Longevity and Durability of Magnetic Ride Suspension Systems in Audi A4

[tocqueville]

Just wondering if anyone in here has magnetic ride on their A4, and what's the lifespan? My car has around 260,000km, but I don't see any sign of wear on either the shocks or springs yet. I only notice my control arm bushings starting to wear, but there are no cracks. I use this car for everyday driving, long road trips, and track days.

Am I just lucky, or can they really last that long?

[Smac770]

They last until they don't. Kind of like my coolant pump still going fine at 252k miles (406k km). 260k km is only ~162k miles. That's when I replaced my (1BA standard) dampers the first time (but the rears were pretty shot by that point) as well as the front control arms. The dampers looked fine, but I could tell from the body roll something was not like new. When I took them off, a kid could have played them like an accordion, they had no resistance in them.

And there's nothing "magnetic" about them. They are adaptive dampers, and that's done by adjustable valving, not by magnetic fluid. Only the RS3, TT RS, and R8 have the magnetic dampers. And the Mk4 RS3 dropped magnetic dampers for "DCC", which is just a "normal" adaptive damper. B and C segment RS special suspension is the turn of the century DRC system, though now with 3-level adjustable dampers.

[tocqueville]

Thank you for the suspension information.

I will probably change to a performance control arm kit when I notice anything. It looks like it's much cheaper than OEM too.

[Smac770]

I used the 034 control arm kit. It works well enough. Using actual Audi OE arms will get expensive. TRW is the OEM. People use Lemforder and Meyle HD as well.

[tocqueville]

Any idea what the difference is between 034 and RS4/5 control arms? I assumed they are the same or very similar.

[Smac770]

? All B8 use the exact same control arms, except the allroad which has tougher bushings in the upper control arms. I think the cabriolet also had that, but then changed to the normal ones for B8.5. And the S and RS models get a different bushing on the lower straight control arm. I can't recall offhand, I've posted the breakdown before.

034 is a third-party product maker, not an OEM to Audi for the B8. That would be TRW. So 034 is making a product "we say is suitable for replacement use on the B8". To compare 034 arms and Audi OE arms, you'd need a test defined and then the test performed. Whatever specifications 034 is claiming, you can be sure Audi doesn't publish. So you'd have to look at what 034 measured of the OE arms to compare. Similar to APR posting their tuned output numbers vs the actual stock output numbers tested in the same manner they tested their own numbers, rather than just using Audi's advertised numbers.