Abidi20

2 months back i was driving from NY to Canada - the steering wheel started vibrating after half way above 75mph. Reached Canada and went to have the tires balanced, found out that both driver side rims are demented and cannot be balanced. They were after market and i had to replace them.
After both rims were replaced and all 4 balanced, the vibration is still there but only from 65mph to 75mph.
Is this something that can be fixed under Audi factory warranty where i don't have to pay - the car is almost 200 miles under 50,000 miles.

Audirings4

It may be your upper control arms.
Audi will cover the costs if you have OEM wheels and Audi approved tires.

Abidi20

Thanks for the response. I have the OEM wheels but i changed the All season OEM Pirelli's to Toyo winter tires. Do you think it would work?

Audirings4

I was told no by my service adviser if you have winter tires.
It really all depends on the dealership/service department.
Your best bet is to have new or near new Audi recommended tires on OEM wheels.
They are going to make sure they cover every other possible issue before they replace the control arms.

snagitseven

The tires should not have to be "approved", only that they be the same size and properly balanced. In order to get the control arm replacement, the dealer is instructed by Audi to do a force balance first to rule that out as the cause.

Audirings4

Not what I heard from my service adviser. They can point the finger at the tire manufacturer if it's not Audi approved.
Road force balancing is only one step in the troubleshooting process.

Art234

This is a known issue with an established repair/remedy procedure. I find it troubling that Audi (and they are not alone) goes through so much trouble and energy to try NOT to cover issues like this, rather than finding the solution and helping their customers.

It took me two months of wrangling with Audi and the dealer to get them to do this repair (I had to download and print the TSB for the service manager), and when they changed the control arms the problem went away.

They tried the same tactic with me in regard to the excessive oil consumption, but in this case, the TSB for that came out after I was worn down by the Audi service department and just got rid of my A4. I am now driving a BMW, and while there are always going to be a couple of nagging issues with any brand, the overall ownership experience has been much better.

Good luck to you. I hope you are able to get it resolved in less time than it took me and some others...

Abidi20

Thanks guys, my appointment is next week. I just hope Canadian Audi regards a US drivers and don't push me to the limits.. Will update!!

ezveedub

What year is this A4? If it's a 2009, some needed updated front lower rear control arms. Vibration can be several issues and tires NOT balanced properly is the main issue in most cases. Once the wheels and tires are determined to be OK, then control arms can be used to resolve the issue. Make sure if the wheels are balanced on a Hunter 9700 machine, they turn off Smart Weight if they have it loaded to the balancer. That causes a lot of vibration issues.

snagitseven

It's the upper front control arms and he wrote that had a 2009. And yes, the authorization to replace on 2009 and some early 2010 B8s requires a force balance as a preliminary step. If this doesn't solve the problem (it usually won't) then the arms can be approved for replacement. The whole issue surrounded incorrect bushings on the upper control arms that caused the vibration.

BTW, FWIW, I was the original OP on this forum that got to the bottom of this back in 2009 working with a senior executive AOA customer relations individual. Lots of posts.