Air Suspension issues
 

So not sure if it’s the snow or that it’s 0 degrees out but the suspension on my GT is not happy. Worried that changing out this head unit i put my suspension out of whack. Getting “Car too low” warning and noticed this when I dropped it off at the shop. Tire is almost touching. Wonder if I get my suspension out of sync or something. Seems odd too lose 2 air shocks at once.


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.6sp...9100905ba.jpeg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.6sp...df941e3fe.jpeg

They're both connected on the same "air circuit" as it were, so when one leaks it drops.

As I mentioned on the other thread, I think it's pretty obviously a bad air strut in the front. Mine failed after I had a detailer really, really, really hose down everything because I was scared of salt. They got the seals somehow, car dropped a day later. Two new struts, I think $3,500 total and car is back to normal. I drove it on collapsed front end, because reasons, now the hood doesn't like to close all the way because I scraped the fender and clearly bent something, don't recommend.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.6sp...62432211dc.jpg

Trying to be optimistic admittedly but mine doesnt look as low as yours. I am hoping that the 0 degree morning is causing some issues. I had that same warning light yesterday but it cleared pretty quickly. I am planning for the west, hoping for the best.

I'm certainly not an expert, I just went through the hassle. With mine, one strut totally blew out (high pressure water almost certainly damaged the seal) and the other one had a slow leak. So they replaced one, and as it sat for a weekend and dropped, so it dropped again. I replaced the second and it's been great.

My take is that these things can have a very, very slow leak that the vacuum pump can easily keep up with/

Mine was bad.

This is the one nagging issue about these cars. I have a 2010 Supersports with 8000 miles on it and have the same problem. The front drops after a few days of sitting. Once started back up, it raises back to normal. There arent many good options to address other then stock setup which is costly and on backorder from what i heard.

Soo @British looks like you maybe right LM Motorsports saying the boots on them are damaged, sending me photos. Luckily the suspension work I am doing they are already taking off the struts so not much more on labor but looking at $1100 per strut up front.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.6sp...fbc463821.jpeg

That seems right. I wish I could find my receipt for the work.

$1,100 per strut is a good price. Are they original equipment?

They are using Arnott ones. Not sure if thats OEM or not. They will be new and not remanufactured. Wondering if its worth keeping the old ones to have rebuilt for the "future" Not sure if its worth it.

FWIW,

A few years ago : rebuilt the struts using the attached eBay airbags. So far all good. This kit addresses leaking airbags.

For reference for a DIY'er or a willing shop this might be useful. Granted the strut hydraulic dampener will not be included in this kit. There is a video on an Audi site showing the process of installing/ rebuilding the air struts with referenced airbag.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Front-Pair-...-127632-2357-0

Hello @DR3ADKN0T ,
Just a heads up, the blown out strut you have on your vehicle now as pictured, is an Arnott, and Arnott are not oem or original equipment at all, also be careful as to their new in-house design that does away with the active dampening that the original factory equipment has.

I for one will never buy Arnott due to their deception as to rebuilt vs. remanufactured, then their deception of not informing buyers that they removed the active dampening when they first sold their "New In-house design", there is a resistor that plugs into the original harness plug that fools the suspension control module in to thinking the proper equipment is installed.

Johnny

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https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.6sp...a806bd52f0.jpg

man I remember that thread. The Arnott rep really got the business 😂. After putting my 2 cents in on it too and asking him straight up and it took him awhile to almost kinda admit to it, I went with Aerosus out of the UK.


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.6sp...6faaf0f7ed.png

Soo.... for the record.This discussion makes one think that some vendors might be buying the aftermarket units seen online and putting their decals on the struts?

There must be a market for eBay and the likes aftermarket struts. The idea of counterfeit doesn't make sense, these units are complicated. Perhaps the Ebay/ Amazon struts may be excess stock or internal rejects from the manufacturers.

The photograph above shows the accordion plastic shield pulled down from the strut. That would not cause a leak. The air bladder is inside the upper large area. Hard to say what failed based on the photo.

The replacement airbag is pressed into the lower hydraulic strut assembly. This is a metal to metal interface with an o-ring. When assembling mine, sealant in addition to the O-ring was applied. That interphase looks susceptible to minor leaking. Spraying soapy water on the outside of the strut without pulling down the plastic accordion strut protector would not reveal leaks.

I took the chance to rebuild mine in order to keep the factory units. The cost was negligible the results satisfactory.

Regarding past threads: the mysterious untraceable front end rattle could be the polyurethane bump stop inside the strut bouncing around.

Just got back from Lakewood Ranch, Fl. Today it's (-27F) here. At least it's sunny.. There were some nice Bentleys at Mecum : Kissimmee, Fl.

FWIW - I bought a set of remanuf from RMT for my Phaeton. These preserve the adjustable dampening feature. They're also like half the price of the Arnotts. No probs at all after a couple years and 15k miles. But they've been a royal pain trying to get my cores returned and get my core charge back.