How do you torque the upper control arm bolts with the strut in place. Also if my car is lowered with links I assume I need to tighten the upper arm bolts and the level the car would sit at lowered? Or at stock?

 

From what I remember, flat crescent wrench on inside, where shock sits, and socket on inside of the engine bay, great to have 2 ppl doing it unless you can wedge the wrench so it doest move while you tighten socket.

 

Hello,

I recently got this completed by a reputable indy shop on my 2012 turbo S with 52k mi. The car drive great. However, in comfort mode with no light on the suspension feels stiff and when i turn sport mode with one light on the ride is smooth like comfort mode. It feels like the modes has been switched. I drove the car the past 3 days and switched back and forth between comfort and sport to make sure I'm not crazy and its definitely switched. There is no error lights on the dash. Has anyone encountered something similar, any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

never seen anything like that. I cannot see a way this could happen, unless maybe the indy was doing some manual calibration and making changes in the ecu. Maybe you should tell them. The height sensor is in the equation here too. look to see if something may be biding its travel.

 

FINALLY completed this after sitting on the parts for 6 months and just dragging my feet. Thanks again to Ciaka for a great write up!

 

Good man.
See? If I can do this, anyone on this forum can as well. Its just getting the courage to start. Then its all downhill. Great to see you get this done.

 

Read your notes and the thread a few times over but unbale to see how you were able to access the inner nut facing the firewall for the upper control arm bolt.
I was able to replace the lower control arm and pull the shock bolts , drop link etc. The nut for the outer upper control arm bolt is readily accessible in the engine bay however i have not been able to access the nut for the inner bolt which faces the firewall .
Can you share notes and photots on how you were able to access the nut.

 

It's real pain, it's done mostly blind and by feel, definitely the hardest part of the job. if you have a endoscope that really helps

 

Completely agreed!

 

Are you talking one of the nuts for the top of the shock?
Ir the nut on side of the upper arm?
Once you remove shock. You gain access to inside nuts for upper arm. The opposite ends of bolts are inside engine bay.
you access in er bolts after shock is out.
To access nut for the top if shock, ypu gotta get into the access hole near window, with long extension. That is one of 3 nuts for shock. The other 2 nuts are inside engine bay.

the upper arm nut facing the firewall....one end is in engine bay aming the vacuum lines and vaciim pump.
other end is where the shock used to be, before you pull it out.

 

Are you guys just replacing upper control arm for suspension noises or must the lower control arm be replaced too?

 

From experience, suspension noises in pananera are classified into two types and come from 3, maybe 4 places. If you haven't replaced these. Chances are ypuvwill need to. Most just replace both upper and lower only to find out upper arms bushings are damaged anyway so replacement is warranted, and saves you the trouble if doing it twice.

1. Clunking when going over bumps- lower or upper arms.
2. Squeaking while going over bumps - sway bar bushings or upper arms or links.

 

The upper arm takes quite a bit of work to get to. (You need to remove the strut. So I did replace the strut at the same time, preemptively). I wasn’t fond of popping the ball joint out and the danger of getting hurt, so to prolong the life before I needed to do that again I replaced the strut even though nothing was wrong with it.

I did not change the lower arms because I believe due to design the bushings on the upper arm suffer from the most strain. Also, quietness/no noise and driving stability returned. Finally the bottom arm can be accessed directly so just wait until you really need them.

 

If you fo them - advice- do not torque up upper arms until car lowered onto tires, or remember the angle of upper arms before ypi remove them, and after you detach other hardware. Doing otherwise risks ypu trading bushings and needing to do again. Yes, I love pre emotive, you spend extra day and save a week later on.

 

So glad I found this thread. I was planning to replace the entire front suspension parts after I bought a used 2013 Panamera GTS, that clunks and squeaks over bumps. I Bought Upper/Lower Control Arm Kits, Sway Bar Bushings/Links, and even the Torque Engine Mount (Passenger side top right).

My question to the OP: when you take the airline off the air strut, some air escapes as I can hear the hissing sound. Do we have to refill the air strut somehow before we install the airline/sensors etc back? I have researched but I couldn't find a definitive answer. I have replaced everything and the GTS is on the lift right now. I would like to confirm on this before I lower down my car as I do not want to crush the shocks. The repair manual said "Bleed the air strut", which I did not do.

Thank You very much!