The brief
The Q5 had developed a clunk over speed humps and rougher patches of road. The steering had also lost some precision, feeling vague on broken surfaces where it used to stay planted. And the front tyres had started feathering on their inside edges.
Three things, all from the front end. The Q5's front suspension is a multilink design, a set of aluminium control arms locating each wheel, and when those arms wear, the wheel stops sitting exactly where the geometry wants it.
That is the clunk from the slack, the vague steering from the play, and the inside-edge tyre wear from the alignment drifting out.
The diagnosis
We pry-tested the front arms, levering each one to check how far the bushings deflected under load. The upper arms showed visible deflection, and one had a split ball-joint boot with grease tracking down from it, which means the joint had lost its protection and was on borrowed time.
The rest of the front arms were the same age and showing their own wear. On a multilink front end that means the same call we make every time: the arms have aged out together, the labour to get in there is the same whether you do two or all of them, so the right scope is the full front control-arm set, followed by a four-wheel alignment to put the geometry back.
The work
Out came the front control arms, the whole set. In went new Audi-spec replacements with fresh ball joints and bushings, every fastener torqued to the workshop manual values, and the bush bolts taken up with the suspension at ride height so the bushings settle in their neutral position.
Then onto the alignment rack: camber, caster and toe brought back to factory spec across all four corners, with the before-and-after numbers printed for the owner.
A road test confirmed it before the car went home.
The outcome
Clunks gone over speed humps and rough patches. The steering tightened back up, planted again on broken surfaces. No pull, the car tracking straight on a flat road.
The Q5 went home with the front end precise again. For the owner, the obvious win is the car driving the way it should. The quieter win is the tyres: with the alignment back in spec the front tyres will wear evenly across their tread instead of feathering away an inside edge.
And a fresh set of arms gives the front suspension years of service rather than a return visit.