Suspension Bushing Noises and Steering Feel Issues

[SilverRings]

Thinking about all the bushings on a suspension modified 2011 S4 with 75k miles is daunting. Will be taking it to an independent shop, and this is a small place, with a long-time trusted person, so that is at least the good part. While he can investigate and recommend what I need, I'd also like to get your opinion on a few things. I've searched on a number of things and anytime there is noise or steering symptoms, there are quite a good number of things that it could be. The best approach here may be to post what I have replaced at one time for another and then list what my current symptoms are.

Items Replaced in the Past (regular parts, no poly stuff):

• Swaybar D bushings, endlinks front and rear @65k
• Front Upper Control Arm Bushings @66k
• Lower Left and Right Control Arms and bushings, endlinks @74k

Current Symptoms:

• Backing out of garage, when the front wheels go down a small half inch drop to driveway, I hear a clink noise.
• When parking or maneuvering the car, I get some pops up front.
• Have always had to deal with a slight vibration around the 60-70 mph mark. Sometimes it improves after different maint parts replaced or alignment, but then sometimes it comes back.
• Most recently and the one that I would like fixed the most is the steering is becoming slightly vague. While rolling at a good speed, any input feels softer and less precise. Driving straight also feels like I have to keep adjusting very slightly to keep the car straight.

How would you all attack this taking into account the items already replaced and with the S4 currently at 75k miles? At this point, would replacing everything be the best way to knock out all those noises and to restore steering stability and feel? If the mechanic inspects and recommends one or 2 for replacement, it's likely that more bushing will go out in the future. I'd like to minimize trips to the shop in the future and fix the symptoms above.

Are there any complete bushing replacement kits for front and rear of the S4s that are recommended over the others out there? And doing this work, would you all stick to rubber or move to poly? I'm not looking for more noises, rattles or rougher riding, and wonder what you all thought about poly bushings for a daily S4?

[Nillious]

As far as the popping goes pop the hood up and maneuver the car around to see if it still does it. My popping noise during slow steering maneuvers was the hood adjusters creaking on the hood. Some quick adjustments to be sure they weren’t so tight against the hood along with a small dab of grease on each one solved it. This was after I rebuilt the entire front end thinking it was the bushings. It had 100k on it so at least it all got replaced.

I went with meyle hd kit from ecs. I would not go poly on a daily. One very important thing is to fully compress the suspension to ride height before tightening anything including the sway links. If you dont do this the bushings will be over stressed and fail very quickly.

[LarryFisherman]

When parking or maneuvering the car, I get some pops up front.

I had something similar. Occasional pop/click on slow speed turns, particularly when parking. Turned out to be wheel bearings for me.

[whts4]

Noises would be secondary to recent changes in steering. If the steering has worsened after your recent suspension work, I'd recheck everything before throwing parts at it.

[SilverRings]

As far as the popping goes pop the hood up and maneuver the car around to see if it still does it. My popping noise during slow steering maneuvers was the hood adjusters creaking on the hood. Some quick adjustments to be sure they weren’t so tight against the hood along with a small dab of grease on each one solved it. This was after I rebuilt the entire front end thinking it was the bushings. It had 100k on it so at least it all got replaced.

I went with meyle hd kit from ecs. I would not go poly on a daily. One very important thing is to fully compress the suspension to ride height before tightening anything including the sway links. If you dont do this the bushings will be over stressed and fail very quickly.

I adjusted the hook stand offs a slight amount and that seems to have fixed the louder pops. On small maneuvers with the steering wheel, I still hear some slight ticking noises, but nothing like the loud pop was. The tick sound on my car: https://youtube.com/shorts/se41AIANBkY?feature=share

Noises would be secondary to recent changes in steering. If the steering has worsened after your recent suspension work, I'd recheck everything before throwing parts at it.

The loud pop seems to be fixed with adjusting the hood standoffs. The tick when turning the wheel or the suspension clank over bumps did not happen after the suspension parts were replaced a while ago, so these are new.