It was more than that.

spec'd and manufactured. Design defect and should be recalled immediately.

I am sorry, but any suspension component that is a "spring" in literally *ANY* stock "Murican" automobile has a feature that when the spring bustifies... the suspension is still sound but is severely wonky as far as stance.

This should include torsion bar suspension in the old Valiants and should your A8, since it has to abide by US regulations in regard to basic safety. ANY spring can self-destruct and therefore the regulations exist to keep these things from making the vehicle's axle, etc from failing to do the basic work, though badly compromised on "quality" of work.

Now, if indeed, a failing ball-joint has been ignored, it would have had Severe Problems with steering drifting, sudden (drastic) shifts in direction when driving over things like Rail Road tracks and many sounds when driving at slow speed. This ball-joint failure would have caused a nosed dive into the concrete. Though, I doubt your persnickety senses would not have missed the horrible tracking the steering would have done.

So, in summary, the US has regulations regarding spring that all stock vehicles must adhere to when sold in the US from Dealerships locate inside the US. It is true that while your car would have looked like a "pimped out" A8 with hydraulics, it would have still been drivable if the Torsion bar spring had sheared or "let go". Unless the Ball Joint (or both) had failed, to which the suspension has been completely compromised, you would have been able to safely, but uncomfortably, drive to your $100/hr Audi Service Center.

Yes, this rant about "scaring" people into authorizing work to be done is a common trait in "higher end" vehicle manufacturer, but also has been seen across the board. Its a pet peeve of mine, though I guess I have a lot of Pet Peeves.

Including this sequence of hex numbers:

Zero 9 Eff 9 One 1 Zero 2 Nine D Seven 4 Eee 3 Five B Dee 8 Four 1 Five 6 Cee 5 Six 3 Five 6 Eight 8 Cee 0

Post #283,588 by admin 5/1/07 10:44:25 PM Reply	It was more than that. I might have the term wrong... at any rate it was a piece that would cause the nose end to go diving down into the concrete and the car to veer wildly out of control. Regards, -scott anderson "Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
Post #283,596 by Andrew Grygus 5/1/07 11:03:58 PM Reply	That sounds more like an A-arm . . . . . but those critters are usually attached extremely securely, because if one of those lets loose the nose end will dive into the concrete and the car will veer wildly out of control. [link\|http://www.aaxnet.com\|AAx]
Post #283,612 by Ashton 5/2/07 4:01:20 AM Reply	And.. and the Question is - - H. T. F. do you get something like that Coming Loose! on a 'modern' vehicle? allegedly built where they have discovered 'torque wrenches' (and lock-washers (usually, bent-over lock-tabs.)) Sheesh.. YPTB Teutonic
Post #283,628 by boxley 5/2/07 9:33:32 AM Reply	rubber wears loose, the pounding shakes it apart. Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free american and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 51 years. meep reach me at [link\|mailto:bill.oxley@cox.net\|mailto:bill.oxley@cox.net]
Post #283,631 by folkert 5/2/07 9:47:00 AM Reply	Then they don't have the bump-stops properly spec'd and manufactured. Design defect and should be recalled immediately. I am sorry, but any suspension component that is a "spring" in literally ANY stock "Murican" automobile has a feature that when the spring bustifies... the suspension is still sound but is severely wonky as far as stance. This should include torsion bar suspension in the old Valiants and should your A8, since it has to abide by US regulations in regard to basic safety. ANY spring can self-destruct and therefore the regulations exist to keep these things from making the vehicle's axle, etc from failing to do the basic work, though badly compromised on "quality" of work. Now, if indeed, a failing ball-joint has been ignored, it would have had Severe Problems with steering drifting, sudden (drastic) shifts in direction when driving over things like Rail Road tracks and many sounds when driving at slow speed. This ball-joint failure would have caused a nosed dive into the concrete. Though, I doubt your persnickety senses would not have missed the horrible tracking the steering would have done. So, in summary, the US has regulations regarding spring that all stock vehicles must adhere to when sold in the US from Dealerships locate inside the US. It is true that while your car would have looked like a "pimped out" A8 with hydraulics, it would have still been drivable if the Torsion bar spring had sheared or "let go". Unless the Ball Joint (or both) had failed, to which the suspension has been completely compromised, you would have been able to safely, but uncomfortably, drive to your $100/hr Audi Service Center. Yes, this rant about "scaring" people into authorizing work to be done is a common trait in "higher end" vehicle manufacturer, but also has been seen across the board. Its a pet peeve of mine, though I guess I have a lot of Pet Peeves. Including this sequence of hex numbers: Zero 9 Eff 9 One 1 Zero 2 Nine D Seven 4 Eee 3 Five B Dee 8 Four 1 Five 6 Cee 5 Six 3 Five 6 Eight 8 Cee 0 -- [link\|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net\|greg], [link\|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry\|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] @ *i_wethey* Freedom is not FREE. Yeah, but 10s of Trillions of US Dollars? SELECT * FROM scog WHERE ethics > 0; 0 rows returned.
Post #283,640 by admin 5/2/07 10:35:44 AM Reply	Moot discussion now, sorry. :-) And it definitely needed replacing. Loud clankings and such are typically indicative of badness, not joyness. :-) These guys don't use scare tactics to get work... I had them look at the brakes and was told "they're fine, you won't need to do anything for another 15K miles at least". Brakes would have been a perfect opportunity to get mo' money from me. Regards, -scott anderson "Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
Post #283,642 by folkert 5/2/07 10:41:31 AM Reply	Ehh, ranting. Its what I do. And see my other post on the other message. -- [link\|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net\|greg], [link\|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry\|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] @ *i_wethey* Freedom is not FREE. Yeah, but 10s of Trillions of US Dollars? SELECT * FROM scog WHERE ethics > 0; 0 rows returned.

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