Recommended suspension arm brands

[SparrowHawk]

Hey everyone. I have a 2009 A3 8PA. It's had an MOT advisory for the past couple of years: "Suspension arm pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement Nearside Front (rear bush) [5.3.4 (a) (i)]." I'm probably going to put some new suspension springs in soon (myself doing all the work), so I thought it made sense to sort this advisory out at the same time.

I'm handy with tools but relatively new at in-depth car maintenance. From what I have read so far, it sounds like I'd be best off replacing the whole suspension arm, rather than fiddling about with bushings. I like to put good quality components in my car, but I also don't want to spend TOO much, as the car's not worth a huge amount. So far, I've seen the following recommended: Lemforder, Febi, Meyle. Am I on the right track? What would you put in a older but loved A3?

Thanks. Matt

 

[Harvey]

I've used Febi parts a number of times & Meyle & never had any issues or complaints. You could always re-bush your existing wishbones, it's not too difficult & always good learning new car DIY techniques

 

[Gazwould]

Meyle and Lemforder .

 

[NateS2]

Lemforder are the OEM, generally a bit more than the other two but will almost always be the highest quality. Meyle and Febi can be a bit hit and miss sometimes

 

[SparrowHawk]

Thanks for the thoughts everyone--it's very useful. I'll probably try to grab some Lemforders, as they don't seem to be TOO much more. I've checked, and it looks like my A3 has the cast version, rather than the pressed.

@Harvey , regarding just changing the bushings, my understanding was that I'd need a specialist pressing tool to do this, so I thought it would be better to get whole new arms. If a specialist tool is not actually needed, please let me know.

Matt

 

[NateS2]

The bushings you can do in a variety of ways, if you've got a friendly garage they'll press them in for you. Or you can buy those bush pressing kits which are an arm workout but generally work, assuming the threaded rod is small enough to fit through the bore of the bush

 

[SparrowHawk]

Thanks. I think I'll just change the whole arm.

Based on the MOT advisory in the original post, am I right in thinking it would be a good idea to change the ball joint too, or is that overkill?