S3 trailing arm suspension collapse - in correct forum

[bargrave]

Apologies, I posted this in the S4 B5 section of the forum...here it is in the correct section!

Hi everyone,

I have a 2002 Audi S3 with some 68,000 miles on the clock which has performed well until last week.

Driving along the M40 the car suddenly lurched from the centre lane to the outside lane, where fortunately there was space for me. On pulling off at the next services, I was shocked to see the rear offside wheel at an angle of 15 degrees or so to the car. The recovery mechanic said it was wheel bearing failure and the car was sent to Victoria Audi in London, where it had been serviced 3 weeks earlier! On being telephoned from the roadside Audi said that if it was component failure Audi UK would be responsible for putting it right.

After some prevarication the garage subsequently rang to say that the trailing arm had snapped clean in two due to a hairline fracture caused at some time in the past by impact damage and produced an estimate for half the value of the car, given that the suspension failure had pulled the entire rear differential out.

Is this a known Audi problem? Surely the breakage of a trailing arm should not be classed as wear and tear for a car of this build quality. I am certainly getting a second opinion from an independent mechanic, but the principle of having to do so at all seems wrong in these circumstances.

Has anyone ever heard of this happening to other S-model quattros? Does anyone think that 6 year old Audis should have rear trailing arms that simply snap in two!? I am pretty shocked Audi is trying to wriggle out of this. Any suggestions?

Richard.

[p.binks]

Hi

I would check into your cars history to see if it had the recal mods done on the rear trailing arms which affected the S3,certainly the early ones.
Had the same thing on my S3 when I had it and replaced a lower arm which was fractured,the guy I sold the car to broke the new arm again a week or two after buying it,lucky the part had a 2 year warranty.
Good luck dealing with audi customer services and get a quote from an independent garage close to you for comparison.

Cheers "Bingo"

[david7m]

From your thread in the S4 section, how come you are involving your insurance company?

Dave

[steve123a]

I had the rear Tie bar snap on me 2 months ago, it was an adjustable KW tie bar, luckily I was only pulling in to a drive when it went otherwise I could have been in a lot of trouble!
Still waiting for KW to let me know about reimbursing me, I only had it on the car for 17 months!

Good luck with sorting the car out.

[Silversea]

I had the rear Tie bar snap on me 2 months ago, it was an adjustable KW tie bar, luckily I was only pulling in to a drive when it went otherwise I could have been in a lot of trouble!
Still waiting for KW to let me know about reimbursing me, I only had it on the car for 17 months!

Good luck with sorting the car out.

I have heard of this happening on both S3's and TT's, it seems the KW bars are or very poor quality.......

I had Forge rear arms on my TT for a good few years and never had any trouble with them.

[Silversea]

Richard,

I have heard of the rear arms snapping although not too common.
As above, I'm sure this was covered by the audi warranty..... Most likely just Audi trying to do their usual and get out of paying for their poor quality design.
If you post over on the TT forum I'm sure you'll get somemore owners how have experienced the same thing.

Good Luck!