Front upper arms - change in place?

[Doug_RS6]

To save me having a look. Does any one know if it is possible to change the front upper suspension arms without removing the strut and therefore not having to disconnect the DRC.

[Jim Haseltine]

Stuck my head under my front wing. Of the two upper arms, I reckon the rear can be done with everything in place. The front is a different story - looks like the top mount needs to be dropped by maybe 4" to allow the arm mounting bolt to be withdrawn.
However, it might be possible with care to compress the road spring and having detached the top mount from the car lower the mount far enough to be able rotate it to fiddle the bolt out. I'd be very careful where I put my fingers with the spring compressed though.

[Doug_RS6]

Thanks. Yeah really don't fancy sticking my hands under there with the spring compressed. I couldn't remember how much movement there was in the strut with the DRC connected.

It's a very annoying part if the C6 RS6 that simple DIY jobs are impossible without specific equipment.

[Jim Haseltine]

Looking at ElsaWin, there are some specific measurements for setting the unloaded position of the top arms which might well be difficult to adhere to with the strut on the car.

[welwynnick]

In general, suspension arm bush bolts have to be torqued up with the arm in the normal ride height position, otherwise the bush will be put under strain and will fail quickly.

Nick

[Doug_RS6]

Yeah. I would normally just lower the car onto stands placed under the hubs or bottom ball joints to tighten them.

[ruedisrs6]

I did it on mine three years ago. The rear upper arm bearing was gone and I decided to change both upper arms. I unscrewed the 3 mounting screws of the strut and used simple spring compressors to have space for unscrewing the mounting screws of the arms on the strut. One problem was the „evil“ long screw in the strut which took me hours to remove. After a few turns the screw was blocked, so I removed the head of the screw with a steel saw and pulled it out from the opposite side by putting washers under the nut. But I heard from others that this does not always work and workshops specialised on Audis have a (unfortunately very expensive) special equipment for this job.
After replacing the upper arms, I put everything in place and and did not tighten the new screws. I then put a wooden block under the strut so that the center of the axle had the same distance to the ground that it had with the mounted wheel when I lowered the car. I tightened the screws with 40 Nm, but the car back on the stand and then I fully tightened them (I do not remember the torques, but i think it was around 60Nm + 90 degrees).
Of note, I changed the direction of the front upper arm mounting screw, so that I am able to remove it without removing the strut in the future. And without a torque wrench with inserting end fittings it is impossible to exactly set the required torques of the upper front
screw.
I hope this helps and I agree that maintenance and repairs in this car are always beyond the normal.