Anti Roll Bars / Drop Links (Knocking Noise)

H

hooverlugs

Member
Hey all! Just thought I would put this wee message on the site regarding the annoying knocking noise resulting from worn anti roll bar / drop links. Ihave this problem now with my A2 and have done a wee bit of poking about to see what I can get the parts / job done for. I did'nt have the courage to go and ask main Audi dealer what they would take, instead I approached an independant Audi garage to see what they would take. I was told that the job would cost £165 including parts!
Ok, here goes, I know that there will be those that will only ever use genuine Audi parts. I however tend to see good quality replacement parts as a good alternative. I managed to purchase the anti roll bar / drop links from a parts supplier on e-bay for £19.45 inc. p&p. I have spoken to a mechanic who has assured me that it is a very easy (4 bolts) job to do and he would be prepared to do it for about £35 -£40. Ok I know that these are not genuine audi parts but for £60 I get the job done! This works out as a saving of £105 on independant Audi garage and **** knows! how much of a saving on main dealer prices!!!
 
If you got ARB and droplinks for £20 then you either got a bargain or shonky bits.
Just had the ARB and droplinks replaced on my A2.
Interestingly the ARB is an A2 part number, the droplinks are same as a Fabia VRS. Ok not that interestingly. If anyone wants part numbers they are:

WZ-ARB-8Z0411305M for the ARB
WS-6Q0411315G for the Fabia droplinks.

These parts alone are over £100, so if you got decent bits then you have done well.
 
Anti Roll Bars

Ok, I have enclosed a pic of what I got for my £19.45, I was told this was what I needed to sort the knocking noise. Maybe someone out tere will say I need something else or wrong bits? Anyway these were what I was told I needed?
 
hooverlugs - you have bought droplinks. These are £20 from ebay.

The knocking is probably caused by the antirollbar.
This is the half inch thick metal bar that one end of the droplinks fasten on to.

If you follow the metal bar, you will see that there is a "collar" at each side (about a foot in from the rear edge of the front tire at each side).

These collars have hard plastic bits that crack and fail allowing the ARB to wobble and bang creating the knocking sound.

If you can see rust around the mounting points then this is the cause of your problem.

Droplinks will not fix this, but you might as well replace them together (I did!).
 
The ARB is about £70.
I don't know if there is an OEM version of this part. (I think it is A2 specific, but the droplinks are common to Fabias...someone may correct/confirm this!).

The other posters comments about two jacks a spanner and a couple of hours sounds plausable.

Sorry the repair may not be as cheap as you thought.
 
New Bushes

Just been checking the link above by Bretti Kivi, seems that there is a part number for new bushes and that there have been successful attempts at changing the bushes on the original ARB.
anyone know if these bushes can be sourced easily enough, people mentioning a VW dealership for them? Sounds good!

Part No. 6QO411314 N, P or R ???
 
waaaaaait a moment.

Droplinks alone is a couple hours.
ARB bushes (why on earth you'd want to change the ARB itself .... another question) take another two or so. They're a pig to get to and demand I think it's a 17mm. You will NEED to tighten the bolts after the car is sitting on the ground again, too.

Bret
 
Bushes

Hi all, dont want to appear thick or anything but just want to check to see if anybody knows if the bushes (part number below) are Audi parts or are they from VW or Skoda. I checked the part number with euro car parts and they
say that it does exist although they dont stock it as it is a genuine part. Was going to pop to a VW dealership tomorrow and see if i could pick them up. Any help with this or the fitting of the bushes would be very much appreciated. I was always told never be afraid to ask!

Part No. 6QO411314 N, P or R
 
Strictly speaking, that is a VW part number, but as it's used on the A2, then it's also valid for Audi too.

The N part is now defunct and has been superceeded by the R. P is still current.

Cost from Audi is £2.70 each

Cheers,

Mike
 
Thanks!

Thanks Mike for your help, very much appreciated! I will pop along to Audi parts dept. tomorrow and see if I can get the bushes. I will post my experience as and when?
Thanks again to one and all for your help!
 
You'll get the parts no bother - if there before 2pm, next day is usually the norm for parts in stock in the UK.

Cheers,

Mike
 
Hi Hoover lugs,

If you have a earlier model A2, it may have already had the Antiroll bar upgraded to the later spec one. Its quite easy to identify the difference, may be some has a pic or search on here.

Mine had been upgraded, but still had knocking occasional knock. The knock once started develops quite quickly into a constant knock.

I just changed the droplinks, and the knocking dissapeared.

It's a very easy job. 20 mins a side for DIY on your drive non mechanic.

No need to remove the wheel even.

I just jacked up, Standard jack, until the tyre was about to leave the ground.

Turned the steering full lock.

Undid the 2 nuts, you might need a torx bit to hold the ball joint, and stop it spinning.

Reassemble.

Genuine audi parts were about £40.00 inc for the pair.
 
Bushes

Hey all! Firstly thanks again to everybody for their help! I popped in to main audi dealership in Glasgow today and quoted the part number listed in previous post. I had no problem in getting the two bushes, just hope that they are correct ones. I now intend to change the drop links that I purchased and also these bushes, assuming they are right ones. The total cost of bits so far is £20 for the drop links and £5.74 for the bushes. I have posted a pic of the bushes to check and see if anybody can verify that they look correct. Thanks again!
 
They look like the one's i fitted when i did my upgrade a little while back, i did fit the new ARB and fitted these at the same time not sure if they are the same for the old style ARB?????????

Phil
 
Sorry to bring this up again.

I just phoned my local dealer and confused the hell out of them. I quoted the part numbers above ending in P or R. They said both are current numbers and couldn't what the difference was between them. So which ones do I order? They want to know my chassis number, but as I have the old bar with the plastic sleeves, they will want to give me the larger diameter older bushes whereas I want the newer smaller ones as I am going to remove the sleeves?

The dealer has not had to stock/replace these bushes before apparently.
 
Can anyone answer my question please? I want to order the bushes today so I can fit them at the weekend.

Are the part numbers ending in P and R the same shape and size? As my dealer doesn't know.

Thanks
 
The P part and R part are the same, apart from the internal diameters, which are 16mm and 18mm respectively.

Cheers,

Mike
 
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