Steering and suspension maintenance and upgrades for allroad

[The_Auto_Tech]

Update 8/31 11:00AM - Arnott GEN II front and rear air springs and Arnott Bilstein front and rear shock absorbers ordered from Arnott on eBay for $2,113.99 with free shipping. Also comes with hardware, front upper strut mounts, and o-rings.

Update 8/31 11:14AM - Hotchkis front and rear sway bar kit ordered from Summit Racing Equipment through their website for $449.97 with free shipping. Comes with bushings and mounting hardware.

Update 9/3 - eBay re manufactured steering rack ordered from eBay for $225.56 with free shipping. Comes with inner tie rod ends, boots, clamps, and Servotronic relay and is lifetime warranty!

Update 9/8 - FCP Euro control arm kit ordered from their website for $510.16 with ground shipping. Comes with all 8 control arms, inner tie rod ends, S4 style outer tie rod ends, front sway bar links, and complete hardware kit.




Well, now with the newly acquired allroad I think it's time to start getting things straight. I sold my B5 S4, and this is what I had for this section:

Steering/Suspension

Perform four-wheel alignment (133,395)
Perform power steering system flush using Seafoam Trans Tune and fill using Audi OEM power steering fluid (117,200)
Audi OEM power steering pump (78,479)
ECS Tuning lightweight black power steering pump pulley (137,536)
Hayden power steering oil cooler kit (includes core, mounting ties, hoses, and clamps) (133,395)
Master Pro left inner tie rod (123,000)
Moog left steering rack boot (123,000)
Meyle heavy duty outer tie rod end kit (includes hardware) (123,000)
Raceland coilover kit (includes wrenches and spring/damper assemblies) (133,127)
034 Motorsport street density front upper strut mounts (133,127)
034 Motorsport street density front control arm kit (includes hardware) (131,128)
034 Motorsport street density front sway bar links (includes hardware) (131,128)
Neuspeed rear sway bar (includes bushings, brackets, and hardware) (134,086)
Meyle heavy duty rear sway bar links (includes hardware) (131,336)
Audi OEM right front wheel bearing kit (includes hardware) (102,658)
Audi OEM right rear spindle assembly (91,152)
Audi OEM right rear wheel bearing kit (includes hardware) (91,152)
Audi B6 S4 18”x8” ET45 “Avus” wheels (with center caps)
Kuhmo Ecsta LE Sport 225/40/18 tires
Audi B5 S4 17”x7.5” ET45 “Avus” wheels (with center caps)
Bridgestone Blizzak WS-70 205/50/17 tires
AudiUP 5x100/5x112 12mm 57.1 hubcentric wheel spacer pair (includes ball seat bolts)
AudiUP 5x100/5x112 15mm 57.1 hubcentric wheel spacer pair (includes ball seat bolts)


Now, I know the allroad is going to have a different setup since it's an A6. The plan at this point is to get Arnott GEN 2 bags for the front and rear along with the Arnott Bilstein shocks for the front and rear. To go with those I plan on getting the Hotchkiss front and rear sway bars and installing 034's Street Density control arm kit in front and replacing the inner and outer tie rod ends with Meyle HD components. The sway bar links will also but upgraded using the Meyle HD links. I will be doing the power steering cooler like my B5 as well since it's a cheap mod and gets rid of the PITA metal tube in the front. I'm still not sold on a set of wheels yet, but I do still have the winter setup listed above that I may use.

What are your thoughts?

[The_Auto_Tech]

Bump for some possible opinions?

[G0to60]

I think the only thing you need to be sure of is that the control arms are for an allroad. They are different than your standard A6 so they can clear the air springs. I would also look into rebuilding the compressor for the suspension if it's a little slow to raise the car. Otherwise looks like a good list of stuff to do.

[The_Auto_Tech]

Compressor was replaced about a month ago with a new unit, so we're good there. I will make sure they are the right control arms, thanks.

[4ringAR]

hotchkis front and rear swaybars :thumbup:


looks like you re very detailed and organized about keeping records on maint and upgrades for your cars

[The_Auto_Tech]

Alright, cool. The Arnott front bags come with strut mounts it looks like. Is there anything else that you need to complete the install or do they give you everything for the front and rear besides hardware? I plan on getting new hardware with the 034 control arm kit. I'll probably pass on the ECS lightweight power steering pulley this time around. It's a very negligible difference between the stock one. I'm thinking I'm gonna do the power steering cooler on this one as well. The stock one was in the way of my aftermarket oil cooler on the S4 and that was the reason for doing a different setup, not to mention it made working on the front end easier not having the giant metal tube in the way.

[4rings2turbos]

Have you done your research on the Arnott shocks? I think I remember seeing some people less than impressed with their performance and see them of more of a downgrade. Partly because they weren't designed for the heavy allroad I think. I've never considered it though so I don't know what the verdict is.

[The_Auto_Tech]

People were saying the problem with them is that they felt without the Bilsteins that they were under-damped. I'll be getting the Bilsteins as well.

[4rings2turbos]

I see. Give us an update on the ride feel when you have the full setup in there, curious to see if it's a nice upgrade.

[The_Auto_Tech]

Alright, so I did a bit more digging on this. The Hotchkiss sway bars for our car apparently were designed specifically for the allroad which is cool. It looks like the kit comes with everything besides sway bar links. I'm thinking I'm just gonna try and find some of the Meyle HD replacements. It seems like the rear ones you can get a plastic or a metal setup and the front was all the same minus the fact you can get stiffer bushings but the design appears to be the same. As far as the control arms go - is it only the front uppers that are different or are the lowers different than an A6 as well? 034 doesn't seem to make a stiffer bushing in the uppers since they are allroad specific.

[The_Auto_Tech]

Also, from what I see your only options for shocks are OEM or the Arnott Bilsteins. There's some off-brand stock replacement shocks out there but they're as much as the OEM ones. Same thing seems to be with the bags. It's either Arnott stock replacements, Arnott Gen 2's, aftermarket OEM replacements, or Audi OEM bags. I guess the best option is the Arnott Bilsteins and the Arnott GEN II's.

[02 A6 2.7T]

Alright, so I did a bit more digging on this. The Hotchkiss sway bars for our car apparently were designed specifically for the allroad which is cool. It looks like the kit comes with everything besides sway bar links. I'm thinking I'm just gonna try and find some of the Meyle HD replacements. It seems like the rear ones you can get a plastic or a metal setup and the front was all the same minus the fact you can get stiffer bushings but the design appears to be the same. As far as the control arms go - is it only the front uppers that are different or are the lowers different than an A6 as well? 034 doesn't seem to make a stiffer bushing in the uppers since they are allroad specific.

The upper control arms are interchangeable between the A6 and allroad. The lowers are allroad specific ...
The front A6 Hotchkiss sway bar is identical to the allroad, the allroad rear sway bar has different bends to clear the air compressor.

[The_Auto_Tech]

Alright, perfect! Thanks for that information. I see now that all 4 front upper control arms are the same part number as the C5 A6 and that all 4 front lower control arms are allroad specific. Also, the front sway bar links are allroad specific and the rear sway bar links are the same between the allroad and C5 A6. The inner and outer tie rod ends and boots are the same for both models as well. Obviously we already know that the springs and shocks are allroad and C5 A6 specific and the front upper shock mounts are different as well.

Are you sure the front sway is the same even though the links are different? I can see the rear being different to clear the compressor. Also, does anyone know if the Arnott bags come with new upper shock mounts? In the picture it looks like they do.

[4ringAR]

You cant buy the hsports individually(unless you happen to find someone selling them used, indiviually, which is rare).

Some people have used aftermarket WRX REAR swaybar endlinks(Perrin, Whiteline, etc) for the allroad FRONT swaybar endlinks.

[The_Auto_Tech]

So, at this point my options are:

Front upper control arms - OEM-style replacements, 034 Motorsport Density line control arms, or aftermarket adjustable control arms with spherical bushings

Front lower control arms - OEM-style replacements only

Inner tie rod ends - OEM-style replacements only

Outer tie rod ends- OEM-style replacements, S4-style solid ends, and the Meyle HD metal socket ends

Steering rack boots - OEM-style replacements only

Front sway bar - OEM-style, H-Sport

Rear sway bar - OEM-style, H-Sport

Front sway bar links - OEM-style replacements, WRX rear links

Rear sway bar links - OEM-style plastic replacements, OEM-style metal replacements

Front upper strut mounts - OEM-style replacements, Arnott replacements

Front air springs - OEM-style replacements, Arnott GEN II

Rear air springs - OEM-style replacements, Arnott GEN II

Front shocks - OEM-style replacements, Arnott Bilsteins

Rear shocks - OEM-style replacements, Arnott Bilsteins


I'm still wondering if the front sway bar links are really that different. They look exactly the same in pictures. If that's the case you have some more options.

[4ringAR]

Oem front and rear sway bars are not an option. Hsports are the only way to go lol. It should have been built with them like that from the factory.

And there is no reason I have ever heard of anyone having to replace their stock sway bars other than as an upgrade, they are not a wear item and should last the life of the car.*

*on an Audi at least. My friends old taco broke the sway bar into a few pieces haha

[The_Auto_Tech]

Oem front and rear sway bars are not an option. Hsports are the only way to go lol. It should have been built with them like that from the factory.

And there is no reason I have ever heard of anyone having to replace their stock sway bars other than as an upgrade, they are not a wear item and should last the life of the car.*

*on an Audi at least. My friends old taco broke the sway bar into a few pieces haha

Haha, just saying that besides H-Sports your only option is the factory sway bars. I will be using the H-Sports for sure.

[The_Auto_Tech]

Today at work I decided to check some interchanges through ETKA at work. The allroad front upper control arms are the same as all A4, A6, and Passat. The allroad front lower control arms are allroad specific. The allroad front sway bar links are the same as the 97-03 A8. The allroad rear sway bar links are the same as the 99-05 A6 and 98-05 Passat 4Motion. The front upper strut mounts are allroad specific.

Later today I'm gonna check the sway bars, tie rod ends, and boots.

[The_Auto_Tech]

Finished checking today.

The sway bars front and rear are specific to the allroad only. The inner and outer tie rod ends are the same for almost every Audi from 96-05 as well as the steering rack boots.

I found out today the steering rack is leaking, so it's gonna be time to rebuild the whole works. New rack, control arms, tie rod ends, boots, air springs, and shocks along with the power steering cooler. I'll be doing the sway bars and sway bar links as well. Is there anything else I should look into replacing?

[8520]

The air suspension with static suspension

[The_Auto_Tech]

The air suspension with static suspension

If I wanted that I'd have kept my B5 S4. lol

[V1nny]

Alright, so I did a bit more digging on this. The Hotchkiss sway bars for our car apparently were designed specifically for the allroad which is cool. It looks like the kit comes with everything besides sway bar links. I'm thinking I'm just gonna try and find some of the Meyle HD replacements. It seems like the rear ones you can get a plastic or a metal setup and the front was all the same minus the fact you can get stiffer bushings but the design appears to be the same. As far as the control arms go - is it only the front uppers that are different or are the lowers different than an A6 as well? 034 doesn't seem to make a stiffer bushing in the uppers since they are allroad specific.

I tried plastic sway bar links with Hotchkiss sway bars. They become a mangled pieces of plastic in less than 1000 miles. Wish i took pictures.

[hilltop50s]

Oem front and rear sway bars are not an option. Hsports are the only way to go lol. It should have been built with them like that from the factory.

And there is no reason I have ever heard of anyone having to replace their stock sway bars other than as an upgrade, they are not a wear item and should last the life of the car.*

*on an Audi at least. My friends old taco broke the sway bar into a few pieces haha

my hotchkiss sway bar broke after 40k or so...they replaced it but until we found it there was a vibration no one could figure out...

[The_Auto_Tech]

So, I've been digging around for a steering gear here lately. Nice thing is if I order a gear it comes with boots, inner tie rod ends, and clamps so I won't have to buy those. There's no "upgraded" or better components to replace these with anyways. All of the boots, racks, and inner tie rod ends out there are exactly the same style as the factory ones so I'll probably just get one from eBay as they are fairly cheap.

From what I have seen you can get one with or without the Servotronic solenoid and you just have to swap yours onto it. It seems like you can save yourself some money doing this assuming your Servotronic is working properly. From what it seems all allroads came with Servotronic. I found a reman rack on eBay with boots, inners, and Servotronic solenoid for 237 with free shipping and once you send your core back it comes with a lifetime warranty. Kind of a no-brainer there.

[The_Auto_Tech]

Update 8/31 11:00AM - Arnott GEN II front and rear air springs and Arnott Bilstein front and rear shock absorbers ordered from Arnott on eBay for $2,113.99 with free shipping. Also comes with hardware, front upper strut mounts, and o-rings.

Update 8/31 11:14AM - Hotchkis front and rear sway bar kit ordered from Summit Racing Equipment through their website for $449.97 with free shipping. Comes with bushings and mounting hardware.


Now the hard part is figuring out which control arms to use. I know the uppers are the same as almost every other car used but the lowers are allroad specific. Cheapest ones I've been able to find are around 320 dollars through FCP Euro and ECS Tuning. There's no upgraded aftermarket ones available, just stock replacements. I'm trying to decide if I want to go with the 034 uppers or just get a set of stock replacement ones. Also, I'm debating whether to go with the Meyle HD tie rod ends or the S4-style tie rod ends. I know I just don't want the factory rubber ones.

[8520]

I believe my allroad has trw lowers. Rather pricey.

[The_Auto_Tech]

I believe my allroad has trw lowers. Rather pricey.

Yes, they are. I'll probably be getting the ones from fcp euro as they are the cheapest with decent quality still.

[The_Auto_Tech]

Update 9/3 - eBay re manufactured steering rack ordered from eBay for $225.56 with free shipping. Comes with inner tie rod ends, boots, clamps, and Servotronic relay and is lifetime warranty!

So now I need all 8 front control arms, outer tie rod ends, front sway bar links, and rear sway bar links to complete my overhaul. I won't be using the ECS Tuning lightweight power steering pulley this time around. It costs 85 dollars and the factory pulley is very light to begin with. The alternator pulley is quite a bit lighter and the crank pulley is as well and would actually be worth it. I can't decide between the S4-style tie rod ends or if I should get the Meyle HD tie rod ends that use the metal socket joints instead of the factory rubber ones. I'll be getting the metal rear sway bar links for sure.

[The_Auto_Tech]

So, doing a quick review - I've got the Arnott GEN II bag kits, Arnott Bilstein shocks, and the H-Sport sways. These appear to be the best options in those areas. I bought a reman steering rack from eBay that comes with the rack, inner tie rods, boots, clamps, and Servotronic relay. From what I've seen there's no better inner tie rod end between all the suppliers and they all look identical as far as shaft and socket size. The rack, boots, clamps, and relay seem to be the same deal, there's really no "best" option out there.

Now, this is where it gets a little bit harder for me. The lower control arms you only have two options - TRW or the cheaper FCP/ECS Tuning ones. They look identical to me and there's probably a good chance they are as a lot of the OE suppliers supply the same part built to factory specs. I'll just be using the cheaper arms. For the upper control arms you have the option of factory replacements, 034's street density, or spherical bushing adjustable units. I know I definitely don't need the adjustables and don't want spherical bushings anyways for a daily driver. I just wonder if using 034's uppers is really going to be worth spending the extra money on them.

For the outer tie rod ends there's many suppliers for the S4 style tie rod ends and they all look identical in build as well. Your only other real option is the Meyle HD units which are factory style with metal sockets instead of rubber. I have a feeling the S4 style tie rod ends would be the better choice as it's going to be less flex in the tie rod and one less joint to fail.

As far as the front sway bar links go you do have the option for the WRX ones, but all the aftermarket ones are poly or spherical bushing units which I don't want for this thing. Does anyone know if there's something similar to the 034 street density links?

[durfA4]

The factory sway bar links are aluminum, the only upgrade would be for stiffer poly bushings, the rubber ones can be pressed out and replaced with soft poly if you want.

[The_Auto_Tech]

The factory sway bar links are aluminum, the only upgrade would be for stiffer poly bushings, the rubber ones can be pressed out and replaced with soft poly if you want.

Talking about the rears. Factory rear are plastic instead of steel. I've heard the factory fronts will get chewed up fast from the H-Sports but I would prefer to not use poly or spherical bushings.

[The_Auto_Tech]

I guess I never really thought about this, but I wonder if the allroad has its own special durometer for the control arm bushings due to the suspension being able to flex. Makes me re-think using the 034 control arms. I understand that the sway bars will not limit the up and down flex, just side to side, so I'm ok there. The tie rod ends will be the same way, they won't limit any movement. I'm guessing the S4 tie rod ends should give me a little bit better steering feel as well.

All I've got left to do is to get the metal rear sway bar links as I haven't found any sort of upgrade for those, just the front. The WRX ones are nice, but I don't want to use spherical or poly bushings since this is my daily driver that sees winter use.

[The_Auto_Tech]

Started on this project last night. Got the rear Gen II's and Bilsteins in. The bags and shocks are very very nice. Also, I took the time before-hand to degrease the underside with a power washer and used some Rustoleum Gloss Black paint to freshen things up. Looks a lot nicer than surface rust and oxidized aluminum now. I made sure not to paint the air bag lines. :) The Hotchkis rear sway bar will go in tonight. I ended up getting the rear metal sway bar links from O'Reilly's as they had them in stock for only a slight bit more than ordering them online. Besides that I think I'm good to go with all the rear suspension. Also verified that I have a nearly new compressor that the previous owner bought through O'Reilly's. Come to find out it's actually an Arnott compressor with a year warranty! That's awesome. I'm gonna do some more inspected and finish painting up the rear and toss up some pictures once I'm done. I'd like to get the rear suspension all done before the control arm kit comes in tomorrow.

[G0to60]

How difficult is it changing out the rear suspension stuff? I've done nearly all of my front suspension stuff and it wasn't too bad. Next summer I think I'll dig into the rear to see what bushings or parts need to be freshened up.

[The_Auto_Tech]

It kind of sucks. You really need two people to do it. Good luck trying to get the bag assembly out without dropping the lower control arm down in which case you need someone to run the prybar and another to get the bag seated into its home. Also, doing the sway bar I had to have another person pry the bar up so I could get the brackets into their proper location. The front is much easier IMO.

[das_boosthead]

What rear sway bar links did you buy?

[The_Auto_Tech]

What rear sway bar links did you buy?

The metal stock replacement ones. There's a ton of different companies that make them and they all look the same. I ended up getting mine locally at O'Reilly's. Just make sure that you put the washer that comes in the sway bar kit underneath the nut otherwise there's a good chance it'll pull the nut through the link. Took me a while of head scratching to figure out why that washer was needed.

[das_boosthead]

I didn't realize there were metal replacements bathe ones I've used have always been plastic. I'll check it out.

[The_Auto_Tech]

Yea, I just found them while doing some Google searching about the WRX front links.

[The_Auto_Tech]

So, I finally got everything installed. Here is what I ended up with:

Arnott Industries GEN II front and rear air springs
Arnott Industries front upper strut mounts
Audi OEM air line fittings (all 4 corners)
Arnott Industries Bilstein front and rear shocks
Hotchkis front and rear sway bars
eBay rebuilt steering rack with new inner tie rod ends and boots
FCP front upper control arms
FCP S4 style outer tie rod ends
Hudson front lower control arms
FCP A8 style front sway bar links
Master Pro rear metal sway bar links
4 wheel alignment on level 2 set to factory specs
Power steering flush using Seafoam Trans Tune and Audi OEM power steering fluid


Like I said before, I'm gonna skip the lightweight power steering pulley on this car. The 80 dollars it costs just isn't worth it. The factory one only weights about an ounce more than the aftermarket one and the aftermarket one doesn't have any other useful features to it besides being new and shiny. Also, I'll be skipping the aftermarket power steering cooler. The factory A6/allroad power steering cooler is a much larger and longer tube than the S4, not to mention it's finned all the way around. I'm sure the aftermarket cooler won't be any better as it's total surface area will be smaller. Other than that I just need to figure out what size tires to run on my A8 19's and what size tire to run on my S4 17's for winter.