Sobsidian

I have had a 2012 a6 3.0T for 3 years and in love with the car, thinking now maybe I should have kept it. But Decided to upgrade at the end of the lease to an a8. I'm looking to see if what I'm experiencing is normal for an a8, or something to get checked out.

1) car is a 2013 with 40k (mostly higjway) miles. The suspension in comfort mode seems a bit too bouncy. I don't hear any squeaking as some threads mention control arm bushings. Having never driven another a8, Im not sure if the car should bounce on small bumps in the road. It seems better when using dynamic suspension setting (a bit stiffer). I just know on my a6, parts of the road are smooth as glass, and this a8 will tend to bounce/vibrate after the initial small bump in the road in the same driving conditions and road location. Very slight bounces/vibrations (hard to describe but easy to recreate on the road ), maybe 2-3 small vibrations after a small imperfection in the road. Large bumps are dampened and behave as I would expect. I'm tempted to test drive a new a8 and compare. It's almost as if there is spring and no shock absorber, but only the smaller road imperfections.

2) shifting from 1st to 2nd when in comfort setting is a bit rough, and even rougher on downshift. Compared tp my a6 with the same engine and tranny, it's not as smooth. I tested (for a completry separate reason on the suspension issue) putting the car in the individual mode, putting everything on comfort, including the engine/trans, and just changing the suspension to dynamic. This seems to make a big difference for the better on the shifting. Im not positive, but it seems like it behaves like my a6 and much smoother on both accel and decel. Software issue? In my head?

3) more of a rant, but the car as part of getting ready for sale had some work done, and one is an alignment with a supposed 2.5 hour duration (according to the maint paperwork). Yet the alignment is way off. If I hit the freeway or do over 45 and let go of the wheel, withing 2-3 seconds the car is pulling right and into the next lane. Told the dealer before I bought it I want an alignment. We waited for 2 hours after signing for them to do the "alignment". They supposedly never even put the car on the rack, and told me they rotated the tires and it was perfect. Couldn't test drive before having to leave, but It's actually a bit worse. Have an appt to get that fixed again. But am not hopeful.

4) another rant...the previous owner supposdely drove a lot of highway miles (refused to fly for work, hence 40k miles), and the windshield is full of probably 100 tiny rock chips/pits. Windshield looks dirty when at certain lighting, and bugs the crap out of me. Got a quote for $450 to replace it by a auto glass co. I'm willing to do it, but wondering if I should try to have the dealer replace it? I bought the extended warranty (platinum coverase I believe) on top of the cpo warranty.

5) last rant...as in #4, I didn't realize this until I got the car home and spent more time CleaNing what the dealer screwed up. But there are specks, like someone sneezed, or sprayed a chemical which permanely stained the plastic inlay next to (and including) the guages. So I have permanent spots that I can't clean or scrub and annoying during certain lighting. It's on the inlay left of the guages, and in the guage outer plastic cover itself. Any advice? Could a detailer fix this?

Thanks again for your help.

derfA8L

Hi and welcome.
#1: need more info re: speed that this occurs, tire psi, and what suspension your A6 had (springs or adaptive air). All can affect what you may be sensing, at least to one extent or another. I found the comfort suspension setting on my 2011 A8L with 19" wheels to be a bit "floaty" at highway speed, so I always placed the suspension in dynamic mode for highway driving---more aerodynamic and plants car onto roadway more effectively IMO. There may be some harmonic suspension vibration at play when going over moderate road bumps at moderate speeds (between 25 and 35 mph) I often felt this happening on one particular spot on a frequently traveled route where the asphalt surface had a number of consecutively occurring breaks/deep undulations (I always had car's suspension set on comfort mode). Additionally, I always keep my tire pressure higher at 38 psi minimum, so the ride tends to be a bit harder/notchy in these imperfect road conditions, especially at more moderate speeds. I changed my driving style on this route, slowing down and going over that spot on the roadway at around 20 mph and that eliminated the vibration.

#2: not sure why placing suspension in dynamic mode would improve the tranny's shifting behavior when it's left in the same (comfort) setting that you've felt the harsh shifting. Perhaps have the dealer check the driveshaft alignment, which may be susceptible to changes in the suspension's setting, as well as checking for any relevant transmission software updates.

#3: an A8 wheel alignment can easily take more than 2 hours. The car must be placed on a special 4-wheel alignment rack where each wheel must be separately checked and it's alignment reset. Rotating tires obviously has nothing to do with this. Additionally, they have to also realign all the radar cameras if your car has ACC. I had to have my car realigned on one occasion, and the tech messed up and my steering wheel was off center by a few degrees---they had to redo the entire process, which took about 3 hours.

#4: Audi windshields are notorious for their "soft" glass. At the end of every one of my 3 year leases, the cars' windshields were pitted by highway sandblasting and rock chips---and yes, when the setting sun hits the glass it looks awful and effectively diminishes your vision. If you have glass coverage, I believe most insurance companies will cover windshield replacement for this kind of pitting if they deem it a safety issue. You should check to see if you fall in this category.

#5: try using a quality automotive plastic cleaner/polish on the clear plastic gauge cover(s). For the inlays, try buffing with a good detailing spray and a microfiber polishing cloth. Not sure what caused the spotting, but I'd try these two measures before arguing with the dealer to correct the issue.

Others may have more, or different, thoughts. Good luck

Sobsidian

Thanks for the quick response. This is great information.

1) Adding a bit more detail, my a6 had spring suspension, recommended psi from the car door placard (not sure what that was). I feel the vibration at highway speeds. I think, like you mentioned, it is better when using dynamic mode at highway speeds. Do you know what exactly the AUTO setting does? Will it use comfort mode at lower speeds, and change to dynamic at higher speeds?

2) I'm not sure that placing the suspension in dynamic mode is what changed the tranny shifting behavior. My theory is setting the individual setting, and placing it in comfort mode (vs. the actual car mode being comfort) changed the shifting behavior. It should be the same as if the car setting was on comfort. I'm not sure why that makes a difference, but its almost as if the comfort mode is not actually being used when selected, but by using individual mode, its forced. I'll test putting the suspension in comfort on the individual setting and see if that makes a difference (basically simulating the same thing has having the car mode on comfort).

I'll take your advice on the rest, and really appreciate the info.

synchrocnc

Hi,

In my experience of driving 2 A8 D3's and 3 D4's they can sometimes crash through bumps and set themselves up with a small oscillation after the bump, I always put this down to the air suspension. On the gearbox front I would agree with your findings of them being a bit harsh sometimes, this seems worse on the D4 than the D3 was.

I had a 2014 D4 as a courtesy car from 2000 - 6000 miles and the steering never felt correct with constant changes needed on motorways, this car was on 20" wheels and I put it down to that, the other 2 D4's I have had have been on 19" wheels.

derfA8L

You are correct...AUTO setting will essentially keep the car's suspension in COMFORT mode until 74 mph, where it then lowers into DYNAMIC. Let us know how things shake out.

MP4.2+6.0

1. Definitely get someone experienced to take a close look at your upper control arm bushings. I'm "just visiting" from the D3 board, but on those it is probably the single most predictable weakest spot in the whole car, let alone the suspension. There was an early post on this board in last month or so of another 40K mile type later D4 suggesting to me the same issue still lingers. It goes all the way back to when the aluminum suspension set up first debuted on the A4, then was rolled into the D2 A8 mid life, and C5 A6 also midlife. Also look at the sway bar links carefully, another known wear area that can lead to some noise. Your alignment issues and frustration also are kind of pointers in these directions too.

2. Being from the ZF six speed world and also having the 8 speed in the Q5 and driven a 2011 4.2 A8 a few hundred miles, ZF continues to have teething issues really getting the shift programming right. Not unique to Audi or just the A8. Even bigger issues arose with their newest 9 speed. As suggested, get relevant updates for starters. If akin to D3 A8, you could also try to do an adaptation procedure, or if under warranty still, to get dealer to do it. Should happen with any software update anyway.

3. Rock chip. As stated/implied in some responses, basically make sure you have glass coverage, or it is rolled into comprehensive. It is on mine, with a $100 deductible. Then first rock hit I get, I report it and always answer the questions the "right" way--happened like yesterday, yep its bigger than a quarter, its "still under warranty" so I want OE/dealer glass, etc. Guy just shows up with the windshield on the truck without further inspection, so for $100 I get a nice new car view if I have the rock hit claim trigger.

4. Spots on trim/plastic. That can happen even with things like Armorall or other detailing stuff. There is a spray called "clear plastic detailer" or something like that. I have it from Mequires that I use. That is just for nice clean up. There is also one meant to polish out super fine scratches or issues called something similar. I have used that successfully to make the plastics look much newer. At one point I was deep into my D3 dash for other reasons and had the trim off directly in front of the clear plastic covering the gauge area. It was a great chance to buff out that small kind of imperfection and scratch sort of thing. Probably 80-90% better post the work; once I had access to the surface (the harder part), it was <10 minutes.

A 8

Regarding your#3, check the tyre pressure and make sure you follow the manual as to the correct pressure.

Sobsidian

I just wanted to follow up on this. I ended up with Audi doing another alignment. This time they spent the time (too much time) doing the alignment. I dropped the car off at 9am, they didn't have the car back to me until 4pm the next day! They said that they had to re adapt the suspension because the front right shock was a few mm off. Since that has been done, everything is perfect on the alignment. I also asked about the upper control arm bushings since the car is at 40k miles. They said they didn't see anything wrong, but the service manager said it "probably" has been changed already. But he had no idea. I'm not getting any sqweaking or noises that might indiciate those as an issue, and now that its cold, I would expect to here it.

I never got around to testing the car modes and shifting behaviors, but I do know that keeping the car in the individual setting, and selecting all options to comfort, except the adapative suspension set to auto, and the adaptive cruise control is set to auto, the car drives much smoother in both suspension/dampening and shifting.

I was reading some more in-depth service manuals regarding the suspension and it seems that auto provides more dampening than comfort mode. So the auto mode works well enough for me. Still kind of baffles me that it still has as much rebound as it does. I have a 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee with adjustable air suspension also. And that jeep rides super smooth and I aboslutely love the ride. I would have expected that kind of ride in the a8, but after driving it for a while, its starting to be ignored/tolerated enough that its not bothering me

I ordered some cleaning products, but have not had a chance to attempt to fix those cosmetic issues. I will report back on that as well once I get a chance to do it. Just got back from vacation and a bunch of work to catch up on.

Thanks again for the replies.