Advice for MOT Advisories on the A3

[Chelles]

Hiya, Not sure if I am in the right place, My 61 plate A3 has just passed  an MOT and the has the following advisories. 

Can anyone advise on whether they are worth paying for it be repaired, or is it worth getting a newer Audi? 

Monitor and repair if necessary (advisories):

• Nearside Front Suspension arm pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement (5.3.4 (a) (i))
• Rear Sub-frame corroded but not seriously weakened heavily corroded (5.3.3 (b) (i))
• Nearside Rear Subframe mounting prescribed area is corroded but not considered excessive (5.3.6 (a) (i))
• Offside Rear Subframe mounting prescribed area is corroded but not considered excessive (5.3.6 (a) (i))
• Rear Lower Suspension arm corroded but not seriously weakened both nearside and offside lower suspension arms corroded and blistered inner at spring mounting areas (5.3.3 (b) (i))

[cliffcoggin]

Whether it is worthwhile is a judgement only you can make, depending on how attached you are to the car. In your place I would get the cost of repair and compare it to how much you are willing to pay for a different car.

[spartacus 68]

Car is coming up for 14 years old, so financially it’s probably worth more to you than it’s actually worth. If you traded in, it’s not likely to be a retail car, and would probably go to auction.

The advisories are related to multi link suspension arm or bushes. If you’re replacing one on one side side, then it makes sense to do the other side too. This includes front and rear arms. Audi use Lemforder or Meyle HD, anything else will wear prematurely in my opinion. Decent arms can be anywhere from £50-£150 each plus fitting. In addition you’ll need a tracking check, say £80-£100.

Audi are known for subframe issues. The subframe is powder coated, so road dirt, salt and water start to corrode on damaged surfaces. You can’t fully sort it unless you remove the subframe and get it powder coated, that’s unrealistic. What you can do, is get the underside of the car jet washed, and dried, wire brush bad areas, potentially apply rust converter then apply wax-oil or Lanoguard. That should keep corrosion at bay for another 2-3 years before you need to reapply. Expect to pay £300-400. 

[Steve Q]

The subframes are becoming a common rust problem on older audis. I'd recommend you get someone wire brush the rust to establish how bad it is then if it's ok, paint the bare metal with paint etc. 

[enc]

Offside Rear Subframe mounting prescribed area is corroded but not considered excessive

On my previous 2005 A3 I carried out some preventative treatment in this area. Not easy but doable. Would have been much easier on a ramp. Long story short, removed rust with various sanders and treated with Bilt Hamber products. Went through further MOTs without mention.  

 

[cliffcoggin]

Well chaps. It seems we have wasted out time responding to Michelle because she has not visited the forum since joining it and posting her query on Tuesday.

[Chelles]

Thank you gentleman for your advice, your time and advice was not wasted as highlighted, I appreciate your input and appolise for not responding in what you felt was a timely manner, the forum is new to me, I have also been away for couple of days and I have just caught up on my emails, and only just seen the notifications about my query. 

[enc]

Made a desision on what to do with the car? 

[Chelles]

Hi enc, after reading every ones advice, going to see if I can get someone to wire brush the sub frame to see how bad it actually is, but to be honest although its a lovely car, it's getting old so I will probably trade it in, after a couple more months of use. 

[enc]

5 minutes ago, Chelles said:

Hi enc, after reading every ones advice, going to see if I can get someone to wire brush the sub frame to see how bad it actually is, but to be honest although its a lovely car, it's getting old so I will probably trade it in, after a couple more months of use. 

Probably the wise thing to do. 
if you were to pay for this work it’d probably be quite expensive , and realistically,  unless done to a very high standard would only be a temporary measure. On the 8p model of which I think yours would be (61plate) the rear wishbones are a common mot failure point as they do rust quite badly. From what I can gather, 8v models are of very similar design and will probably go the same way. I make a point of power washing mine as part of the wash routine 

[Chelles]

I knew it would probably result in saying goodbye to the car after those advisories but thought I would just get some advice and clarification first just incase there was something that could be done at a reasonable price, Any suggestions for the best overall Audi to get me next?