2016 A7 Rough Ride
#1
2016 A7 Rough Ride
Recently purchased a 2016 A7 CPO with 5k. Have been driving it for about a month. Car lives in low RPM's which doesn't respond to small pressure to the pedal. After pressing down it kicks in giving the car a jerk. Between 30-70mph I get a bobble feel to the drive. Not smooth at all. Was expecting a smooth ride from such well reviewed car. Dealer has swapped the front tires but still the same. Seems engine related. Wondering if other A7 owners experience the same.
#3
AudiWorld Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Southeast Michigan
Posts: 1,264
Likes: 0
Received 22 Likes
on
20 Posts
I have a 2016 Audi A7 with sports package and 20 inch rims and my tires are inflated 35 front and 38 rear on Michelin Pilot Sport AS3 and the car is super smooth as glass at all speeds. Even smoother then my Lexus GS350 F-sport I traded in on the highways. Its a fantastic car with solid ride. I do notice that my idle is very low but its fine and the car does have a lag from a slow speed but it rockets once that peddle is down. I may even get the ECU reprogrammed for that lag but its very occasional.
To the OP: Can you tell me what tires you have and what size? Maybe the dealer overinflated the tire to the max load spec and you can look in the manual and drop the pressure 3-4 psi front and rear.
IF you are getting a vibration at speed which I hate the most, I wold have the dealership re-balance the tires and do a ROAD FORCE balancing and check to make sure no tire is OUT of round even when new which can happen at times and cause vibration when its perfectly dynamically balanced. I feel absolutely no vibration or irregular road feel at any speed in my seat, headrest or steering wheel. Make sure that the road force number are no greater than 10 lbs for glass smooth ride. Audi spec is 15 lbs downwards road force from the tire/wheel combo onto the road and it will hop and sensitive customers like me and maybe you will get annoyed with this "vibration or shimmy" at certain speed whereas others will say I dont feel a thing and its smooth. That my biggest pet peeve. So get those tires road force balance this time and make sure the technician remounts the tire to the rim to get the road force numbers to less than 10 lbs per assembly. If they cannot get them to discard those tires and replace with newer ones under uniformity warranty which every tire company has. I choose Michelins because their tires are rounder and more truer and require less road force numbers such as around 4 to 8 lbs per assembly and my cars including SUV ride super smooth at all speeds vs cheaper and OEM tires.
To the OP: Can you tell me what tires you have and what size? Maybe the dealer overinflated the tire to the max load spec and you can look in the manual and drop the pressure 3-4 psi front and rear.
IF you are getting a vibration at speed which I hate the most, I wold have the dealership re-balance the tires and do a ROAD FORCE balancing and check to make sure no tire is OUT of round even when new which can happen at times and cause vibration when its perfectly dynamically balanced. I feel absolutely no vibration or irregular road feel at any speed in my seat, headrest or steering wheel. Make sure that the road force number are no greater than 10 lbs for glass smooth ride. Audi spec is 15 lbs downwards road force from the tire/wheel combo onto the road and it will hop and sensitive customers like me and maybe you will get annoyed with this "vibration or shimmy" at certain speed whereas others will say I dont feel a thing and its smooth. That my biggest pet peeve. So get those tires road force balance this time and make sure the technician remounts the tire to the rim to get the road force numbers to less than 10 lbs per assembly. If they cannot get them to discard those tires and replace with newer ones under uniformity warranty which every tire company has. I choose Michelins because their tires are rounder and more truer and require less road force numbers such as around 4 to 8 lbs per assembly and my cars including SUV ride super smooth at all speeds vs cheaper and OEM tires.
Last edited by Baloo588; 06-04-2016 at 06:39 AM.
#4
Thanks guys. I greatly appreciate the thoughts and ideas. I have 19'' Pirelli 255/40's. They are at 35 in front. The dealership just rebalanced and completed a road force test. 2 tires had excessive road force and were swapped out with new ones. What I'm experiencing is not a vibration or shake in the wheel (that is tight), I'm experience what I would describe as pulse/bounce coming through my foot and leg at the speeds I mentioned. Baloo588, your smooth as glass comment is what I would expect from the A7 and I'm glad it's not something inherent in the the A7's ride. I would expect smooth as glass based on reviews. going to ride with shop foreman next week so he can experience. Test drove another new A7 from the dealer and it also had the same exact issue, different 19 inch tires. I would love it to be the tires as that is easily fixed. Any other thoughts are greatly appreciated.
#5
AudiWorld Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Southeast Michigan
Posts: 1,264
Likes: 0
Received 22 Likes
on
20 Posts
Thanks guys. I greatly appreciate the thoughts and ideas. I have 19'' Pirelli 255/40's. They are at 35 in front. The dealership just rebalanced and completed a road force test. 2 tires had excessive road force and were swapped out with new ones. What I'm experiencing is not a vibration or shake in the wheel (that is tight), I'm experience what I would describe as pulse/bounce coming through my foot and leg at the speeds I mentioned. Baloo588, your smooth as glass comment is what I would expect from the A7 and I'm glad it's not something inherent in the the A7's ride. I would expect smooth as glass based on reviews. going to ride with shop foreman next week so he can experience. Test drove another new A7 from the dealer and it also had the same exact issue, different 19 inch tires. I would love it to be the tires as that is easily fixed. Any other thoughts are greatly appreciated.
My 2011 BMW 5 series came with 4 bent inner lips of the rims because some jackass strapped down the car so hard on the trailer during transport from the east coast that I had HUGE vibration above 70 mph and they kept re-road forcing the tires/rims and I got so mad and made the tech inspect the inner rims and feel it when it was spun on the hunter road force and they were blown away. Things can happen. This same BMW still had vibration with new rims but it was smaller and more high frequency kind at 70-75 mph that was so annoying for 1 year and the dealership couldnt solve with multiple set of tires so I got rid of the car. There were so many other complaints of the F10 BMW 5 having this vibration and some people are saying its a bad driveshaft and some got it replaced and vibration went away. BMW was no help. Then 2 years later my fathers 2012 Audi A8L which had 54k miles at that time had high frequency vibration felt in the floor boards and armrest and I noticed it immediately and he didnt and I was so upset and we had to get the master technician to drive the car to feel it and he noticed it even after new tires were put on and road force below 10 lbs. WE got the dealer to get the regional representative in and he said the driveshaft was out of balance....The good news was this car was a demo with 500 miles and 100k certified warranty so we got a brand new driveshaft covered and the A8L is smooth now and is at 105k miles already.
All Im saying is that your A7 will be smooth as silk when you have the right tires and good balancing. Now I had continentals initially on my 20 inch rims and they were too smooth that I feel asleep literally on the highway without hint of vibration other than normal road feel and noise. The michelins are much more fun to drive with and I recommend them highly as replacement. Pirellis typically aren't very round tires and I have driven A6 loaners with them and they do vibration at certain speed on certain tarmacs and I dislike them. My 2013 Ml350 had Pirellis and god they vibrated like crazy in the beginning and I got 3 of them replaced due to out of roundness and after 1 year all 4 went out of round even with careful driving and routine balancing. I switched to Michelin Latitude Tour HP and the Ml350 was perfect again.
#6
Well, took a ride with master tech this AM. He felt the same road feel coming through the floor. Tried different tires, checked the rims, checked everything underneath with no visible impact issues. Other 2016 A7's on the lot had a similar feel. Told me that was the ride of the car. I can't believe an Audi A7 would have a ride like this. I'm hoping better quality tires can resolve this issue. Escalating to Audi as I want someone to tell me this is what a new A7 should feel like. Also going to go and test drive another A7 at another dealer.
#7
AudiWorld Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Southeast Michigan
Posts: 1,264
Likes: 0
Received 22 Likes
on
20 Posts
Well, took a ride with master tech this AM. He felt the same road feel coming through the floor. Tried different tires, checked the rims, checked everything underneath with no visible impact issues. Other 2016 A7's on the lot had a similar feel. Told me that was the ride of the car. I can't believe an Audi A7 would have a ride like this. I'm hoping better quality tires can resolve this issue. Escalating to Audi as I want someone to tell me this is what a new A7 should feel like. Also going to go and test drive another A7 at another dealer.
Trending Topics
#8
AudiWorld Super User
Try 36 front, 33 rear.
In Europe, higher rear pressures are only for when the car is fully loaded (maximum weight capacity, and high speed running). The car's weight balance is forward biased, so when carrying driver and front passenger only it seems very odd that US numbers are reversed. Has Audi America assumed every buyer is riding around with 300lb of Home Depot supplies in the rear of the car? And so changed Audi Germany's specified ride pressures.
Ride falls apart when rears are too high (and no heavy luggage in the rear). My A7 has 20" forged OEM wheels, 30mm lower S line chassis suspension - as stiff as OEM gets. I certainly feel rough roads (but my S5 is worse), but no bobbles or anything like that. It is completely smooth on good road surfaces, and handles well for the size and weight of the car. I run 38 front, 35 rear most of the time (higher in winter).
But if my rears are too high, it bobbles
In Europe, higher rear pressures are only for when the car is fully loaded (maximum weight capacity, and high speed running). The car's weight balance is forward biased, so when carrying driver and front passenger only it seems very odd that US numbers are reversed. Has Audi America assumed every buyer is riding around with 300lb of Home Depot supplies in the rear of the car? And so changed Audi Germany's specified ride pressures.
Ride falls apart when rears are too high (and no heavy luggage in the rear). My A7 has 20" forged OEM wheels, 30mm lower S line chassis suspension - as stiff as OEM gets. I certainly feel rough roads (but my S5 is worse), but no bobbles or anything like that. It is completely smooth on good road surfaces, and handles well for the size and weight of the car. I run 38 front, 35 rear most of the time (higher in winter).
But if my rears are too high, it bobbles
#9
AudiWorld Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Southeast Michigan
Posts: 1,264
Likes: 0
Received 22 Likes
on
20 Posts
Try 36 front, 33 rear.
In Europe, higher rear pressures are only for when the car is fully loaded (maximum weight capacity, and high speed running). The car's weight balance is forward biased, so when carrying driver and front passenger only it seems very odd that US numbers are reversed. Has Audi America assumed every buyer is riding around with 300lb of Home Depot supplies in the rear of the car? And so changed Audi Germany's specified ride pressures.
Ride falls apart when rears are too high (and no heavy luggage in the rear). My A7 has 20" forged OEM wheels, 30mm lower S line chassis suspension - as stiff as OEM gets. I certainly feel rough roads (but my S5 is worse), but no bobbles or anything like that. It is completely smooth on good road surfaces, and handles well for the size and weight of the car. I run 38 front, 35 rear most of the time (higher in winter).
But if my rears are too high, it bobbles
In Europe, higher rear pressures are only for when the car is fully loaded (maximum weight capacity, and high speed running). The car's weight balance is forward biased, so when carrying driver and front passenger only it seems very odd that US numbers are reversed. Has Audi America assumed every buyer is riding around with 300lb of Home Depot supplies in the rear of the car? And so changed Audi Germany's specified ride pressures.
Ride falls apart when rears are too high (and no heavy luggage in the rear). My A7 has 20" forged OEM wheels, 30mm lower S line chassis suspension - as stiff as OEM gets. I certainly feel rough roads (but my S5 is worse), but no bobbles or anything like that. It is completely smooth on good road surfaces, and handles well for the size and weight of the car. I run 38 front, 35 rear most of the time (higher in winter).
But if my rears are too high, it bobbles
#10
Let's be clear. What is "smooth as glass" to one person may not be to others. Secondly, the road conditions vary a lot in different locals. My car rides great on probably 90% of the miles I drive. The other 10%, or whatever, the car feels choppy. The worst are concrete freeways that have uneven seams between slabs.