW ball joints, however the lower rear, garbage!!...The bushings, after finding out few days ago, are not hydro based, meaning they are solid rubber. Also the attached ball joint initially felt sturdy, but after taking out yesterday they were loose, turned, and overall bad, not sure how they, Meyle, would expect these to last long. Bottom line I was getting steering wheel shake/shimmy at various speeds and most noticeable and irritating at higher speeds, can't really describe how bad it was but I thought my steering was going to malfunction or throw a code, it was that bad. Bought a set of low mileage OEM arms from a salvaged A4, same part numbers, and put them in yesterday, problem gone!...OEM uses hydro, gel filled bushings, and MeyleHD don't, but even if they did after seeing the ball joint I wouldn't of put them in knowing they were that loose after break-in.

Not sure if it's just my experience with MeyleHD but if you are coming up due to replace your arms, which I'm guessing soon if you own a 2008-2010ish or so, stay away from MeyleHD lower control arms and ball joints, maybe even upper control arms too. Just thought I share, I normally don't post, I just read posts for info, etc...but felt I needed to post about this. Stick with OEM or Lemforder, and TRW. Lesson learned on my part.

[jwr9152]

I talked with the guys at 034 motorsports and they are coming up with an upgraded lower control arm, which could possibly be out by the end of summer.

[ParadigmTony]

I talked with the guys at 034 motorsports and they are coming up with an upgraded lower control arm, which could possibly be out by the end of summer.

If theres some truth to this Im stoked!!

[jwr9152]

If theres some truth to this Im stoked!!

I can only say what I was told. Said they would have a density line of lower control arms out and another run of spherical bearings for lower control arms.

[NuVega]

I talked with the guys at 034 motorsports and they are coming up with an upgraded lower control arm, which could possibly be out by the end of summer.

Nice!!

[TTRStud]

Strange. I replaced all of my front upper and lower control arms/bushings/ball joints, and the kit I pieced together was almost 100% OEM except the curved lower control arms (which I picked the Meyle HD's as recommended by a knowledgeable forum member). I have not had an issue and it's been quite a few months/miles. Did you: 1) tighten all components to spec, and 2) preload the suspension prior to tightening everything? If preloading it was not done, the bushings and ball joints are forced to work outside of their neutral zone all of the time, leading to premature wear. Also, there are two different versions of the curved arm (at least for the S5, not sure about the A5), depending on the model year of the car - did you purchase the right parts?

Here's a link to my thread, which I started back when I was gathering information on what I needed to buy: http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...-arms-bushings

[NuVega]

Strange. I replaced all of my front upper and lower control arms/bushings/ball joints, and the kit I pieced together was almost 100% OEM except the curved lower control arms (which I picked the Meyle HD's as recommended by a knowledgeable forum member). I have not had an issue and it's been quite a few months/miles. Did you: 1) tighten all components to spec, and 2) preload the suspension prior to tightening everything? If preloading it was not done, the bushings and ball joints are forced to work outside of their neutral zone all of the time, leading to premature wear. Also, there are two different versions of the curved arm (at least for the S5, not sure about the A5), depending on the model year of the car - did you purchase the right parts?

Here's a link to my thread, which I started back when I was gathering information on what I needed to buy: http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...-arms-bushings

Yup, purchased right parts and pre-loaded the suspension. It's just the curved arm that gave me issues, the straight one was fine. Could of been a bad batch, but I'm guessing the design was taken from the first generation of Audi OEM lower control arms for the A5, and Audi did a TSB to have the lower arms switched out due to vibration to the ones I just put in now, which would explain the issue I was getting.

[TTRStud]

Yup, purchased right parts and pre-loaded the suspension. It's just the curved arm that gave me issues, the straight one was fine. Could of been a bad batch, but I'm guessing the design was taken from the first generation of Audi OEM lower control arms for the A5, and Audi did a TSB to have the lower arms switched out due to vibration to the ones I just put in now, which would explain the issue I was getting.

Out of the entire kit i pieced together, the curved arms were the only Meyle arms I purchased. Strange you ran into issues. Oh well, at least you're all set!

[NuVega]

Out of the entire kit i pieced together, the curved arms were the only Meyle arms I purchased. Strange you ran into issues. Oh well, at least you're all set!

Yeah it was painful. Another person I know purchased lower arms too from MeyleHD, no issues with his, but he also has an S5 so based off of his experience and yours I'm starting to see a possible trend maybe. But yeah, all good now so I'm content.

[TTRStud]

Yeah it was painful. Another person I know purchased lower arms too from MeyleHD, no issues with his, but he also has an S5 so based off of his experience and yours I'm starting to see a possible trend maybe. But yeah, all good now so I'm content.

How bad was it? Just curious as I've never heard of such thing. Going from hydraulic to solid bushings shouldn't cause anything to shake...it may insulate less vibrations/noise/feel but shouldn't lead to shaking of anything.

[NuVega]

How bad was it? Just curious as I've never heard of such thing. Going from hydraulic to solid bushings shouldn't cause anything to shake...it may insulate less vibrations/noise/feel but shouldn't lead to shaking of anything.

It was pretty bad, and the steering wheel would shake my hands side to side at speeds of 65+mph, issue wasn't their prior to putting in the MeyleHD, soon as I did the problem started instantly. Had a buddy who works at an Audi dealer check it out, says he didn't see anything mechanically wrong on how they were put in, but as soon as I took them out and replaced with OEM, problem instantly went away. So I'm not sure, but reading more about hydro-based bushings they absorb and subdue road vibrations from suspension components better than full rubber bushings...guessing they were just too stiff for my car. If anything the bushing design is the culprit, not the arm itself.

[swag]

This is my first audi b8 s5 cabriolet and im experiencing annoying vibrations in the 70mph range. So u do i need to replace just the curved lower control arms or do i need the WHOLE kit?

[TTRStud]

This is my first audi b8 s5 cabriolet and im experiencing annoying vibrations in the 70mph range. So u do i need to replace just the curved lower control arms or do i need the WHOLE kit?

First and foremost you need to go get your wheels/tires re-balanced, if it has not been done in a while. This will cause vibrations as described above. In the case of this thread, the OP had no vibrations before, replaced the arms which led to vibrations, and once he went back to oem arms the vibrations were gone. This is not your case. If you started experiencing vibrations out of the blue, it COULD be the arm bushings, but start with the most obvious stuff first, which is cheaper to address and typically the culprit.

If you've already eliminated balancing out of the equation, make sure your front rotors are not terribly warped. If they are, once again , they can cause vibrations at higher speeds. Once you cross those out of the list, you will most likely need to look into control arms/bushings.

[swag]

First and foremost you need to go get your wheels/tires re-balanced, if it has not been done in a while. This will cause vibrations as described above. In the case of this thread, the OP had no vibrations before, replaced the arms which led to vibrations, and once he went back to oem arms the vibrations were gone. This is not your case. If you started experiencing vibrations out of the blue, it COULD be the arm bushings, but start with the most obvious stuff first, which is cheaper to address and typically the culprit.

If you've already eliminated balancing out of the equation, make sure your front rotors are not terribly warped. If they are, once again , they can cause vibrations at higher speeds. Once you cross those out of the list, you will most likely need to look into control arms/bushings.

Just bought my 2011 s5 cab 3 weeks ago. Had vibrations with both stock 19s and recently installed aftermarket 20s. Im having my car lowered next tuesday. Will tell them to inspect the rotors and arm/bushing then.

[NuVega]

Just bought my 2011 s5 cab 3 weeks ago. Had vibrations with both stock 19s and recently installed aftermarket 20s. Im having my car lowered next tuesday. Will tell them to inspect the rotors and arm/bushing then.

You can visually look at your control arm bushings, look for obvious tears are stress fractures in the rubber, also check your ball joints connected to the wheel knuckle, check for tears and/or dried up grease, that would indicate that they are torn.

[NuVega]

More things to check for:

- Wheels nice and snug on the wheel hub, if they are not they are riding on the bolts and not the wheel hub, which would also cause vibrations.
- Is the vibration mainly felt in the cabin, or more isolated to the steering wheel? Steering wheel will likely indicate suspension bushings, while whole cabin may indicate actual wheels, just based off of my experience with my own car.
- If you're running spacers, take them off, try and eliminate all variables that can cause vibrations, the spacers(if equipped) may of warped which will lead to vibrations too.

[swag]

Thanks for the useful info. Im not running spacers. My whole cabin seems to shake but only at 70mph speed range. It rides fine otherwise. Will take the wheels off and reinstall with correct torque specs to see if there's any improvements.

[TTRStud]

Thanks for the useful info. Im not running spacers. My whole cabin seems to shake but only at 70mph speed range. It rides fine otherwise. Will take the wheels off and reinstall with correct torque specs to see if there's any improvements.

Typically: steering wheel shaking (not while braking) = front wheels/tires out of balance. Feel the shaking on the seat: rear wheels/tires out of balance. A spacer not being installed appropriately also constitutes as out of balance, since the total weight is not concentric any longer.