bob493

2005 A6 4.2
182k miles
Unsure of history, rest of the car is absurdly clean and the car is OBVIOUSLY well taken care of.


Problem ->
Driving (at any speed 20+, probably happens at all speeds) causes intermittent (once every 30 - 60 seconds, its truly random) rumbling or shuddering from right rear tire. The best analogy is it feels like driving over a highway "rumble strip", but it is ONLY the back right tire. Its more "annoying" than "violent" and doesn't make a ton of sound.

Tire is new, wheel is round. Tire is balanced fine, that was just checked.

My homework always leads me to "get your tire balanced". That is NOT the issue. I have searched quite a bit, I just cant find it.

Any help is GREATLY appreciated.

aTOMic

Had a similar problem on my Passat, turned out a blown shock caused the most bizarre tire wear ever. Bout drove me nuts until I took off the wheel and it looked like someone had taken a belt sander to the inner tread in about 6 places - they were just flat! Could not see anything wrong from the outside. Strangest thing was it was intermittent!
HTH
-Tom

aTOMic

I should say this started with a nice round tire rumbling, took it off and everything oK - a year later the wear showed up.

bob493

The tire has been off several times though, nothing "unusual" is readily apparent :-/

could a shock issue really be intermittent though?

bob493

Ok, I took a look at it myself.

The wheel hub shifted when I took the wheel off, pretty darn sure thats NOT supposed to happen.

Could a faulty wheel hub cause these issues?

aTOMic

Yes and definitely yes.

That's the weirdest part (for me) is it came and went at random even before the tire got flat spotted. I think it's akin to sympathetic vibration, it only happens at certain speeds, with the wheel's vibration set off by a certain particular set of tiny oscillations (bumps) and just tiny imbalances of the assembly.

Obviously, you've found the cause of yours, hopefully the shock is OK.