bk3104

I'm talking about the slight vibration/shimmy that people mention.
1) Those of you that have it, did it start right away after you took delivery or was this something that "developed" over time?
2) Those of you that managed to get it fixed, has it stayed away since it was fixed?
3) How common is this? I hear it mentioned but I'm wondering if it is a small percentage of owners that actually have this and most A6's are fine.

Thanks for your help.

mas6700

I have a new 2002 2.7T that I bought in May. It was a special order Ming Blue/Vanilla with a 6 speed, so it came straight from the factory after about 2 1/2 months. I did have severe vibration and steering wheel shakes pretty much right from the start as far as I can tell. Initially I was overwhelemed by how uncomfortable the sport seats were so I probably didn't focus much on other things. The car also pulled to the left driving down a flat, level road, which got much worse as I braked. Again I didn't really pick up on this at first because the car I had been driving got hit a few months earlier, and it also pulled hard to the left, so it didn't occure to me right away that I was compensating for this while in the A6.

After about 3 months I brought the car in to have it's oil changed at 5000 miles. (No.. it wasn't covered under warrantee, I just thought it was crazy to run regular oil, not synthetic, in an brand new engine for the first 10K miles without changing it, especially in an engine that gets as hot at the 2.7T). When I brought it in I of course told the dealer (Rockville, MD Porsche/Audi) about the vibration and the hard pulling to the left. To fix the pulling to the left they had to "put the alignment back into spec", and for the vibration they balance one or two of my wheels. I commented that I thought it was rather strange that a car like this would come straight from the factory with the alignment "out of spec", and they totally agreed with me. I didn't say anything about the wheels needing balancing.

Initially after I got the car back the alignement was much improved and the vibration also seemed to be significantly reduced. But after a few days I started to notice that the car still seemed to track to the left if I let go of the steering wheel, and the car still seemed to vibrate at all speeds, particularly at around 45 mph where the steering wheel is visably shaking. I haven't brought the car back to the dealership yet because I'm reluctant to get into an agrivating situation with them since they said the problems were "solved", but when I bring it in for it's 10K oil change I will certainly tell them the the problem is not solved.

Sorry for the long, drawn out explaination. I figured maybe you would see some similarities with your situation. There are many things to like about the A6 2.7T, but it is somewhat disconcerting to have such trivial, but really annoying problems on a $50K car that came straight from the factory.

mas6700
2002 2.7T Ming/Vanillia, 6 spd. with every option/pkg except NAV

dug01

Go to this post to read more--Wonder if we could conduct a survey here to see just what the percentage of A6 owners actually have vibration problems. My dealer said they found the shimmy on a newly delivered 2003--I wonder if the FWD A6's have the same problem.<ul><li><a href="https://forums.audiworld.com/a6/msgs/200550.phtml">https://forums.audiworld.com/a6/msgs/200550.phtml</a</li></ul>

bk3104

Responded a few times as well. Can a survey be set up in the AudiWorld forums?

dug01

Did you dump the A6 for a Passat--I owned 2 B5's before the A6--should have got another..

Fairfax 4.0T

The Contintental conti-2s that came with some of the 02 sports packages are notorious for getting out of round. I'm dealing with that now. You are right that it is highly frustrating.

bk3104

I miss the 4.2 quite a bit, but I don't miss the problems I had with it. My B5.5 has been mostly trouble free with just a couple of very minor problems that the dealer quickly fixed. But, I've been thinking about selling the Z3 as I hardly ever drive it and moving up from the Passat, but the vibration issue I experienced before seems to still be happening. It's discouraging as the A6 is a fantanstic car.

bk3104

Or is the vibration from something else?

Fairfax 4.0T

Audi says out of round, but you are right. They have not actually tested yet for being round.

mas6700

Yeah, I always thought it was curious that someone with the exact same "rare" 2002 version of the 2.7T (Ming/Vanilla/6 sp) lived essentially down the road from me. I don't know what to think about the causes for the vibration since so many people complain about it. When you say the tires might be 'out of round' does that mean that they really aren't centered on the rim because of a manufacturing flaw, or are you talking about a 'flat spot'? My car vibrated like mad right from the start, so I don't know how there could be a flat spot on brand new tires. Are you going to get some 'winter' tires? I know we don't get a whole lotta snow around here, but I've been reading that the sport tires are really unsafe on icey and/or snowy roads and I don't want to lose control with THIS car. Replacing the tires would be one way to confirm if it's the sport package tires that are phucked up, or if its something else. One last question... does your 2.7T also pull to the left or right? That's something I really find inexcusable for a brand new car of any type, but especially for one in the A6's class. I thought Audi was better than that....

mas6700