Bartenderfloyd

My 2012 A6 just started to make a whining/humming noise from the front end (sounds like the driver side). I just turned 51,000 miles (of course). I replaced my tires about 500 miles ago with Continental Extremecontact DWS. The whining/humming starts around 25-30 mph and gets bad around 40-45 mph. It gets better the faster I go but I can still hear it. Plus there was a slight vibration. I thought the noise was the tires so I had all of the wheels re-balanced but that didn't solve the issue. I thought it might be the stiffer tread so I replaced the driver side wheel with a different, original tire, A6 wheel and the whine/humming did not change. I did notice that if I turn right the whining/humming disappears but doesn't increase if I turn left.

Has anyone had a similar issue? Is 51,000 miles common for bearings to go? If this is a bearing, does anyone know where I can get information on replacing it? I've done these on other cars but never on an Audi and never with such little mileage. If it isn't the wheel bearing, what else can it be?

tenspeed

Interesting. It sounds you have a grip on the potential problems associated with the noise. I have replaced around a dozen wheel bearings on various cars and all but one made have made more noise when weight was placed on it. It was while checking out the source of noise with the car on a lift that I learned from the mechanic that you can grab the spring when turning the wheel by hand and feel the ***** crunching in the race.

I would guess that the replacement procedure is similar for most Audis and I would look on YouTube for a DIY. You can then determine if you want to tackle the job or seek professional help.

I haven't heard of any other C7 owners mentioning wheel bearing issues. You could check in the C6 and C5 sections to see how often it occurs with the older models.

JRomulus

I had one at less that 15,000 miles. May just have been a poorly made bearing from the start or perhaps aggravated when I participated in an ACC event and rode it hard 6 months after I bought it.

At first I thought is was the 19" Goodyear tires I purchased that were take-offs, but it was a bearing. I lived with it for a couple weeks not believing it was a bearing. But it was.

https://www.audiworld.com/forums/aud.../#post24497954

Bartenderfloyd

Update - I replaced both bearings and the sound is gone. Each bearing was a bit wobbly when I pulled them off. The funny thing was that I was only going to do one. Since the sound went away when I turned right, I figured the right bearing was the bad one. I pulled that one off and it wobbled when I spun it in my hand. I figured that had to be the bad one so I wouldn't need to change the other one. I put the right front back together and took the car out for a test drive. The sound was still there. I then changed the left bearing (in half the time now that I knew what I was doing) and the sound is now gone. The left bearing did not wobble as badly as the right but it was making a grinding noise when I spun it by hand.

Some side notes:
The 4 bolts holding the bearing were spline (triple square) bolts but the replacements had torque heads. I ordered these Buy Wheel Bearing Kit (62mm, OEM) - 4H0498625A by *** | Europa Parts

The torque spec for the 4 bolts is 80nm plus 90 degree turn. The torque spec for the hub bolt is 200nm plus 180 degree but once I torqued it to 200nm I couldn't turn that bolt more than 20 degrees. Even put the 1 inch impact on it. Not budging.

I wanted to make a video but was a bit rushed for time. I found this video to be the most accurate for a 2012 A6.

tenspeed

Thanks for the update. Nice price on the replacement parts.

JRomulus

Thanks for posting this and the video. Was yours as hard to bang off as on the video? Did you have to use a lift?

Bartenderfloyd

Not nearly as hard as the video. I put the flathead screwdriver on the corner and just gave it a shove with my hand and they popped right off. I did everything with only a jack. One side at a time.

krazyhabu

Hi, if I'm not mistaken I have the same issue. I brought my car to the dealer and they claim they can't hear the noise. I told the service advisor to check the bearings and the advisor said they can't unless they know for sure the bearings are the problem. I will complain about the noise again when I bring my car in for the 25k mile service. Question: why didn't you let the dealer fix this issue under warranty?

Bartenderfloyd

I would have but I only have the standard 50,000 mile warranty and this noise didn't start until 51,000 miles. Annoying yes but I like working on my own car.

felek_pl

I had the same issue on my 2014 A6 3.0T- jet sounding/whining noise at higher speeds. The faster you go, the more you can hear it. It is not related to RPM. I just replaced the wheel bearing and hub assembly and the noise is now gone. Probably would not figure this out without this post/discussion so thanks guys.

Here is a video on how to do it: