Cooper Brubacher

I had been experiencing some serious rattle from the rear open air sub ( the one visible when you open the trunk ).

It started happening at around 500 miles. Was getting progressively worse. Took it to the dealer and the tech said I was listening to certain genres of music too loud...

However, because it is a lease and I didn't want to mess with it, I made an appointment for them to take a closer look.

Turns out, the rear speaker shelf is known to start rattling. They got some padding from Audi and now it sounds great !

Andrew Wells

Was this with the B&O Stereo? Or the stock stereo?

Sukhdiaudi

I am having the same issue with the stock stereo. This has to be a general issue. I only have 90kms on my car

mdwcreative

Strangely enough. Way back with my '98 A4 (with the Bose option), I had the same issue. Turns out that the speaker was too powerful for the deck and it was causing the plastic housing to slam back against the metal shelf that houses everything in the rear deck. I ended up getting some cheap single sided sticky padding from a hardware store and lifting up the whole rear lid to add some buffer pieces.

But that car was way beyond warranty. I wonder if it's still the same engineer working at Audi...

2017a4b9

+1

Cooper Brubacher

Sorry for the late response. It is the stock, non-BO system.

Anthony A

I'm having the same issue.
I just thought it was inharent to the music my teens force me to pay during my dad-taxi-uber-limo job. I'll be calling the dealer next week to get the i-padding put in.

Dapper_Vin

I am having same experience with B&O system at just 350 miles on my car.

emmgee

I was very disappointed by the speakers in my Premium model. I experienced the subwoofer vibrations on Day 1. I bought my car, so I was not constrained as lessees are – I decided new speakers were a must. I replaced all of the speakers with decent aftermarket speakers. The dealer added Stinger damping sheet to the rear shelf. The entire job cost $1800. That's halfway to a Premium Plus, I know... But I intend to keep the car for a while and even if I sell it sooner than I'm planning, it will be worth the added enjoyment.

The stock audio electronics in the Premium are pretty decent with good speakers. I chose an open air subwoofer (Kicker) vs. an enclosure. I was not willing to kill trunk space. The new sub is just fine. When I crank it up I can feel the base but there is no rattling.

Here is what upsets me as much as anything: The installer showed me the old speakers and they are literally made out of paper. Why did Audi try to shave off a few hundred dollars this way? BTW, the $1800 was largely installation labor. The retail price of the speakers was not that much. If Audi had chosen the same speakers and installed them at the factory, I can't imagine that the price delta would have been more than a few hundred dollars.

When you spend $45,000 for a "luxury" car, you don't expect tinny sound and vibrations.

esspydermonkey

Hey everyone, I too experienced this bad rattling. There are two solutions, first is that there is a TSB to add some dampening strip to the rear deck.

Second is the rattle sound may not actually be from the rear deck, its the brake light cover on the window. They are currently working on mine as we speak.