Bad Front Air Strut?

[MTV10]

Gents,

Lately I've been getting rubbing front driver's side fender. Driving straight, over dips and bumps in the road. Happens even when I raise the car 10mm in Auto mode... not only in Dynamic.

I'm assuming my air strut is on it's way out? What is best replacement?


TIA.

[halik008]

Not the air spring. Axle sides are on the same air supply. So if you had rubbing due to air spring it would be both sides.

[MTV10]

You sure about that? Feel like the strut compression is gone on driver's side... causing it to bounce up into the fender easily.

[halik008]

The damper could be shot internally....but you would feel that. That corner would feel very boaty. If the air spring itself was blown you would be just ridding against the jounce bumper (bump stop) so the whole front would be dropped extra low.

[SteveO34]

Obvious question but did you check to make sure the fender lining isn't getting loose? Is it rubbing on the very top of the lining?

Do you have VCDS? It's very useful for troubleshooting and can help determine if an air spring is going bad. If not, there's still some troubleshooting you can do.

If you have to replace it, i really recommend Miessler Automotive. Their shipping cost from Germany is $$$$ but you find them on ebay as "air-suspension-shop-eu". I've used a lot of their air suspension parts and they're great quality. Or Arnott from carid.com. Don't buy this yet though until you're sure that's the problem.

[MTV10]

Wasn't aware you can use VCDS to check if Air Spring is going bad.

Thanks for this.

[CBD]

When my air pump went bad, one of the corners started to sag. I got an “air suspension” warning in my cluster before I noticed any changes, rubbing, or lopsided stance myself. And I never got rubbing. But that was a pump and not a strut.