Mako 928

I am installing S4 suspension on MY '85. The replacement lower control arm on one side seems to have movement in the front bushing. As you can see it is very easy to rotate the assemble. There is also some movement side to side from the arm to the bushing assembly.
The other lower control arm has no movement at all which is what I have experienced with other arms.

Is this normal or is this showing wear and should not be considered to use.

Mark Anderson

That is not good and if that is one is from us please let us replace it.

Mrmerlin

the front and rear rubbers are actually bonded to the respective arms this is why the car takes a set when its lifted, so if its loose fitting then its is damaged.

This usually occurs when after a long period of leaking ATF is left on the bushing this over time damages the bond tween the bush and arm

Bill Ball

So, the front bushing is broken. The rear bushing looks very compressed too. I got used control arms from Mark that were very nice. AFAIK, Mark does not offer rebuilt S4 lower control arms, but Carl does.

Mark Anderson

No true,
We offer them as well.

Mako 928

UPDATE:

I contacted the vendor (this was never about the vendor I just needed to know the condition of the arm) and he is shipping another one out no questions asked.

Thank you all for such quick responses, I am needing to get this job done! As for the deformed rubber on the other end it looks a bit more deformed in the photo than in real life.
My current lower control arms have the same form as does a few others I have taken apart and I have not had any problems with them. They seem to be in good condition, so as long as the one that is on it's way is in the same condition I will go with these for now.

Bill Ball

Mark: I looked again at the suspension section of your store. I see rebuilt uppers and rebuilt lower 78-86 but not rebuilt 86.5-95 lower arms. So, are they just not added to the online store yet?

Mark Anderson

Thanks for the heads up Bill. I guess that fell through the cracks but they are in the store now.
http://www.mailordercentral.com/928i...28 341 017 07R

Bill Ball

Mark: NICE!

Bill Ball

Mako: It's very hard to get GOOD used lower arms where the bushings are still serviceable. I did get some from Mark. You know how picky he is about the quality of his used parts. But short of that, you may need to go with rebuilts. I would have but they weren't yet available when I wanted to replace mine. Note that my old ones only had the severely compressed rear bushing. The front bushings were still unbroken, much better than what you were sent. Hope the next set is better, but don't necessarily expect it to be.