Berner1

Drove my 6-spd ar for about 5,000 miles with no problems, always very smooth, even at 45 mph. Then I washed the car one day and thereafter noticed a significant shudder and pulling to the right between 50 mph and 70 mph. Told dealer of problem at the 5k service. On return of car dealer said mud found in wheels, said they cleaned them out and re-balanced the wheels (for which they charged me). Drove car and immdiately noticed significant shudder and wobble in front end at around 65 to 70 mph. Brought car back to dealer, said they balanced tires and fixed problem. Drove car again on long trip and again immediately noticed wobble and shuddering through steering wheel when going between 65 and 75 mph. I have no choice but to bring car back to dealer for third time. Can anyone suggest the source of this problem or a possible fix? Anyone else have this 70 mph shudder?

Any help is appreciated.

Berner1

A4LRB

I had a shudder on my '96 A4. Got the tires balanced + 4-wheel alignment and it went away...

mudball

I too have a shudder at about 68 to 72 mph. If you've seen my post from last week or so, my dealer says they can't feel it, therefore there's nothing they can do. At that speed a bottle of water in the cup holder will show the vibration as little concentric waves. Based on my previous experience with an A6 Avant, I think there is an out of round tire at fault. And I'll be getting new tires in a month or so. Based on my experience with that dealer, they won't be doing the work. Good luck. BTW are your tires Pirelli as are mine?

Berner1

What if we switch the tires around? would that at least put the less round one on the rear?

allroadtemp

I am not sure that Pirelli understands that tires are supposed to be round. All 4 of my tires are out of round, with one of the rears being about a 1/4" out. I am currently doing battle with the dealership and AoA over this situation.

An out of round tire on the rear doesn't come through the steering wheel, true, but the butt vibration can be as bad. My biggest concern is any damage that it might be doing to the transmission. The out of round causes the tires to turn at slightly different speeds, which is not good for awd.

IMO AoA should recall the Pirellis and put a decent tire on the ar. How does a good Michelin Pilot Sport A/S?

Sorry, got carried away.

GHill

The out of round tires sounds like a good possibility. But I'll have to go with you're dealer on this one. Just got back from my 10k service. I had complained of the same symtom at the 5k and likewise found that it got worse over the next 5k miles.

Not sure where you live Berner1, but here in the Northeast sand salt and road dirt are a factor. Anyway I saw it with my own eyes. Dan the mechanic at Bernardi Audi in MA came out and showed me the dirt build up on the inner inside edge of the wheels. He cleaned out the dirt then put the wheels on the balancer and showed me they were STILL dead on! so I'm a believer. It's the dirt.

wendy12x12

I don't want to rely on the dealer...

GMcB in Seattle

If they do alot of balancing - they should be calibrating the machine on a regular basis. If not calibrated correctly, then even a dead-on balance could be wrong. I know this is picky, but several years ago a tire dealer was unable to resolve a wobble on a new set of tires for my Nissan Maxima. Turns out the shop hadn't adjusted their balancer in some time. Adjusted the machine - rebalanced the new tires and voila - wobble gone.

For what it's worth...

Berner1

I too live in the Northeast and the roads in my area are sanded (not salted). I brought the car in to the dealer this morning and the foreman showed me where there was about 1/8th inch build-up of sand on the inside of my rims. The big problem, however, is that on the two prior occasions I felt the 65-70 mph wobble/shudder immediately after I got the car back from the dealer and before I ever drove the car on any sandy roads.

So, I can definitely see how the sand/mud on the wheels would cause a problem, but my wheels were supposedly clean and I still had the wobble.

Very confounding.

allroadtemp

If your tires are as bad as mine, all you need to do is put the car on a lift, in neutral, and spin the tire. If not, you will need a caliper that connects to the hub and gauges the outside diameter of the tire.

Your best bet is to go to a tire dealer. A lot of people have been taking their Pirellis to a tire dealer and having them "trued". This involves shaving down the high spots. This does not look like an option for me, due to the severity of my problem. Also, with as short a tread life as these tires appear to have, shaving some of it off does not seem like a good idea.

Good luck.