rlawall

TOO funny! I really am lucky to have local talent to work on the allroad. I have had a 4000 (Man I miss that car, although painfully slow...) a 90CS Quattro (really miss that one, too) and I did my own work on both, I must have rebuilt the door hardware on that 4000 a dozen times!
No space or time to work on the allroad, although I still do the odd thing when I have the time and the weather's good.
My OEM parts were priced as you would expect (around $700) although I get around 20% off from my dealer. Nearly twice what I would pay for the Gen 1 Arnott, though actually not too far from what the Gen 2 would cost.
Having owned an X3 (with a 6 speed, pretty fun, actually!), a 328XIT, a Volvo XC70 T6 (still own that one as a family mover)... there is something about the allroad that I don't get from other cars, a combination of space and (moderate) performance and of course the go-anywhere functionality... I would spend a bit more to keep it going for the long haul, since I've been unable to find anything that really replaces it (and by have I looked!).
6 speed, chipped, factory hitch, heated seats everywhere, fun to drive.
All that said, I certainly do get the other side of the coin... it can be VERY expensive to keep, and when you break it down, there are surely faster cars, way more reliable cars, better handling cars...

Thanks!

Rick

barny0055

Well maybe other companies do follow similar policies. The air springs (thank you for the terminology correction)I purchased came off the shelf at Arnott the same way if I bought them from them direct. The defect still exists.

I have worked in companies that use a retail channel to market their products on a broader sometimes more local scale that the company could. When the occasion arose that a retailer was not supporting the customer in a way we expected them too we worked with that retailer to correct the issue, but we always supported the customer. Arnott have many online retailers through Ebay, Amazon, Auto Zone etc who are selling the products for them. How long do you think it will take before the failures show up and angry customers come back because they cannot get warranty service.

Last week I broke a Craftsman ratchet. I took it into Sears and they took one of the shelf and said "sorry for the failure" and I was on my way. Lifetime warranty that they honor! It didn't matter where I bought it only that it was a Craftsman and it broke. BTW last year when the floor jack I had failed they replaced it too, and I bought that one ten years ago at a yard sale.

I take a great deal of pride in the fact that i am comfortable enough to wrench on my own vehicle. I learn as much as I can, and the results are very gratifying. I chose to have a shop do this job partially because of fear for the pinch bolt hell and because it is very cold outside north of the border. This experience makes me upset because I paid the shop that did the work and the result is so poor! How could they release the car with such obvious leaks. Secondly how can a company not stand behind a product that never functioned as it was intended. I have not even had one day of no suspension problems since putting out to get this fixed.

Maybe we should start a list of people who have had failures with Arnott air springs and when they were installed? Would be interesting to plot if the more recent ones are failing more. Or how about a sort of Angie's list of shops that are good or bad?

sb_gli

you never hear about things that don't have problems. I have arnotts on the front, one installed 2-3 years ago by a shop by the last owner, and the other installed by me last summer. Both are still doing fine even in the ridiculously cold weather we've had this winter....-30F a couple nights and the allroad parks outside. I did buy mine from an online vendor, so I'll probably be screwed for warranty too if I ever need it.

on the other hand, seems like one of my rears has a slow leak now. it looses a bit of air overnight when it's really cold. those are still stock with 125k on them though.

Zuffenhausen951

Always buy directly from Arnott, using their coupon codes. This way, they got your back for life.

rx794

I bought the entire air suspension for my 2002 Audi Allroad directly from Arnott about 2 years ago. This included the Generation 2 airbags, a new airpump and Bilstein shocks. As time went on, 3 out the 4 Bilstein shocks started making noise because they blew out and needed to be replaced. Since I did buy all the parts directly from Arnott directly, I called them up as each shock failed and they had no issues warrantying them for me. They sent me a new shock, I replaced it and sent the old one back to them. I had a good experience with them as far as that goes. They don't make the Bilsteins so I can't fault them for the product but I can give them a good review as far as customer service is concerned when it came to warranty issues.

mike sharples

If you don't mind me asking GTA Driver,where is this audi shop...I live in GTA and could use a contact like that...

AudiQC

I totaly agree with you my friend!!!
I have already wrote a thread about that about a year ago. My second set of rear Arnott are now on their last miles (the compressor is pumping every ....such a minutes...). They have been on the car for not even a full year. Ok! Quebec road are not the best one in North America but 20 000 Kilometers is not a very long shot ....isn't it?? And it is the second set on a 3 years period. Do the calculations..... At a certain point the OEM are a better "investment"