Hi Jack & BlackonblackTt!

Sorry I haven't responded but thanks for your input!

The tire pressure is good all around.

I've had it aligned recently and the car tracks very well on a straight good road.

The car has not been lowered.  I bought it as a CPO from a dealer and it has a clean carfax so I'll assume it was never hit.  It has handled great until recently with no type of event occurring to c.

I took it to another shop in my area (Orlando, FL) who deals with Audi, BMW, Mercedes, etc..  They drove it and did notice the slight free play.  They put it up on the lift, and looked, poked, prodded and even levered the tie rods, etc with a crow bar to look for movement and said everything looked fine with no discernible movement.  They weren't sure why the free play was there.  The boss ventured the thought that perhpas a number of different parts were starting to wear, and put together were causing the free play.  Bottom line, they couldn't find any one thing that they could see that really needed fixing or replacing.

I guess I need a TT Whisperer somewhere in Florida!

Everything may look good and tight, but the car just doesn't handle like it did 3 mos ago (or 4k miles)

As one of the members above has mentioned give the defcon Control Arm Bushings a try.

http://www.mcpii.com/suspension.html

They make a HUGE Difference on how the car steers.  There will be NO Free Play and it makes the

car a lot more responsive.   I know the inventor (Mike Phillips) and his Defcon Bushings will most definitely get rid of the sloppiness in the steering.   It does also help with the tremendous understeer our cars experience.  But for that I also recommend a larger size Rear Sway bar.

The combination with the Defcon and my NeuSpeed Rear Sway Bar make the car feel like a totally

different animal. 

Hi Thomas

Thanks for the advice.  What year is your TT? 

Would have an idea of how much it would cost to change the bushings, including the parts cost?

Just trying to get an idea of what I might be looking at.

Thanks!

Hi Rich,

I have a Red 2004 TT 225.  The costs for the combo that I would recommend is the Defcon II

Actually Mike Phillips has Defcon I on his car and I really can't tell any difference.  The steering

is tight either way.  I think the Defcon I with the poly bushings will last longer than the rubber

bushings but that is about it.   If you are good with tools you can probably install them yourself with

a help of a friend if not I think a reasonable shop will charge you about 150-200 bucks to install them.

It shouldn't cost more than that.   So I think it will be about $210.00 for the Defcon II set up plus

installation.