Steering wheel vibration at about 70 mph

[Radders567]

Hi all, I have had my A4 2.0TDI 170 S-Line for about a year. When i bought the car it was about 18 months old, the dealer had replaced the front two tyres. After about 6 months of owner ship I started to get a bit of vibration through my driver seat and through the steering wheel. First I thought it was wheel balancing. I had the wheels re balanced. It became less noticeable but it was still there. I have now had the front tyres put on the back and two new tyres put on the front. The vibration has now returned and is worse than ever. I am going to get the tyre place to check the balance on the new tyres as I am not satisfied that they are correct. I have done some reading and the suggestion is that the front track control arms are being replaced with an updated part from Audi to good effect. The car is still inside its warrenty period. Any thoughts?? Has anyone had any experience of the updated arms???. Many thanks

[Radders567]

Just a quick update. I have had the tyres re balanced yesterday and the car is back to how it used to be with just a little vibration at motorway speeds. Has anyone had the arms replaced to correct an issue like this ?

[Sheroo]

I had this vibration when I got my tyres replaced with a local tyre outfit, went back a couple of times, they 'fixed' it and it woud revert to vibration after a while. Took it to local Audi garage, got them to track/balance and haven't had a problem since.

[Radders567]

Just out of interest how much did they charge to track and balance the wheels.

[NickH A4]

IIRC a full 4 wheel alignment is about a 100 notes but this checks tracking, balance, toe, camber etc etc the whole shooting match

Sounds like it could be worth the money though if you're still having problems

Nick

[theskyfox]

I've had a similar problem before. I've always found that vibration in the steering wheel at 70-80mph is usually because of bad wheel balancing. When main dealer tracks/balances wheels they seem to use more advanced equipment to laser track/align.

That said, Just had two tyres fitted/balanced by kwik fit last week and had no problems with it.

-Andrew

[markp306]

A while back I got 2 tyres at ATS and had to go back for rebalancing the next day. This didn't cure the issue so I took it the Audi dealer. It turns out they used weights that didn't fall off 100m up the road!

[Sheroo]

Just out of interest how much did they charge to track and balance the wheels.

From memory it was around £40.

[Radders567]

Thanks all. I will give that a try.

[spartacus 68]

Thrown lead on the wheel, flat spot on the tyre, worn tie-rod end, etc.

Jack up the car and grip the wheel at 10 to 2 position and check for tell tale 'clunk' from tie-rod end, or worn ball joint on upper arms at pinch bolt. Apply pressure and rock from side to side. The tie rod could be inner or external section. Check for play.

Thrown lead weight is easy, just stick on the spare and drive. Your local tyre bay can check if in doubt. Don't go to the same place you went before.

Flat spot is a little more tricky. You can try rotating the spare to all tyres to see if that cancels out the vibration.