07 C6 Allroad - How Soft Should Ride be?

[simonjf]

Hi chaps.
Picked up an 07 A6 Allroad 3.0Tdi yesterday. Very impressed generally. It's done 137k miles but has full service history and is in almost immaculate condition throughout. Had all of the injectors replaced under goodwill a couple of years ago by Audi.

Just wondering how soft the ride should be? I've left the suspension in Auto mode and I'm finding that driving up high speed humps (the type where you drive up, across a table and then down) causes quite a bit of bounce. No load in the car (except me!).

Suspension sits evenly all round. Air Suspension does raise and lower correctly, although I noticed it took a good minute or so to raise from the second to the top marker when I tried it whilst stationary with the engine running this morning.

It has a Westfalia swan neck detachable hook and fold out electrics. Took the wife's Bateson Ascot horse trailer out for a run this morning in "Tow Mode". Noticed the suspension adjusting as it got used to the weight. It's level.

What I also noticed is that when I go along a bumpy road with the trailer on, I'm getting a bit of jolt on the up and down, rather than fore and aft. It doesn't jolt under braking so I think the trailer hitch damper is fine.

Just wondering if the shocks are on their way - It's an expensive mistake to make if they're not so I don't want to go steaming in.

As a clue, the previous MoT in June 2014 shows "slight misting" on both rear shocks. On the MoT carried out in June this year there are no advisories at all. I've also seen at least one other post stating that a misting or weeping of oil on the shocks for a 4F Allroad is quite normal and not to worry.

Any suggestions from those who know or own/drive the 4F/C6 Allroad very, very welcome! Thank you in advance.

[niall campbell]

I tow with my A6 on an ifor Williams 505, however its standard suspension.

With 130 K on the clock, some things will be on their way out. I suspect the shockers are leaking slightly and the mist may well be nothing to worry about, but .................

Also our cars with ESP and trailer hitched will adjust braking to sort out whats happening dynamically to car and trailer.

Your handbrake on the horsebox should only need to be raised a few inches for it to be fully on, otherwise you need to adjust the long thin rod from rear of trailer ,so when trailer pushes into car the brakes work on the trailer before the trailer dampner works .............. but I digress as you feel the fore and aft is okay.

If the car is wallowing in the side to side movement, I would suspect a pressure valve or lack of pressure is suspect.

That means a garage check

[gianton]

Hi chaps.
Picked up an 07 A6 Allroad 3.0Tdi yesterday. Very impressed generally. It's done 137k miles but has full service history and is in almost immaculate condition throughout. Had all of the injectors replaced under goodwill a couple of years ago by Audi.

Just wondering how soft the ride should be? I've left the suspension in Auto mode and I'm finding that driving up high speed humps (the type where you drive up, across a table and then down) causes quite a bit of bounce. No load in the car (except me!).

Suspension sits evenly all round. Air Suspension does raise and lower correctly, although I noticed it took a good minute or so to raise from the second to the top marker when I tried it whilst stationary with the engine running this morning.

It has a Westfalia swan neck detachable hook and fold out electrics. Took the wife's Bateson Ascot horse trailer out for a run this morning in "Tow Mode". Noticed the suspension adjusting as it got used to the weight. It's level.

What I also noticed is that when I go along a bumpy road with the trailer on, I'm getting a bit of jolt on the up and down, rather than fore and aft. It doesn't jolt under braking so I think the trailer hitch damper is fine.

Just wondering if the shocks are on their way - It's an expensive mistake to make if they're not so I don't want to go steaming in.

As a clue, the previous MoT in June 2014 shows "slight misting" on both rear shocks. On the MoT carried out in June this year there are no advisories at all. I've also seen at least one other post stating that a misting or weeping of oil on the shocks for a 4F Allroad is quite normal and not to worry.

Any suggestions from those who know or own/drive the 4F/C6 Allroad very, very welcome! Thank you in advance.

My '06 A6 Allroad 3.0 TDI has 221.000 km on the clock now so similar to yours and bought it 8 years ago with 15.000 km on it. I can feel the soft ride too in Auto mode and can recall it was a lot more tighter when I first got it.
I have the same Westfalia hook but I don't tow heavy stuff other than bikes and bags so I can't comment how soft it is under this situation. In MOT this July showed 75% in all four shocks where it was at 80ish two years ago. Mine has some mist in the rear shocks too but was advised by Audi that it's nothing to be concerned. As it's an expensive service to have all four shocks replaced (around €4.000 EUR from Audi), I'm planning to keep them as long as I can.

[simonjf]

Thanks for your replies. I think I may have been a little early in judging the car given we only picked it up on Wednesday!
Double checked the tyre pressures, filled it with V Power diesel and spent this morning in the car with coffee, glasses and the instruction manuals.
I have a clearer understanding of how things work now I think - Auto is really "Comfort" mode but there is some automatic adjustment made to ride height based on speed.
The manual seems to infer that Comfort should be soft - We live rurally on the Rutland & Leicestershire borders and are lucky enough to have some of the best driver's roads in Britain right here. So good in fact that most of the major car magazines and a certain television programme use them for road testing and shoots - Having read the manual and with the weight of a full tank of juice on board I put the car in "Dynamic" mode and set off on one of my favourite routes. I've driven that route since I was 17 years old in various different cars ranging from my first car, a rusty brown 1978 Scirocco GLS all the way through to the likes of a 997 GT3 so feel I know exactly where most of the surface's features are and how they change the way the car behaves.
In Dynamic....OH MY GOODNESS...It's a changed car. It hunkers down and eats corners in a way far greater cars couldn't manage. Reminds me a little of the Bentley Continental GT in its characteristics and the way it exits bends.
I'm not so convinced there's anything really wrong with the suspension anymore - Just needed to read the books and make use of the settings. I hope I'm right anyway! We'll see. There is another issue I've discovered but I'll post separately about that.

With regards the trailer, I'm handy enough to have replaced the original wooden floor with the manufacturer's spec composite upgrade last weekend, but I'm not getting involved in its mechanics. Girls and horses. I'd never hear the end of it if I didn't get it right first time.

I've given it to our local trailer repair firm who are taking it out on their car today to see if they can replicate the problem. They think they've isolated it to the brakes being poorly adjusted since the damper in the hitch at least appears operate properly.

[Splash]

I too had "misting" noted on my NSR shock, but I managed to get this funded by my warranty provider (largish excess though) as I didn't want anything to put off a potential buyer a year down the line when I sold. I'll be honest and say that I've only ever "played" with the comfort mode - because it was there. Despite coming on lower profile 19s I've spent the last 5+ years in 18s with more sidewall. I only ever used comfort going up my rocky drive (like a forestry track) and on one other shocking stretch of road where there's subsidence. For table tops and speed bumps I always slow right down and never straddle them (tyre wear). Coming off the M6 for Costco Haydock I have to make a conscious effort to change out "dynamic" as I slow down on the slip road. The difference in "comfort" was negligible for me, and I just wanted to be sympathetic to the rest of the car. 55 profile oversized winter tyres made the need for it even less, but I got used to switching to it almost subconsciously.

As for towing, my maximum load was probably 3 dirtbikes so didn't technically require a braked trailer although it is braked. I got wise to setting the ride height to dynamic before reconnecting the electrics as you've probably found out you can't drop down to dynamic if you're already connected. Not sure if this is a practical option with a much heavier horse box. Yes, there was some effect, but nothing disconcerting.

As mentioned previously, 235/50 18" tyres will fit and might provide you with better traction in a wet field pulling away with your horse box. I'd fit Michelin Latitude Cross if I hadn't got a supply of the 245/45 OE fitment.

[simonjf]

Cheers again Splash. Having a fiddle with the trailer brakes and hitch today. Thanks also for the tyre balance. The new wheels I was after arrived from Germany yesterday and on balance I thought as we'll probably use the car for trips to Berlin and Southern Germany before Christmas arrives I thought I might as well get the mandatory Winter tyres fitted early. Went for a set of Continental Winter Contact TS810 . They should be good enough to kill two birds with a single stone. Haven't pulled the trailer on the new wheels/tyres yet, so we'll see what the extra rubber on tarmac does to the equation later.

[niall campbell]

I replaced the wooden floor in my trailer with FP12 from here http://www.aalco.co.uk/literature/fi...-transport.pdf and local suppliers can easily be found. Its actually very like ifor Williams flooring, presumably the same supplier for them. They are actually like laminate flooring in the way it clicks together.

For the wooden floor & you should get 3 years out of your trailer floor. If you look at the sides of the trailer, then all the horse poo & pee ( more the pee that kills the wood) gets trapped below the rubber floor at the edges. Simply hose this out to allow the water to drain freely. But the water never drains properly due to the rubber floor.

Buffalo board is 25mm thick and does tailgate, floor and front ramp.


The A6 has ESP which also adjusts for braking on towing trailer, when electrics detect trailer, and helps greatly.

Our cars will tow 1800 kgs on braked trailers.

[simonjf]

Girls and horses....Had to be the right floor for the job dontcha know? I bought the upgraded composite plastic floor panelling system from Bateson themselves that fits the Ascot double-horse trailer. To be fair it was £200 odd for all the panels, and the galvanised sides and dividers. It's much better that wood firstly because it will never, ever rot and will last the life of the trailer. Being three separate panels, the floor is now stronger than single board of plywood that came out of it.
Pig of a job getting the old one out though. Ceased screws meant the only option was to circular saw it into sections, brutally rip it out and then angle grind the dead screws off to the cross-members. Went through 3 cobalt drill bits getting the new screws in! Many G&T's were consumed later that evening!