ThreeTTwo

The Left-Leaning Avant: the Saga continues...

Previously, car pulls left. Dealer says 'tires', tire store says 'dealer'. Verified that tires not causing pull. Go back to dealer.

Service manager drove it 40 miles (home, overnight) and experienced no pulling. Said in the RO that it does follow crowns and grooves. They inspected brakes and suspension, sounded like they looked very closely for damage. Said all was within spec, no action required.

The brakes still squeal lightly and intermittently from the left side, the pulling to left still occurs, but infrequently, and this was the eighth service action to deal with this issue. (Four at dealer, two each at tire/wheel shops.)

SM wants to go for a drive with us, to see if the problem appears. My sense is that they're ready to look for operator error or ignorance or 'oversensitivity of the Owner Modules'.

Is it time to give up and trade in?

bla4ck

and if your dealer still can't resolve this, its time for a buyback

SRSLY!

ThreeTTwo

And then there's that idea, indeed.

dkea

I had a similar problem with my Nissan Maxima and the dealer looked at it four times. I even took the mechanic on a ride with me and the car pulled so hard on the freeway he nearly pissed his pants. Also had a problem with my wife's car and Firestone told me it was the struts but Custom Alignment fixed that one too.

Let me know if you are in San Francisco area and I'll hook you up.

Aloha,

Derrick

ThreeTTwo

... that's really good with German sport machines, but I wonder what the warranty issues might be. We're still at 2.3 years/30K miles.

diagnosticator1

setting of toe is more than zero, or positive toe, that's toe out, then have the Indy alignment specialist set the toe to a very small positive toe , as close to zero toe as possible, with extra effort dividing the total toe evenly left/right. For the rear, try the same toe setting angle as the front. Specifically setting the front and rear toe to a small negative setting, maybe about -5 degrees left/right, front/rear, then evaluating that setting on the tram-lining and pull..
I recently had U Audi reduce the toe out on my Avant, to positive values about half of the original settings and the change is very noticeable, as a result of that, I am going to have the toe set to -2 to -5 degrees (-4 to -10 total, toe-in, front/rear, next appointment.
I have a non-stock offset wheels on my A4, I am researching the effect on the steering that different offsets can have. For example, the alignment settings according to Audi in the Bentley, are applicable with a wheel offset of 42 mm. No mention if any alignment settings are different for other offsets. I am particularly interested in is the effect the change in offset from 43mm to 35mm and the change to the scrub radius length, an the influence that has on steering behavior.

ThreeTTwo

The stock wheels are the 8E0/ET45 six-spokers, and that's what was on the car when U. Audi did the 4-wheel alignment.

For test purposes (to see if the car went straight with another set of wheels) it's currently shod with the A6's old 4B0 Wineglasses, also ET45.

Short Form Story: pulling eventually cleared up, squeal remains, U. Audi sez everything in spec.

My Assessment: it was brakes all along... either glazed pads or sticking calipers. (We brake very gently, but recently I've taken to braking harder just to clear the glaze and see if it makes a diff. It apparently does and did.) All the folderol about tires (lumpy Michelin Pilot A/S's) was a necessary road to travel down, but a completely unrelated side issue.

As is the vague steering, I think, and the tendency for the car to follow ruts and crowns.

Sooooo... I think what you're suggesting with toe (I don't have the figures, but as I recall they were right down the middle of the safe zone) is the next step. That and get them to address the squeal, which still could indicate a sticking caliper -- though they said they didn't find any evidence of it.

I'm thinking this incredibly aggravating saga might be drawing to a close. Thanks for your truly useful help and attention! The Forum works...

diagnosticator1

updates if available.

EDIT: I have found that both terms for toe angles, I.E., Toe-In, Toe-out, Negative Toe, Positive Toe, are confused by some sources and are defined alternately opposite, in reference literature. To be clear, as used by me in my last post, "Toe-in", is Negative Toe, while "Toe-out", is Positive Toe.

diagnosticator1

I have had several aftermarket brake pad sets on my '03 since the OEM pads, the replacement pads installed to reduce dusting and brake squeal. I had a set of EBC Green Stuff pads first, then a set of PBR/Axxis Ultimates.
Finally, I was very impressed by Akebono USA Corps. focus on NVH control techniques and the unique properties exhibited by the "Euro Ultra-premium Ceramic" pad formulation recently available for the B6 A4.
The Akebono Euro Ultra-Premium Ceramic pads for my '03, required an unusual effort to locate a stocking retailer, and actually receiving the correct pads, as there is an error in the applications listing.

The effort locating a retailer, (The Tire Rack, ask for "Rudy".) then ordering/reordering these pads was very worthwhile.

These are for sure, the best pads I have ever had! There is no comparison, these pads are the hot set-up! NO squealing! No vibrations or roughness, and NO VISABLE BRAKE DUST! (So far,) I know, we've heard that before, but the Akebono Euro Ceramic pads deliver on the claims made, in contrast to the pads I tried before. (The B6 A4 front pads are Akebono PN EUR915, the rear pads are PN EUR340A.)Made in USA, very high quality fit and finish parts.
Maybe this is a solution for your brake noise complaint. Unless you intend holding Audi's feet to the fire, insisting that the warranty coverage remedy your brake noise problem.

ThreeTTwo

The brake pad reference is indeed a hot tip... I'm going to ask that Audi 'solve' the problem first, because this is teetering on Lemon Law territory and I want to carry this issue through to the end.

But as soon as I can, I'm going to investigate these pads!

Thanks, as always...