That is good information, thank you. So you just snug everything up reasonably tight and then torque it when you have the suspension under load?

 

If I just replace the upper control arms along with the struts do I still need to do an alignment? The upper control arms look much easier to replace then the lowers. Also if I decide to do this do I have to remove the strut to replace the lowers at a later time? It doesn’t look like I have to. Thanks.

 

Snug it all up and then tighten under load, and most definitely on the UCA replacement requiring an alignment. I can't recall if the strut can be left in place for the LCA. I will go have a look.

 

Well, I was afraid of that. I guess I will be replacing it all and heading to the dealer for an alignment and a test of the system if I am still getting the chassis failure warning after the strut replacement. I suspect that I will since the error I am getting refers to the sport mode and the system seems to be operating normally despite the chassis system failure warning. Shocks are airing up to normal ride height with no problem after startup and it rides as it did before the warning. I am thinking now that it might be a combination of the leaking strut along with maybe the valve block. Th pump appears to be working fine with no unusual noise or excessive operation. Even when the system was operating normally with the warning, I still had difficulty raising the car to the high position. Frequently the rear would raise very quickly and the front very slowly if at all. Now I am getting the "not possible" warning when I try to put it in high mode.

 

Well, the passenger side is done. I was a little intimidated by this work but the excellent DIY with the numerous pictures was a huge help. Replacing the upper control arm while I was replacing the strut was a no-brainer since it’s simply two bolts that are reasonably easy to access. The lower control arm was not as difficult as I thought it was going to be. I reattached the upper control arm and used that to support the brake assembly while I removed the lower control arm. It really did not add much time at all to the replacement. I did it in two stages and it took me probably 3 to 4 hours to remove the strut and the upper control arm. I then came back and replaced the lower control arm along with a new strut and then assembled everything back together in about another three hours. I’m quite sure it will be quicker when I do the driver side. Once again thank you very much for this excellent write up. It was tremendously helpful.

 

Great job. Awesome. Bet feels good to have that done.
for driver side plan more time, since the wipers have to come out to get to the strut bolts. Not hard, just few extra steps.

 

Make sure to get that alignment done asap.
get the lifetime alignment at firestone. Costs extra 100 bucks but you can do It as many tomes as you want while you own the car. Helps when you have to disconnect suspension components. No Xtra charge then.
just speak to the guy doing it before alignment, have it in normal mode and make sure to tell them have the steering wheel perfectly straight.

 

I plan on driving the car directly to the alignment shop after everything is done. I’m going to call a local independent and see if they can diagnose the air suspension for me in addition to the alignment in case I’m still getting the errors. If not it will go to the dealer for the alignment and the system diagnosis. Once everything is back together and before I take it to the alignment shop I plan to pull it into the driveway from the garage and let it run for a while to see if the system airs back up and clears the errors on its own. That is what I’m hoping for but I am not too optimistic. Thanks again for the excellent write up. A couple things I did find out was that a 16 mm box wrench is very uncommon. It is not included in most metric sets and I found one in my box of miscellaneous old tools. Also when replacing the lower control arms you need a 27 mm 12 point socket or wrench to get the ball joint off. Luckily I had that as well. It’s a good thing I never throw tools away.

 

SUCCESS!!!!!!

Did the driver’s side today. It only took me about 3 hours to remove everything and put in the new parts. New upper and lower control arms and new Arnott shocks. The upper and lower bushings were cracked but not terribly so it was a good idea to replace them while I had everything apart. Got the chassis system failure when I started it up but the shocks aired up. I left it supported on the quickjack while I started it so that the shocks did not bottom out. After it aired up, I dropped it off the quickjack and pulled it into the driveway. I left it running for about 20 minutes and I heard the pump come on a few times and then it seemed to equalize. I stopped and restarted it and Whallah! No failure message. It went into high mode no problem and after I lowered it back to normal height, it went into sport and sport plus and back to normal fine. I have my fingers crossed that the passenger’s side strut was the cause of the failure message. Now it’s off to the alignment shop! Thanks again for the DIY! Saved me thousands.

 

Why do you suggest not getting a rebuilt air spring? The dealer cost 4x higher at $1,600 each and some people have had good success with rebuilt air springs or even used air springs off a wrecked donor car. Im just curious as to what your reasoning is? I totally understand avoiding RMT at any cost. They are horrible air spring rebuilders because their warranty suck. If you install it yourself and find out the air spring is Dead On Arrival they will not exchange it even if you only had it a day. If you are not ASE certified they'll just blame you and hang up and you lose your money and the air spring. They think ALL mechanics are stupid except for ASE certified mechanics. But there are some good companies out there that range from $350 to $800 it's just hard to know if it will work or if it's good quality until AFTER you install it. IMO, if a rebuilt air spring cost anything over $800 or if a new one cost more than $900 i would probably go ahead and pay the $1,600 for a new one from the Porsche dealer.

 

Hi,

I tried to get a complete new strut but dealer parts guy told me only available in pieces. It is very expensive just the parts without the shock absorber piece. I think the mileage of the struts at 120k km Porsche advises to also replace the shock. Arnott is a good option as they sell a completely new unit including Eibach shock. So far I had the rebuilt on the right and new Arnott on the left. I am happy with how the car drives although at the beginning or once in a while I feel a difference in damping left and right.

 

I went with Arnott because I wanted new units and they looked as good or better than the factory units. I was also looking at two struts and upper and lower control arms (I went with Lemforder) amounting to around $4,000 in parts alone. If I had gone with factory parts it would have been much higher. I wouldn't replace only one strut. If one goes, the other is sure to be close behind. The Lemforder are supposed to be factory parts and they indeed matched my factory parts except for where the Porsche identification had been ground off.

 

When I replaced the upper control arm I did not tighten it under load. Instructions I have note nothing of loading the suspension before tightening the upper control arms. It is very hard to access the bolt and nut involved even with the strut removed. I needed my son to hold a wrench on top while I tightened the nut/bolt in the wheel well.

 

Air suspension here. 2012 Turbo S. Left car sitting for 2 months in cold. Got chassis system failure. Temp raised. Went away on own. Porsche read codes and all ok.

 

Sorry, just noticed this. The reason you tighten under load (or at 'ride height') is to lessen the stress on the bushings. If the bushing is clamped in when the strut is at full extension, that's going to be it's zero-point, or it's resting point. As soon as you put the car on the ground, the bushing is under tension and stays that way until you put the car back in the air. Tightening the bushings at ride height makes the normal load it's zero-point - greatly decreasing stress on the bushings. Less stress = longer life.

The easiest way to do this is using a hydraulic jack with the wheel off. Before you start the work and with the car on the ground, measure the distance from the fender to the center of the wheel. (Mark the fender where you took the measurement so you use the same spot on assembly.) Write that # down. Then when you're ready to tighten everything - with the bare hub, put a jack under the LCA and jack it up until you reach the correct measurement. Then tighten everything. Lower the LCA, put the wheel on, and you're done.