Front suspension strut.

[Renato Rea]

Hi there everyone. 

I'm waiting on a front left strut being delivered from a place in Manchester. £160 was the price I bid them down to. 100,s of pounds cheaper than Chinese or thousands cheaper than Audi. 

They say they are remanufactured in a similar way to reconditioned. I'm about to find out. 

If I'm wrong I'm 160 down if I'm right and they are good I'll let you know. 

Please no sarcastic comments as it's to the benefit of all those with older cars to help keep them on the road. 

BTW it's a 2008 A8 d3 sport with 130,000miles 

Thanks Renato 

[Steve Q]

Do t worry you won't get sarcastic comments here. I appreciate the struggle to find parts for old audis. I'm having to source parts in Germany for my A6 C5. 

[Renato Rea]

4 hours ago, Steve Q said:

Do t worry you won't get sarcastic comments here. I appreciate the struggle to find parts for old audis. I'm having to source parts in Germany for my A6 C5. 

Best of luck mate but the word, REMANUFACTURED hopefully means cutting out the cheap Chinese stuff which is now spiralling up in price and reconditioned oem parts much better value for money. 

Thanks Renato 

[Stevey Y]

5 hours ago, Renato Rea said:

Best of luck mate but the word, REMANUFACTURED hopefully means cutting out the cheap Chinese stuff which is now spiralling up in price and reconditioned oem parts much better value for money. 

Thanks Renato 

Hi if its remanufactured in the uk it has to pass stringent safety and durability tests therefore it has to be as good as original, it will have had a new piston and seals as well as oil/gas.

Steve.

[Renato Rea]

1 hour ago, Stevey Y said:

Hi if its remanufactured in the uk it has to pass stringent safety and durability tests therefore it has to be as good as original, it will have had a new piston and seals as well as oil/gas.

Steve.

We'll hopefully everything should be OK and I'll post the results.. 

Thanks Renato 

[enc]

I’m in Manchester what’s the name of the company? 
It’s always handy knowing local Audi parts suppliers 

[Magnet]

Or you can knock the door Ian if anything goes wrong! 

[enc]

14 minutes ago, Magnet said:

Or you can knock the door Ian if anything goes wrong! 

Yes that’s true. There’s quite a few VAG repair specialist and breakers in the NW. 

it’s while since I’ve bought anything from a breakers but it’s always handy knowing their whereabouts. (Not that the OP has mentioned  breakers specifically) 

[Renato Rea]

7 hours ago, enc said:

I’m in Manchester what’s the name of the company? 
It’s always handy knowing local Audi parts suppliers 

The companies are called,  Topmaster - Autoparts and the other is Big time - Autoparts. 

Addresses no idea but they're both on eBay. 

Thanks Renato 

[Renato Rea]

Just now, Renato Rea said:

The companies are called,  Topmaster - Autoparts and the other is Big time - Autoparts. 

Addresses no idea but they're both on ebay. 

Thanks Renato 

I will be posting pictures from the packaging to on the car before and after fitting. 

[Stevey Y]

6 hours ago, Renato Rea said:

I will be posting pictures from the packaging to on the car before and after fitting. 

Hi good shout, pictures always make the imagined part more realistic and potentially more attractive to people who are chasing the same problem.

Steve.

[Renato Rea]

18 hours ago, Stevey Y said:

Hi good shout, pictures always make the imagined part more realistic and potentially more attractive to people who are chasing the same problem.

Steve.

As I said I would, pictures of front suspension strut, how it was packaged, delivered and couple of pictures of attached parts eg residual valve, new aluminium bottle and the top electric connections. So far, so good. I'll have that fitted during the next week and hopefully it performs as good as it looks. 

Thanks for looking Renato 

[Renato Rea]

Just now, Renato Rea said:

As I said I would, pictures of front suspension strut, how it was packaged, delivered and couple of pictures of attached parts eg residual valve, new aluminium bottle and the top electric connections. So far, so good. I'll have that fitted during the next week and hopefully it performs as good as it looks. 

Thanks for looking Renato 

I

[Stevey Y]

2 hours ago, Renato Rea said:

I

Hi looks like a good part as a lot of refurbished parts suffer poor finish and make you wonder, this looks like they have really gone to town on the refurb, these guys are definitely going to make a name for themselves, let us know how it performs.

Steve.

[Renato Rea]

2 hours ago, Stevey Y said:

Hi looks like a good part as a lot of refurbished parts suffer poor finish and make you wonder, this looks like they have really gone to town on the refurb, these guys are definitely going to make a name for themselves, let us know how it performs.

Steve.

Aye will do. I'm not a mechanic but they don't look that difficult to fit. Has anyone fitted one recently. 

Thanks Renato 

[enc]

Watching with interest, thanks for posting. 
im about ti replace front  dampers, top mounts and anti roll  bar links on my A3. 
the top mounts are getting a bit creaky. Dampers look to be originals and with the car past 100k miles replacing them can’t do any harm I suppose. 
 

[Renato Rea]

Right lads an update on the remanufactured strut. 

The garage I used took off the old strut and put on the new one. 

It didn't work. They call me to say the compressor was heating up and the strut was failing to rise. 

This garage services range rovers and other air suspension cars so they know all about jacking modes etc. 

Result was good and bad. 

The bad was that the strut wouldnt work so to check, they put the old one back on remembering that it only had a minute leak. 

The good news is that now the old strut functions 100% correctly. I can only assume that the air pipe within the olive had a small crack and when they replaced it with a new olive and cutting the pipe back it sealed itself effectively. 

That's not the end. 

I informed the company I bought the strut from and they offered me my money back. I thought for what I'd paid for it I'd prefer another strut. They didn't gave another one so they offered me half the money £80 and keep the strut. 

I have agreed to this and will take the remanufactured strut apart and see if I can find out what the problem was and hopefully, solve it then I might end up with a good relatively new strut. 

[enc]

Result in the end. 

[cliffcoggin]

£160 equates to about an hour and a half of labour by a skilled mechanic. Somehow that does not seem nearly enough time to strip, clean, repair, and re-assemble a strut. If that £160 price also included packing and posting then corners must surely have been cut in the work.

[Renato Rea]

3 hours ago, cliffcoggin said:

£160 equates to about an hour and a half of labour by a skilled mechanic. Somehow that does not seem nearly enough time to strip, clean, repair, and re-assemble a strut. If that £160 price also included packing and posting then corners must surely have been cut in the work

. The £160 was the cost of the remanufactured strut. When you purchase a purportedly good remanufactured strut you have to put a certain amount of faith in who is doing the remanufacturing. In my case for £80, I now have the chance to try and find out what the problem is. In my view if I can find out and fix the problem I'm up a perfectly good strut. I can't lose really as the old strut with a new olive solved the problem anyway because now the suspension is fine. 

[Magnet]

Thanks Renato,

For all air suspension issues, first suspect the compressor, and work from there, checking for leaks and unserviceable height levers before moving to suspect the struts. 
Bagpiping Andy on eBay is your guru on air suspension parts. 
Kind regards,

Gareth. 

[cliffcoggin]

12 hours ago, Renato Rea said:

When you purchase a purportedly good remanufactured strut you have to put a certain amount of faith in who is doing the remanufacturing.

Indeed, but if a price seems too good to be true, it usually is too good to be true.

[Renato Rea]

4 hours ago, Magnet said:

Thanks Renato,

For all air suspension issues, first suspect the compressor, and work from there, checking for leaks and unserviceable height levers before moving to suspect the struts. 
Bagpiping Andy on EBay is your guru on air suspension parts. 
Kind regards,

Gareth. 

Thanks for the reply Andy 

[Renato Rea]

5 hours ago, cliffcoggin said:

Indeed, but if a price seems too good to be true, it usually is too good to be true.

Nothing ventured nothing gained apart from other prospective buyers on this site.