Suspension Upgrade?

[Turbozeit]

-All front control arms (034) with adjustable uppers (Moog)
-front/rear sway links, bushings + rear sway (034)
-Springs with a little less clearance (H&R) + sport struts all around (Bilstein) ... or..?

Does this sound like a good ride, or is there anything I may want consider changing on this list? The current suspension is garbo and deteriorating (already blown to )

Also...other items I may want to replace/upgrade?

Thanks ^_^

~newbie

[yxri]

-All front control arms (034) with adjustable uppers (Moog)
-front/rear sway links, bushings + rear sway (034)
-Springs with a little less clearance (H&R) + sport struts all around (Bilstein) ... or..?

Does this sound like a good ride, or is there anything I may want consider changing on this list? The current suspension is garbo and deteriorating (already blown to )

Also...other items I may want to replace/upgrade?

Thanks ^_^

~newbie

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-bilstein...FQiQaQodJ3AEzA

Bilsteins are the way to go if you dont want coilovers.

[supple]

I'll eventually need to do all this, I may be wrong but also hear that the Koni Yellows are slightly stiffer than the Bilsteins.

[Harriz801]

A couple of suggestions on control arms:
Instead of going with a 034 kit, i would suggest going through a place like Europaparts.com and purchase the Lemforder brand. Lemforder is the original OEM brand of most of the suspension parts underneath your Audi. This will save you tons of money vs buying OEM and will get you the exact quality of the OEM part.

Upper control arms:
I can't exactly speak to tire wear yet, as I haven't had my car lowered for to long, but my car is currently lowered to a 24.5" fender to ground clearance and this provided me with a -2 degrees of front camber on OEM upper control arms. Most inner tire wear comes from improper toe adjustment. My experience with most of the adjustable upper arms is they just don't last long enough to justify the extra money. You'll end up rebuilding them multiple times in the age of what the OEM will last.

Sway bar links and the bar itself will be up to you as if you want to improve the handling of the car.

You'll want to consider purchasing a suspension refresh kit (https://www.europaparts.com/suspensi...rs4-b6-b7.html) this will take care of all your bushings and rubber parts.

Depending on the mileage of the car, you may want to consider replacing wheel bearings while your doing all your suspension work.

If your suspension is as bad as you say it is, then you'll also want to pick up a set of inner and outer tie rods. Again, Lemforder is the OEM brand.

And lastly, most of the suspension bolts underneath your car are torque to yield and may need to be replaced.

By the way, when I rebuilt all of the suspension on my car, I had 182,000 miles on all of it with without a single noise or driveability issue coming from the car. OEM is the way to go. Hell, the shocks/struts were still rebounding and not leaking! Sure wouldn't find that on a good ol' GM.

[pw211]

A couple of suggestions on control arms:
Instead of going with a 034 kit, i would suggest going through a place like Europaparts.com and purchase the Lemforder brand. Lemforder is the original OEM brand of most of the suspension parts underneath your Audi. This will save you tons of money vs buying OEM and will get you the exact quality of the OEM part.

Upper control arms:
I can't exactly speak to tire wear yet, as I haven't had my car lowered for to long, but my car is currently lowered to a 24.5" fender to ground clearance and this provided me with a -2 degrees of front camber on OEM upper control arms. Most inner tire wear comes from improper toe adjustment. My experience with most of the adjustable upper arms is they just don't last long enough to justify the extra money. You'll end up rebuilding them multiple times in the age of what the OEM will last.

Sway bar links and the bar itself will be up to you as if you want to improve the handling of the car.

You'll want to consider purchasing a suspension refresh kit (https://www.europaparts.com/suspensi...rs4-b6-b7.html) this will take care of all your bushings and rubber parts.

Depending on the mileage of the car, you may want to consider replacing wheel bearings while your doing all your suspension work.

If your suspension is as bad as you say it is, then you'll also want to pick up a set of inner and outer tie rods. Again, Lemforder is the OEM brand.

And lastly, most of the suspension bolts underneath your car are torque to yield and may need to be replaced.

I agree with above 100% about going with OEM/OEM-spec control arms. You won't get the quality or longevity with aftermarket brands, and if you don't need the adjustability (which you shouldn't unless you are wanting to go insanely low), they just aren't needed. I'm at -2 front and -2.5 rear, but with my toe exactly where it should be, and don't have tire wear issues. There will be minor camber wear, but as long as your toe is within the correct spec you'll still get basically full life out of your tires.

I just rebuilt my front end with all OEM control arms and don't regret it at all. I know they'll last much longer than aftermarket ones. As an example, have a friend with aftermarket arms (don't remember brand) that only lasted about 30k. I replaced my OEM ones at 110k, and they had been used with air ride for a good amount of time too.

You're gonna love how the car feels once you do this refresh btw.

[Sales@ECS Tuning]

On my B7 A4 I run the 034 Motorsports Density Line Control Arm Kit and it has been great so far (about 30k on it). I am about 24.5" fender to ground as well and about -2 degrees camber; through 1 set of Continentials I definitely saw some inner tire wear. If you are very picky about your alignment, like I am, the adjustable upper control arms are definitely right up your alley, I will be picking some up myself come spring time. I would definitely recommend getting the 034 rear sway bar with their adjustable end links. That way you can run it on the stiffer of the 2 settings and you do not risk breaking an end link (I broke a stock end link on the soft setting). Regarding the posts above, Lemforder is definitely your best bet for other suspension and steering components, very high quality. Depending on you tastes and plans for the car coilovers might be a better option rather than lowering springs and Bilstein/Koni shocks.

I have assembled all of these parts into a list for you to take a look through and see what you do and do not like:

----------> B7 A4 Suspension and Steering Components <----------


-Mike

[Sales@ECS Tuning]

I'll eventually need to do all this, I may be wrong but also hear that the Koni Yellows are slightly stiffer than the Bilsteins.

The Koni Yellows are fully adjustable, the main mistake people make when installing is they do not install them at "full soft." Koni valves the "full soft" setting as how they think the vehicle should ride on a stock 'sport' suspension. "Full stiff" is 100% firmer than "full soft", so range of adjustability is quite high. This also helps prolong the life of the shock, after 30/40k etc and the shock/struts start to get a little softer/weaker you can dial them up a touch to restore that same feel you had when you installed them new

-Mike

[supple]

That's a cool bit of information. Will keep that in mind for the future.

[Turbozeit]

Just did a double check, the upper arm joints are pretty much completely beaten through and dried out, though all 4 front lowers actually look okay, as well as both sets in the back of the car.

Front struts are ~completely leaked out and nasty, back struts don't seem to be leaking at all)

Also, my front right wheel is bent on the inside lip, slightly more than to a minor degree (replacing as well to be safe I think is best option) and I noticed there are two different colored springs on each front side, though the OE red struts in place heh..not sure about that..

Thing is, heard control arms can take a beating with new coil-overs/etc...does this mean it would be in my best interest to also replace the arms that seem to be in ~good condition?

Harriz and pw211 - My A4 is 6MT, 123k on it. As for the driving experience..tons of roll, very bouncy, car jerks/leans to the side when hitting bumps, pulls to the right while being anywhere close to level..and some bumps/grooves can actually hurt my bottom side lol

[Turbozeit]

Also, I did read per separate thread that the factory align specs make the back wheels kick out way sooner than they should per safety, more so than an alternate alignment would..is this just regarding F/R toe and not camber?

Not sure that I will be pushing the car so that I would be able to make use of that extra room, but the arms adjustable for camber would be good to have if it does play a role in this..

[Sales@ECS Tuning]

Also, I did read per separate thread that the factory align specs make the back wheels kick out way sooner than they should per safety, more so than an alternate alignment would..is this just regarding F/R toe and not camber?

Not sure that I will be pushing the car so that I would be able to make use of that extra room, but the arms adjustable for camber would be good to have if it does play a role in this..

So here is what I would do/did with my B7, at 123k it would not be a bad idea to just go in and do all the front control arms, they are about due. Throw some new upper shock/strut mounts in with the B12 kit. To take car of the roll (in addition to the lowering springs) the 034 Motorsports Rear Sway Bar will do an excellent job at that (I know from experience) Furthermore, might be a good time to take a look at your tie rods if they have been replaced yet. Check out the link below for some parts I assembled for you and your options would be going with the adjustable upper control arms, adjustable rear end links through 034 (both of these would be a good idea to do) and mine as well through some new front sway bar bushings on as well since everything else will be brand new up front. Don't be alarmed at the total because I have included a few options for a couple of these parts:

Turbozeit's B7 A4 Suspension Refresh Parts List


Let me know what you think! Coilovers are also always an option

-Mike