Acuransx

Yikes, two weeks into our lease of /18 A4 last night I heard a noise coming from left rear when driving on a road that was less than smooth. First time in this car that I've heard any creak/squeak, etc. It sounded somewhat metallic. I didn't hear anything today but tomorrow or on weekend will drive that same road. Not happy to hear that some of you have experienced the issues described above and I'm hoping that I'm not experiencing same thing. I'm having a bit of lessee's remorse. I have a /15 A6 3.0T that I very much enjoy driving but it has had its share of issues (all covered under warranty) in its first 3 years/28,000 miles that have not exactly been confidence inspiring. I own that car and don't want to take a 25K haircut by offloading it now so I'm hopeful that problems were "teething problems" (if you can call poorly designed and failure-prone upper timing chain tensioners -- a problem Audi seems to have with numerous of its engine lines -- teething problems) and all will be peaceful going forward. Wife really liked the A5 Sport Back we had as a loaner for some weeks so I went ahead and leased her a nicely equipped A4 which is a lot of fun to drive. Now I'm thinking I should have run back to Mother Honda or perhaps a Chevy Impala! Hopefully what I heard does not return and if it does is an easy fix. This type of thing just shouldn't happen in a nearly 50K vehicle.

Best,
Jeff

Jcali0

Thank you for posting your findings. I recently brought my 2018 A4, into the dealership, for the same issue mentioned by so many. The creaking noise coming from the rear pillars. Not only is the sounds driving me insane, it sounds like I'm an old wooden ship when turning in and out of driveways.

Unfortunately the dealership is telling me to hang tight, until a bulletin is released from out from Audi!! Let's be real..... This can take months up to years to get enough complaints from customers for any type of investigation and remedy to be come out.

What advise can anyone provide to get this issues resolved ASAP? I have since called Audi of American and they have recommended that I bring the car back to the dealership, who refuses todo anything until the bulletin for repairs has been released.

HyperS4

Turn the radio up louder...

hipendicular

This "Noise" has been driving me crazy for the last two weeks. I've always had it and its pretty faint when I have the seats up and as mentioned above, I can not hear it when I'm playing the radio.... But just cause i know its there, its been "Mission One".

With everything in place it sounds exactly like that rear window pin thing that I was reading about but after breaking off that pin, its still there. Mine noise is on the drivers side only.

Here's list of stuff I've tried to get this damn noise to go away. Removed rear parcel shelf, removed rear C pillar trim, removed rear 1/4 window trim, removed center and drivers side trunk panels. This only made it louder. I had my wife drive me around with all the panels out and I could swear it was coming from the drivers side rear fender. I pulled the rear fender liner and check the tightness of the upper rear shock mount.. Still the same.

I then though it was all those computers and fuse blocks that are held with plastic brackets behind the fender. Nope.. I give up.

It doesn't do the creak or "pop" or tap over every bump but certain streets can really make her sing but it def makes more noise when a certain part of the chassis is loaded up.

God, I hope they release a TSB or something, this noise is driving me crazy...

Thanks
Ken

P.s. My car is a 17 P+ quattro with sport package and nav/VC.

Acuransx

I have heard the noise in our /18 Premium Plus occasionally. I understand there is a TSB regarding rear window clips or something like that so I'm hoping this is our issue. However, would not surprise me if it is the body creak that may come from some faulty welds. Ugh. I'm not an Audi hater/basher but I've had more trouble with my /15 A6 3.0T Premium Plus in 3.5 years/33K miles than I've had with my 04 Acura TL in 15 years/171K miles. I keep hoping that Audi lives up to its recent good press in Consumers Reports and elsewhere as regards better quality but something tells me that this is not going to be the case. I moved over to Audi because Honda/Acura and Toyota/Lexus had nothing to offer that provided some driving joy. I think I'm about ready to trade the driving joy for reliability and fewer visits to the dealer. LOL. Not going to let these warranty items (the most egregious of which was replacement of upper timing chain tensioners on the A6 at 27K miles) ruin my enjoyment of the cars but I'm pretty sure I will be moving on when the A4 lease is up and the A6 will not be a long term hold for me. Too many problems too early in car's life.

Best,
Jeff

DeXel

I have the same creak. First time I noticed was after the body shop did the work on it after an accident, so I though it was something they forgot to do, but then I discovered this thread. I did not want to waste anymore time on it since I do not have much time left on the lease. However, my sister's car has the same issue. So it seems quite common.

Street

Mine developed creaking sounds from around the doors and windows. I got a customer satisfaction survey from Audi about a year ago and I recall it asked specific questions about if my car made creaking sounds. At that time, it didn't. It does now. I tried spraying rubber lubricant on all the weather seals thinking the doors were moving while driving over curb cuts and uneven driveways and that didn't fix it.

At my last service visit, I mentioned it to the advisor, and she said the creaking is considered normal by Audi. Not if I hear it on bumps, but on driveways normal.

hipendicular

I was getting an air bag malfunction light on my car recently, only when the wife was sitting in it of course.. =( and I was due for my 30K mile service, so it was time to visit my local Dealer. My service advisor was cool but really in a hurry and I told him quickly about that rattle... He did put it my ticket and I got a nice q5 P+ for a loaner (more on this later).

After of having the loaner for a week, I texted my SA and he replied that they are really looking into that dreaded creak/rattle. I told him that i read online that someone posted about needing a spot weld, and he replied that they have done spot welding before to solve problems like this but they would keep digging.. So there is hope. I don't care if they take a normal welder to that fender, no one ever looks there and that noise needs to go.

So back to the loaner, man is it nice. No noise, proper panoramic sunroof, most of the features from my A4 (VC, Nav, blind spot, etc). So my wife has been itching to get a new SUV. She really wanted a Lexus and after looking at them again oh heck no. Kinda ugly outside and really ugly inside, and a 6 speed auto, no turbo and pretty bad MPG (Lexus NX btw).. no thanks. So she really took to this Q5 after trading with me for a few days. She was looking into a used 2018 Q3 but was hoping to find a really good deal on a q5 P+ We found a dealer with a really good price on a used Q3 and a used Q5 but the dealer also had a new 2018 q5 that they wanted to get rid of. She did not like the q3 and the new q5 was about $5K more than a used premium q5 with VC so she jumped on that new Q5! MSRP was $53K (P+, VC, Air cooled sport seats (warm weather package) 20" wheels and B&O) and she got it for $43K plus they gave us what we wanted for her 120K mile 2014 Mazda 6. It nice but Matador Red.. not my first choice but it was like when I bought my Gotland Green A4.. couldn't turn down the price.. we are now the cheap and undesirable color Audi Family.. LOL

Ken 17 A4 P+

Acuransx

While I tend to wind up with more conservative colors (usually silver as I find it to be very low maintenance to keep looking good), we had a Matador red A5 sport back loaner for nearly 2 months while my A6 was getting upgraded upper timing chain tensioners under warranty at 27K miles (lead tech had a family tragedy just before starting the job and dealer kept me in the loaner which was just fine with me). I thought the color was very nice and we liked the A5 so much I leased my wife an A4 Quattro PP. I like the Gotland Green as well. Nothing wrong with either of those two colors IMHO and kind of nice to have something you don't see all the time. Keep us posted on the creak/rattle -- ours does it intermittently. Not sure how far I'll go to attempt to eliminate as car is leased and in 2.5 years adieu A4.

Best,
Jeff

hipendicular

After the dealer having my car for over 3 weeks, I got a call today from my SA saying that Audi has released a TSB (I'll see if I can get the actual number when I pick up the car) for this rattle problem. He said that the TSB is saying to open up that area and expand the area where the two pieces of metal are by 5/8" (or something) and then install some foam and then two rivets to put it back together.

At this point, I don't care.. I just want that noise gone. I'm gonna be sad to give up the free loaner Q5 but its always nice to get your car back.

I'll post back up when I get the car back and see if i can get the TSB number..

Ken