Leon Speed

Today I found noticeable play at 6-12 in both front wheels. The upper A-arms were replaced 6 years/14.000 kms ago. How long are these things supposed to last?

How the heck is that possible.

Do not want to do that job again.

Ducman82

As in you can rock them by grabbing them at the top and bottom? How's the wheel bearings?

Leon Speed

Yes. Grab the top of the wheel, push it in and out, there's play and a metal clunk. Wheel side to side, no clunk but it is harder to check even with steering lock.

Wheel bearings...no idea how they are. Never touched them and no history.

Hold On

As you rock them at 6 and 12, look to see if its just play at the wheel, or the spindle at the ball joints, or the whole control arm at body. Then you will know where to start. Bearings, ball joints or bushings.

dr bob

Check the wheel bearings. Easy enough to unload the wheel and test for play at other points. A certain small amount of play is necessary with the tapered roller bearings, essentially allowing enough clearance for a film of grease. You -might- be able to feel it.

Also: The lower balljoint is a good candidate for making those noises, especially if you drive the car fast. Pretty much every road force is transmitted to the front suspension through that part. Even on relatively gently-driven US cars, these have maybe a 75k life expectancy. They are not expensive (~$100 last I looked), and are not at all difficult to change. You'll need an alignment of course. Note that there are some cheapy knock-off parts floating around, so shop with care.

JHowell37

Check wheel bearings. The bearings are relatively cheap, readily available, and I believe the hubs on the S4 are notched inside to facilitate easier removal of the races.

Leon Speed

A-arm to body is tight. It might be the wheel bearings but it seems weird the play is very present at 12 o'clock (I can push the wheel in at 12 o'clock, there's estimated 1 mm play inward plus a clunk sound) and not anywhere else. However at first I thought the clunk sounded like the rotor hitting the caliper.

So tonight I'm crying in my beer and tomorrow I will take the wheel of to investigate further. I guess if I engage the brakes I can easily determine bearings or not.

dr bob

Just unweight that front wheel so you can localize the movement. No need to remove the wheel. If you can get your hand around the upper then lower balljoint and get a trusty assistant to push and pull on the wheel, you'll know immediately if that's the problem. The eligible faults that give metal-on-metal 6/12 noise is quite short. The upper bushings would need to be squeezed out pretty far before they would make that sound. The bolts holding the control shaft to the body might not be tight enough though, certainly worth checking with your hand as the wheel is rocked.

Leon Speed

One of those days. I'm such a cry baby when something goes wrong. Add to that I'm an idiot.

Cry baby: I didn't have a trusted helper (my wife refused to go into the garage at 11 pm Friday night - can't imagine why) so I lifted the front of the car, put a broom between the brake pedal and seat and...play is almost gone. Have to check tomorrow but I am hoping this means bearings.

Idiot: In order to eliminate a loose nut on the upper ball joint I put a wrench on and it was tight. But the idiot (that would be me) thought 'hey, lets see if I can get it even more tight, maybe then the play will be gone'. I put force on it and tightened nut about 1.5 more turns. Hope I didn't butcher the spindle Would it be an option to back the nut off a bit again?

jpitman2

Is the top nut split pinned ? Apparently not - self locking type..Might need new nuts there. Prolonged driving with loose ball joints might damage the spindle, but I doubt it would happen quickly.

jp 83 Euro S AT 56k

Speedtoys

Then catch up, and do the -easiest- job first, now that you've done the hardest one without even checking the bearings.

Not uncommon to find a 1/4 turn in the adjustment of these after 30yrs.

Speedtoys

And usually, it's just an adjustment that needs made.

Bill Ball

Have somebody apply the brakes while you try to rock the wheel. If the movement goes away while the brakes are applied, look at the wheel bearings.

OTR18WHEELER

I agree with the wheel bearing probability, although I did not have much play in the front end (all original components), I had some front end vibration.
I tightened the spindle nut, that quelled the vibration a little.
I replaced the front bearings and races and the vibration oscillation felt in The steering wheel stopped.
I really did not suspect the wheel bearings to be bad, but they were.
I think it cost about $25 to replace both sides.

dr bob

It's tempting to try to tighten the nut to remove play from wear in the front bearings, but that's not at all a good solution. They seem to tighten up OK, but then they get way too tight as they warm up. Then a race spins on the spindle (usually the inner), and you end up doing a lot more damage. If there's play, just get new bearings and seals, a bit of good grease, and replace all those parts with new. Neither the bearings nor the seals are an exotic size. Do replace both the cup and the cone for each bearing, and try not to get cheap knock-offs of the bearings if you can.