Front end shake, looking for input
08-06-2015, 01:10 PM
#11
AudiWorld Member
I've had this exact same problem for years with varying levels of vibration/steering wheel shake. In those years I have replaced tires multiple times, front axles, all front control arms, had car aligned, etc. Only thing not changed is tie rods, but shop says they are good and I cant feel any play. One time a few sets of tires ago I went to the dealer and had them Road Force balance the wheels; in the end I spent over $200 and they were not able to get them balanced perfectly as per the machine. At this point I'm no longer interested in throwing money or parts at this minor issue.
08-10-2015, 01:45 PM
#12
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it's your wheels, or at least one of them. I have same issue on my 2002 Allroad and my second set of wheels with snow tires don't exhibit the issue so I knew it wasn't the car.
Asked my independent Audi shop and they said 95% of the time they see this it's the wheels and I should just chuck 'em and buy new ones, said he'd be stealing my money to do any sort of "diagnosis".
Asked my independent Audi shop and they said 95% of the time they see this it's the wheels and I should just chuck 'em and buy new ones, said he'd be stealing my money to do any sort of "diagnosis".
08-10-2015, 06:17 PM
#13
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Man I have the same problem...55-65mph...I replaced, every control arm and bushing in the front, 4 cv joints, new rims and tires, new drive shaft, both inner/outter tie rod ends, upgraded frt/rear sway bars...i have no clue....But when I changed the front cv joint...i remember one screw is missing off the inner shaft where it bolts to the front diff. So instead of 6 bolts mine only has 5...so Im going to order that bolt and see if it makes a difference. At first mine had a horrible shake...now it is barely noticeable... but I want it to ride smooth.
08-14-2015, 01:50 PM
#14
AudiWorld Member
Hello!
I had pretty much the same issue in February 2014.
Just at a given speed, connected with road quality, not always perceivable, not connected with tires, acceleration, etc.
The mechanics found the reason.
It was the lower control arm bushing. I had to replace the control arm. It is about that certain costy one which is different than of the A6's. The lower rear one at each sides. After then, the car was felt like an airplane, my son mentioned, too "It rides as we would sit in the cinema and watching a movie..."
Nowadays I have the axle problem, vibration at acceleration and steady speeds (but not always) and smooths out when letting the car decelerate without breaking (range 55+....--)
I had pretty much the same issue in February 2014.
Just at a given speed, connected with road quality, not always perceivable, not connected with tires, acceleration, etc.
The mechanics found the reason.
It was the lower control arm bushing. I had to replace the control arm. It is about that certain costy one which is different than of the A6's. The lower rear one at each sides. After then, the car was felt like an airplane, my son mentioned, too "It rides as we would sit in the cinema and watching a movie..."
Nowadays I have the axle problem, vibration at acceleration and steady speeds (but not always) and smooths out when letting the car decelerate without breaking (range 55+....--)
08-14-2015, 03:17 PM
#15
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Hello!
I had pretty much the same issue in February 2014.
Just at a given speed, connected with road quality, not always perceivable, not connected with tires, acceleration, etc.
The mechanics found the reason.
It was the lower control arm bushing. I had to replace the control arm. It is about that certain costy one which is different than of the A6's. The lower rear one at each sides. After then, the car was felt like an airplane, my son mentioned, too "It rides as we would sit in the cinema and watching a movie..."
Nowadays I have the axle problem, vibration at acceleration and steady speeds (but not always) and smooths out when letting the car decelerate without breaking (range 55+....--)
I had pretty much the same issue in February 2014.
Just at a given speed, connected with road quality, not always perceivable, not connected with tires, acceleration, etc.
The mechanics found the reason.
It was the lower control arm bushing. I had to replace the control arm. It is about that certain costy one which is different than of the A6's. The lower rear one at each sides. After then, the car was felt like an airplane, my son mentioned, too "It rides as we would sit in the cinema and watching a movie..."
Nowadays I have the axle problem, vibration at acceleration and steady speeds (but not always) and smooths out when letting the car decelerate without breaking (range 55+....--)
08-22-2015, 01:51 PM
#17
Banned
myself and another allroader talked about this at camp allroad.
my thinking is that something is causing the car to resonate once you get to a certain speed (which seems to be 55-65)
seeing how most folks have replaced axles, c-arms, new tires, rims, balancing, road force balancing, driven on super smooth roads, ect, ect, ect,
the only other thing that is moving is the engine and drive-line
so i got to thinking, what if the engine is causing the vibes to do blown motor mounts?
thoughts?
my thinking is that something is causing the car to resonate once you get to a certain speed (which seems to be 55-65)
seeing how most folks have replaced axles, c-arms, new tires, rims, balancing, road force balancing, driven on super smooth roads, ect, ect, ect,
the only other thing that is moving is the engine and drive-line
so i got to thinking, what if the engine is causing the vibes to do blown motor mounts?
thoughts?
08-24-2015, 08:08 PM
#18
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2004 AR 6 speed with 77,000 miles. I do have sway bars.
I was having pretty bad vibration in the steering wheel. Had one axel replaced which helped quite a bit as the steering wheel would bounce as if you had warped rotors. But the general front end vibration/shake is still there and more noticeable now since the steering wheel is a bit smoother....
I do have an appointment to have the car 'road force balanced' as my next step at the dealer ($90.00).
My head is spinning from reading and searching and reading and searching... Control arms, throw the car away, balance, new axels, motor mounts, etc..
As best I can explain is that the front end of the car resonates/shimmies mainly feeling it in your feet area transmitting upwards. Sorta like if you were in a helicopter and wanted to make your voice sound funny like you were a kid. At times you can visibly see the steering wheel vibrate but this is intermittent but will happen pretty much anytime you have the car on the highway.
Problems only appear at above 55mph or so. Around town, zero issues. No noises, no creaking.
Hopefully the road force balance will fix this and I'll be good to go. If not, at a loss as to what is next. A local mechanic is telling me possibly motor mounts that are leaking and next step is to pull the engine and replace. Which seems totally insane to me as the next step in this situation.
Thanks in advance for any insight and for touching on a topic that has been brought up before.
I was having pretty bad vibration in the steering wheel. Had one axel replaced which helped quite a bit as the steering wheel would bounce as if you had warped rotors. But the general front end vibration/shake is still there and more noticeable now since the steering wheel is a bit smoother....
I do have an appointment to have the car 'road force balanced' as my next step at the dealer ($90.00).
My head is spinning from reading and searching and reading and searching... Control arms, throw the car away, balance, new axels, motor mounts, etc..
As best I can explain is that the front end of the car resonates/shimmies mainly feeling it in your feet area transmitting upwards. Sorta like if you were in a helicopter and wanted to make your voice sound funny like you were a kid. At times you can visibly see the steering wheel vibrate but this is intermittent but will happen pretty much anytime you have the car on the highway.
Problems only appear at above 55mph or so. Around town, zero issues. No noises, no creaking.
Hopefully the road force balance will fix this and I'll be good to go. If not, at a loss as to what is next. A local mechanic is telling me possibly motor mounts that are leaking and next step is to pull the engine and replace. Which seems totally insane to me as the next step in this situation.
Thanks in advance for any insight and for touching on a topic that has been brought up before.
Time for Occum's Razor...
Sounds like your front end components. Get your car up on a lift, get the tech to take his trusty crowbar and test suspension components for play. I am sure you have some bushings that are done or on their way out and your ball joints probably need some changing. What are the odds that a rim is causing this? Does it look jammed up? You been off-roading? It's unlikely is my point.
What IS likely is that the car has 77K and is 20 yrs old, have you ever replaced the whole front end suspension? If you HAVE... well then you can start looking for wheel gremlins and oddities. If you have NOT, then it's probably time. What you are feeling is our car's kind way of telling us she has a touch of arthritis and needs some new bones. Mine is doing the same thing pretty much. She has some wheel shake at higher speeds, its not always there, feels like its the brakes, but with fresh new brakes she showed her *** when the steering wheel was shaking a smidge during high speed braking: play in the suspension components.
So my tech took for a tour under the belly and guess what... old bushing here, cracked one there, little bit of play here, little bit there... soo....
This is my next purchase:
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/aud...ad-allroadkita
She doesn't need tie rod ends, but I am doing them anyways, it only makes sense to do it all at the same time. I could do the 10 pc kit, but why... new front end suspension components (sans air bags since they are pretty new)
and she will get a fresh alignment once the kit is installed.
After that... she will have new bones in the front and jitters will be gone.
Give your baby some fresh bones, her joints are weak
08-26-2015, 06:01 PM
#19
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Bent wheel.
Out of round wheel.
Wheel with lateral runout
Wheel with radial runout
Wheel with bad pothole impact on rim edge
wheel with bad situation.
wheel that's bad that tire shop doesn't want to tell you about because they get $100 every time you come back to check
Bad wheel situation.
Wheelie wheel with bad wheel issue situation.
Wheel bad enough that all the road-force balancing and control arm swapping and tie rod replacing and blinker fluid refreshing won't fix.
Or maybe it's the cigarette lighter LED backlight in the ash tray has a resonant frequency that conducts into the center console and radiates to the floor plan on the driver's side and travels up the seat fastener bolt.
I just paid $100 again today to be told I had a bad wheel that was causing my shudder. So I'm sort of ranting.
Out of round wheel.
Wheel with lateral runout
Wheel with radial runout
Wheel with bad pothole impact on rim edge
wheel with bad situation.
wheel that's bad that tire shop doesn't want to tell you about because they get $100 every time you come back to check
Bad wheel situation.
Wheelie wheel with bad wheel issue situation.
Wheel bad enough that all the road-force balancing and control arm swapping and tie rod replacing and blinker fluid refreshing won't fix.
Or maybe it's the cigarette lighter LED backlight in the ash tray has a resonant frequency that conducts into the center console and radiates to the floor plan on the driver's side and travels up the seat fastener bolt.
I just paid $100 again today to be told I had a bad wheel that was causing my shudder. So I'm sort of ranting.
08-26-2015, 06:36 PM
#20
AudiWorld Super User
Bent wheels not visible to the eye is the first thing I check during wheel balancing, Just discovered 3 rims were bent. Dealer sent to have straightened same day and now vibrations gone. My experience is, after balancing, it's the #1 cause.