Edd W

It could also be a problem with the propshaft - if that was not running true it would cause vibration.

Kueagle

Mine is 2015 prestige with 21" wheels and it has similar vibrating issue. I brought my back for a 5k service and the dealer's diagnosis was "too much material in the tires". They replaced them with warranty. I still felt small vibrations sometimes. I will continue monitoring this and might take the car back to the dealer if the problem gets worse.

Did anyone resolve the vibration issue?

TDI_smurf

I was told by a tech in audi that also owns a Q7 he can get rid of it by readjusting the alignment, but it will wear the tires out every 10k miles.
He told me it was something with the quattro system along with the wheel size and tires that's not coming together correctly.
He said pick the shimmy or the tires, I sold my Q7. There's no reason a 80,000 dollar suv should shimmy and have a ridiculous explanation like that. BTW this is the second audi that I had this issue with. Replaced control arms on the A5 I had under warranty, helped but didn't fix it.

Kueagle

Thank you TDI_smurf! My wife 13 S5 Cab has never had any issue. The ride is smooth as silk. On the other hand, my Q7 has had a couple of issues with rattle noise and vibration. I agree with you about the car. $80k cars shouldn't have these issues. The problem is I cannot pinpoint the root cause because the vibrations appear to be random. Sometimes mine is so quiet; and yet some other times, its steering vibrated from little to moderate. I also felt the rear vibrate. The issue is so weird.

OldS4Fart

Resurrecting an old thread for some guidance. My 2015 Q7 TDI Presitige S-Line with adaptive air has slowly developed this high speed steering wheel vibration between 65 and 80 mph but only on very smooth road surfaces. No issues with concrete surfaces and with 50k mi it is now getting very annoying. I’ve had small vibrations since new and dealer told me that the tires just need to be balanced. Balanced the tires over and over, bought new tires, balanced again over and over at different shops. Checked for bent wheels (none!). Ran with lower tire pressures. Re-checked wheel torque. Nothing helps. It’s a diesel so it has the stronger TDI control arms.

Has as anybody figured this problem out?

Kueagle

Mine still comes and goes. The dealer and regional tech had no solution. A friend of mine told me there was a similar case with a GM SUV. They found out that the lubricant/grease used to mount the tires had caused the rims to slip on the tires. This led to imbalanced wheels. I have not been able to mark my wheels to see if this is the case.

OldS4Fart

So I figured it out!

Found VW Touareq Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) 48-15-01 issued January 13, 2015 which is supposed to address this same problem for the VW Touareg. Amongst other things, it advises to torque the wheel bolts by hand with increasing torque and in a specific order, starting with the bolt across from the brake disk bolt (which is supposed to be in the 6 o'clock position) while making sure that one of the three hub flanges is also in the 12 o'clock position.

I have torqued the bolts by hand before in the correct order with increasing torque from 80 Nm but I did not pay attention to having the brake disk bolt in the 6 o'clock position and starting the #1 bolt in the 12 o'clock position.

Problem solved!!!!

2012Q7204

Did you do all wheels or just the fronts? I don't have access to a lift so getting the bolts lined up will be a bit of a pain with the quattro system. I chasing a vibration too that seems to get better when the tires warm up and varies based on road surface. But there is definitely a shimmy which drives me crazy. Doesn't bother my wife at all, go figure.

OldS4Fart

I did all the wheels (as I felt the shaking was from the front AND rear), however I did not have my rear rotor attachment bolts in the 6 o'clock position as per the TSB as I do not have a lift. In the rear, I simply started with tightening the lug bolt that was positioned opposite the rotor attachment bolt AND I made sure that one of the hub flanges was on top so the wheel hub could sit on it when I mounted the wheel. I started tightening all the wheel bolts while it was off the ground at 80 Nm, then lowered to wheel to lightly touch the ground and then successively tightened all the wheel bolts in a star pattern to the required max torque value of 160Nm in 20 Nm increments. It all took me at most 30 min to do.

My vibration was also more road surface depended than anything else. For example, the smoother the road, the worse the vibration.

2012Q7204

So I performed the steps in the tsb to a T (except the road force balance part as I have had mine balanced 2x the standard way and wanted to try this before going down that road).

Took it for a test drive and there was a very noticeable improvement. The steering wheel does not shimmy anymore but I can still feel some vibrations which could just be from the tires honestly. I will also chalk them up to the fact that I did not have them road force balanced and also, they are lower end General tires that the previous owner failed to rotate on schedule as they were showing signs of cupping in the fronts when I purchased the car. They are fairly new however so I don't want to ditch them just yet.

I had seen this tsb before on the touareg forums but was reluctant to try it because I couldn't really see how it could make a difference. The tsb does a good job explaining its rationale but I think the real reason it makes an improvement is because the disc hold down bolt creates uneven pressure on the hub if you don't torque the wheel starting with the lug directly opposing it first and proceed from there.

One regret I have is not marking said lug to facilitate doing this again somewhere down the line as I have little faith in the knuckleheads at the tire shop or dealer to perform it correctly even if I provide the instructions.

In retrospect, what I should have done was simply use the locking bolt for the number one position on all wheels which would be an easy way to identify it later on. Then again, if the wheels are removed and the lugs not put back in the same order then I guess it is moot. Jacking up each wheel, taking it off to see where it is, putting the wheel back on and lowering it to get it lined up then jacking it again to remove the wheel is a royal Pita. That said, it took me about an hour all said and done and it was worth the effort based on the test drive.

My advice is of you have problems with steering wheel vibration or wheel shimmy you should give this procedure a try. Seems a shame that an otherwise highly engineered vehicle requires this silly procedure but I suppose it could be worse (i.e. unfixable).