99 a4 strut noise?

Unless ruled out you have to assume it's the dreaded control arm bushing noise. And unless you actually drilled a hole in the bushing it's unlikely you could have reached the source of the problem with your lubrication attempts...

hth

/daytripper '00 s4 6spd

Very likely that it is the lower ball joint going dry.

Standard fix is replacing the lower control arm / arms.

Alternative is to use a needle grease injector to add grease to the joint through the rubber boot protector. Worked for several friend's A4s and seems to last.

T> hey guys,

thanks for the imput guys, im not good with locating suspension parts, any links to a diagram of the control arm or front suspension. the noise seems to be coming from something near/under the passenger side motor mount. the noise is worst when creeping slowly foreward then hitting the brakes so that the car bucks foreward, oddly it does not make the noise when you hit the brakes in reverse.

We did drill a hole in my son's 98 a4 bushing but that didn't get it. In three cases the dry ball joint has been the solution. BTDT X 3

T> >

The ball joint that I would grease is on the bottom of the strut very close to the tire. If you get under there you can't miss it.

Again, I would bet on the ball joint. The bushing do go bad as well and can be greased by drilling a hole but I would start with the ball joint.

Sometimes you can inject the grease and it still squeaks for a couple of days until the grease works its way to the dry surfaces.

T> thanks for the imput guys, im not good with locating suspension parts, any

one other thing i thought of, i live in ne pa. and every time it snows, we get tons of salt and other shit dumped on the streets. after the roads dryed up i would take the car to the carwash and blast the undercarrige and behind the tires to get the salt off. could the pressure from the water have blasted out the lubrication on something in the suspension?

well, i pulled the passenger side wheel, the source of the sound and pin greased the ball the 2 ball joints closest to the rotor and 2 other ones in the area. still creaking, it will even creak when i jump into the car, when i was jacking it up it made the noise and it seemed it was coming from something very close to the wheel. where/how exactly do you drill into the bushing to lubricate it?

I doubt that the water pressure would be a problem. Time is the problem.

T> one other thing i thought of, i live in ne pa. and every time it snows, we

If you got a lot of grease in there I would give it a few days to work in.

If that doesn't get it: The bushings that need to be drilled are on the inner end of the lower control arms. These run from near the ball joint that you greased inwards. Where they attach to the frame you will find the bushings that can also be involved.

The back control arm has a nylon part that can be drilled with a small (1/8 inch or so) drill. Use a pointed grease injector for this. The pointed injector is about a 60 degree point that you push inwards on as you inject the grease.

The front control arm bushing has always defied my attempts to grease it. All steel and I don't think it would be safe to drill it and possibly cause it to weaken. If that is the problem (which I doubt) you will probably need to replace the arm.

well, i pulled the passenger side wheel, the source of the sound and pin

thanks tony and everyone else for all the imput. i may have spoken prematurely, i pumped that grease in there till it was squirting back out for a few seconds after i removed the needle, so they are thoroughly greased drove it home, then up to my mothers. her driveway is sloped into the yard and i parked off to the side to allow her to get out if she had to, to my joy when i pulled up and out of the driveway the sound was gone. i guess i just had to get that grease in there and parking at that -25% angle must have got it in there. again thank you, i never would have thought it was a ball joint. maybe this unorthodox method of greasing should be added to a maintence schedule, lol, @ 42,720mi. now all i have to do is fix my leaky drain plug that jiffy idiots screwed up yesterday, i swear they should train apes to work there, they would do a better job! oh well its my fault for being to lazy to change it myself this time.