gman1086

So I started noticing a constant vibration with my steering wheel when I drive. The steering wheel does not move around or shake and my car goes straight when I have my hands off the wheel. The only time I notice the vibration is when I have my hand firmly around the steering wheel. I took it to the dealership and they said the suspension was fine and they performed a 4-wheel alignment on my dime while they were at it. That didn't fix the problem but they put the blame on my new tires (DWS 06) that I put on in Feb with the cause of it having an abnormally high road force of 58lbs and 53lbs in the rear tires. I took it back to discount tires and they road force balanced my tires to less than 20lbs. I drove it again and the vibration did not go away. Finally, I had them change my DWS to the new Michelin Pilot A/S 3+ today and the vibrations on my steering wheel is still there... Does anyone else experience this vibration? I had not notice it until I firmly grip the wheel and then I can't forget about it. It's not a suspension, alighment, or tire/wheel issue.

snagitseven

Did you have the wheels checked for deforming on a Hunter balancer? A single pothole can cause a bent wheel that wouldn't be visible to the eye. Very common - I've had to have four bent wheels straightened over time on my A6. Quattros are very sensitive to even a slight wheel deformation.

gman1086

yes, all 4 wheels were checked and were fine. 4 wheel alignment was done and the tires and wheels were checked on a hunter balancer from the dealership and then discount tires. The dealership and discount tires had conflicting numbers though but even putting new tires on the car didn't fix the issue.

snagitseven

Tires ok, alignment ok, suspension ok. I'd still get the wheels on a balancer again and check for slight hop or wobble - I've seen where balancer guys miss it. I'd bet you have a wheel or two that are bent. There's not anything else left unless something like your control arm bushings are worn and they overlooked it.

IknowHuhA6

If you took it to your Audi dealer.. you should have had a report of what they checked. Dealer mechanics now a days don't seem to show signs of actual critical thinking skills and are not very well trained in cause & effect. Instead most of them follow scripts that say ..
Start at step 1, then go to step 2, if this then that, or skip to step neigh.

In other words.. Occam's razor may apply... but let me throw out a few more complicated possibilities. This is where experienced mechanics across many platforms are worth their weight in GOLD.

Could possibly be
rotors,
bad lug bolt not fastening,
brake material build-up,
brake caliper movement unbalanced top-to-bottom,
unproperly tightened bolts during last brake replacement,
bad bearing,
damaged intermediate shaft,
uneven tire wear,
improper air pressure causing bounce,
component rubbing,

Good luck. Please do share if you get this figured out. Maybe it's just a nail in tire you haven't found.

gman1086

Thank you. I will get in contact with the dealership again and see what they will say since they blamed it on bad tires with having high road force. But with new tires with the same symptoms, it may be a bent wheel afterall that was missed. Will keep yall updated when I find a fix or when I just learn to live with the vibrations.
Also, on a side note, I have taken my car to 3 different discount tires and the dealership to have my tires looked at and every place I took it to, they told me my tires were out of balanced. All 4 places within 3 weeks said my tires were out of balanced??? I can understand how each place can calibrate their machine a little different but the last place I took it to to check the road force of my tires told me the road force was fine but my tires were really out of balanced and that may be the cause of the vibration. Every place I have taken it to had blame the previous place for their workmanship for having an uncalibrated machine but I am thinking it must be something else. Would something in the car cause the tires to be out of balanced after driving it for a few days?

snagitseven

If it were me, at this point I would take the car to a wheel straightening specialist. He can easily slowly spin each wheel on a balancer and using a micrometer will be able to tell instantly if any of the wheels are deformed. At least even if they're all ok, for a few bucks, you will able to rule out any bent wheels. If one or more are bent, for about $80-$100 per wheel they can be straightened. Like I wrote previously been there, done that several times.

Baloo588

I would take the car back to Audi and have the tech measure the out of roundness of the rims and make sure its within spec. I have the Michelin AS3 on all my cars and they are glass smooth. The exception is the newer AS3+ which I could not get in balance and my Audi A8L will vibrate in the seat on the highway and the tires had more than 15 lbs of road force. Even the replacement AS3+ from tirerack where bad so I got the older version AS3 in the same size from tirerack and they all balanced under 10lb and my car is smooth again. As for you, I would have the tech print out the specs for each wheel and make them get each wheel/tire combo under 10 lbs to eliminate vibration. Please avoid discount tire, they dont have great expertise with road force machine and they lack the proper adapter to bolt our rims onto the hunter machine so there is play in wheel on the machine and everytime they rebalance they get different conflicting numbers. Trust me, I have done this before and I got educated in it. I only go to my tirerack recommended installer who is very experience in hunter road force machine or my dealer master tech. Its no point bouncing around to different palaces if you cannot get the top master tech using the machine properly. The Hunter machine is amazing and it can only do you good if you got a properly trained tech. I have many friends in engineering field and they all avoid discount tire.

My independent mechanic and my Audi dealers calibrate the Hunter Road force 1x a week. Discount doesn't do it often and I had to remind them to do it. I stop using Discount tire in 2008 and never will touch them again

As a side note, even a slight bend in the rim will cause vibration at speed and I am very sensitive and have gotten this issue before with cheaper aftermarket rims but never with OEM Audi rims.

gman1086

Thanks for the information. I am taking back to the dealership today. I had the AS3+ put on a few days ago and one of the road force on the tire was 18. Since the threshold was over 20 for a bad tire they told me the 18 value would not affect how it drives. I have had the AS3 before and drove 25k miles before having to get them replaced. They have a 45k Mile warranty. I don't drive very aggressively either unless I get provoked by dumb drivers. How have those tires fares for you?

1st Time Audi

I have the AS3 also and am down to 2/32 after about 25k miles as well. Ordered the new AS3+ and hoping to get a discount on the tires since they didn't meet the mileage requirement.