Banana arms

[Stevey Y]

Hi Gents, I started to suffer some weird handling on the front of my A6 so I ran the car down to the garage I use so I could borrow a ramp, soon saw the trouble it was the Banana arm bushes as named in the trade, A.K.A. front rear lower control arm, anyway managed to get a deal on Lemforder replacements they must be o.e. as someone had ground most of the VAG numbers off of the castings, I assumed that the whole arm and balljoint must be knackered so I butchered the balljoint boots with a forked joint splitter only to find the balljoints themselves were perfectly serviceable even after 150, 000 + miles, on reflection I could have got away with fitting power flex bushes on the inners, hey ho time is money, but I thought I would publish this as they reckon these are a weak point on Audis, so if some monkey MOT tester tells you they are gone make sure they look like this before you launch your wallet at them.

Steve

[Steve Q]

Thanks for sharing Steve. 

Think the bushes are a week spot on all A6 models. I know the bushes go in the arms of the c5 too. 

[Stevey Y]

12 hours ago, Steve Q said:

Thanks for sharing Steve. 

Think the bushes are a week spot on all A6 models. I know the bushes go in the arms of the c5 too. 

Hi Steve, it was just a shame I trashed the balljoint rubber boots as they were spot on for 150, 000 miles but I now know that when these degrade that I can get away with poly bushes on the inner, just found out Audi do a repair kit, yep the inner bush although at £95 inc vat you might just as well pay the extra £20 and have a whole new arm, Audi price £220 per arm depressing their sense of humour.

Steve.

[Steve Q]

It sure is. The A6 eats the suspension arms and bushes I find. 

[K3v]

Hiya,

I have just had an advisory on these on my a6. Is it a big job to swap them? It's not a job I'd tackle myself but just wondering about rough costs. 

[Stevey Y]

On 4/19/2023 at 9:20 PM, K3v said:

Hiya,

I have just had an advisory on these on my a6. Is it a big job to swap them? It's not a job I'd tackle myself but just wondering about rough costs. 

Hi its no real drama but you need a four poster ramp and a pretty comprehensive toolkit, probably about two hours labour.

Steve.