Did you buy the car new? Therefore do you know it's history?
I thought you were going to suggest it had been bent out of shape hitting a tree.
is that possible?
Did you buy the car new? Therefore do you know it's history?
I thought you were going to suggest it had been bent out of shape hitting a tree.
is that possible?
Could I just throw my old school thoughts into the post ref your control arms and the amount you get through? I would be so bold as to question the way they have been fitted, any rubber suspension component, such as a bushes that are subject to a twisting force, should not have their retaining bolts tighten until 1/ The weight of the vehicle is on it's tyres, 2/ the vehicle has been pushed backwards and forwards to settle the droop imposed on the suspension when it was jacked up. Failure to do this leaves a permanent twisting force in the bushes that will both wear them out quickly and effect the stability of the geometry (so it probably won't stay as it was set).
Just a thought?
With regards to cheap tyres, I would avoid Chinese branded tyres, so Goodride, Happy Gallop, Riding Along The Road etc but I would be happy using Korean brands, they seem exceptionally good even compared to big brand tyres.
It's never the bushes that fail, there is a specific way these have to be bolted up so as not to tear the bushes (similar to your detailed advise). It's always been the ball joints (is quite common on the main control arm apparently), which is why we have now gone for meyle HD arms where they have modified the design of the ball joint so as to make it last longer.
I've settled on debica budgets/mid range will see how get on. They are owned by Goodyear, made in Poland, and they make there own tyres aswell as tyres for members of the Goodyear group, but they also sell rebadged versions of those within the Goodyear group.
So in terms of quality I'm hoping it's going to be ok, Iv e done due diligence, but there is always that doubt in the back of my mind.
I just wondered what others experience was of budget tyres, but seems people don't use budgets on here lol.
Thanks Avocet,
the parts used are OEM parts, but not from audi, for example, the suspension arms are from Lemforder as they make them for Audi, the hi-pressure fuel pump was from Hitachi as again they make it for audi, the brakes were from ATE again as they supply Audi, oil filters are usually Mann+Hummel, though the last one was a bosch filter, (handy the wife works in a motor factors), the shocks were Bilstein (supply Audi), so they are definatley top quality parts, its always been a case of if it needs it it gets it.
i've used budgets on an old Mondeo st200 i once had as they cost me £15 per tyre where i used to work (was a number of years ago), i cant remember what brand they were, Jinyu possibly, i was selling the car and all 4 tyres needed replacing, they seemed ok, but i only done a few hundred miles on them.
i am a bit nervous about putting budgets on, and wasn't sure what the EPC tyre ratings were like, were they to be trusted or not. The hankook ventus tyres currently on it were very good and was really happy with them, though they are still £120 per tyre i paid a few years ago when i replaced all 4.
the budgets will be a stop gap till i get things sorted and make sure everything set up right (it also gets me out of a pickle, as i have an expensive couple of months ahead all pre-booked).
Unfortunately the access under the car is terrible and it is all but impossible to do as you suggested, as it has the S-Line suspension on it.
i've never used halfords or kwik-fit etc, when the tyres were installed it did go to a local tyre garage for full alignment on the hunter system, but my wife took it and the rear camber was 0.2 degree out on 1 side but the company didn't want to adjust it for such a small margin (i think they could see it was all rusty and seized and would turn out to be a massive job). She said she was only there for 15 minutes, and they only charged her half price, which leads me to think that maybe they didn't adjust anything.
anyway i'm going on Friday and will chat to them and show them the bad tyre (apparently the passenger side isnt much better but at least doesn't have the cord showing through, but we are replacing as a pair)
this is who we used a few years ago when the tyres were first installed, and will be going back on friday https://www.tyre-smart.com/wheel-alignment
So, for example, a balljoint.
Maybe, but the point is that the same manufacturer can make parts of different qualities, depending on the application. Nobody likes paying genuine dealer parts prices, so it creates a gap in the market for cheaper stuff.Yeah back in the day QH had a pretty terrible reputation though, (still Do by all accounts).
Anyhoo, I just found the print outs from the last time we had the 4 wheel alignment done when the tyres were first installed,
They can drive straight with the tracking badly out. Some manufacturers like to run a bit of toe-out because it makes the car turn-in a bit more aggressively. Handy as a "fudge" if you have a nose-heavy car that understeers a bit more than you'd like. I'd be interested to see your "before" and "after" printouts this time?It has had a couple of control arms on the driver's side since though so it may be it was never tracked correctly after this even though it drive straight..
Unfortunately I do exactly the opposite, so good tyres are paramount for me.I have often gone for budget tyres as I tend to drive for fuel economy and not as fast as possible.