Control Arm Bushings, Window weld fix.

[boomerro]

Soo i have been getting the notorious clunk noise that started only happening during cold, not it happens longer and longer into the drive. It goes away after about 30 min of driving. Thus im pretty sure its the control arm bushings.

Ive seen expensive kits for bushings, but im a cheap ass so im going to try something.

Back in the dsm days i did a thing with window weld and motor mount bushings. you take a window weld tube and fill the gaps in the bushings to make it super stiff. Ill get the ones off the car soon and try it out. So pics and instructions will be coming soon.

I know some people are gonna hate on my cheap ass solution, but hey im not made of money.

edit* just wanted to clarify that i cant do this if the ball joint side is bad, only if the upper bushing side is bad.

[Audi42LV8]

JHM sells a kit for $ 300.00, thats pretty cheap. I think its also for the S4/RS4

[boomerro]

JHM sells a kit for $ 300.00, thats pretty cheap. I think its also for the S4/RS4

$10 for window weld is pretty cheap

but yes their kit is pretty cheap for the amount of parts that come with them. if its broken bad enough i might get the adjustable arms. i have no slop on the freeway and it is not very loud, the only time it makes noise is when im going under 5mph and turning really sharp and going over a bump. so i dont think its really bad or anything.

[Dimcorner]

I think people have used PL Polyurethane sealer to fill them in. It has a durometer rating of about 30. Liquid Nails has a poly sealer rated at about 60 or so. You should only need about 1 tube of the stuff and it runs under $20 bucs or so.

[blmlozz]

I think people have used PL Polyurethane sealer to fill them in. It has a durometer rating of about 30. Liquid Nails has a poly sealer rated at about 60 or so. You should only need about 1 tube of the stuff and it runs under $20 bucs or so.

the bushings are designed to flex around according to suspension movement. Either the fix will last a few weeks and screw with the suspension geometry or it will be stiff enough that the whole bushing will move in the housing instead of the rubber insert, which would probably make a noise at all speeds instead of 5mph or under. The rubber bushings are probably closer to 30 than 60 durometer.

JHM sells a kit for $ 300.00, thats pretty cheap. I think its also for the S4/RS4

all steel upright CA kits for the b5 are inter-changeable. FCP on e-trash go for less than $300 shipped.

I know some people are gonna hate on my cheap ass solution, but hey im not made of money.

So you bought a completely unreliable German car why? I never understand why people use this phrase to justify their repairs when they have a 10 year old car that wasn't reliable when it was new. Hope the window weld fixes your problem however.

[slow ride]

I just don't understand why they don't sell the bushing insert and not the whole arm.

[blmlozz]

I just don't understand why they don't sell the bushing insert and not the whole arm.

because
1) removing/installing bushings on aluminum components is more difficult without damaging the arm vs a steel CA.
2) usually the ball-joints go before the bushings to.
3) some bushings *are* available, they're about $9 a pop on www.ecstuning.com, beyond that is likely some sort of case of manufacturers agreeing to force you to replacing the whole arm rather at a higher cost.

[turismo79]

They do sell CA bushings for all arms and there is a special tool to get them in and out takes about 5 min a CA after they are removed from the car. We replace CA bushings all the time at the shop and never seen a car come back with bad ball joints later. Usually the ball joints go bad becuase they have been driving with worn out bushings causing the suspension to flex in ways it was not meant to.