ccjmAllroad

Input appreciated since I'm definately buying one of these cars. Test drove a 2004 AR 6spd with 79k miles with no warranty. The car drives, accelerates, handles fantastically. It's frankly a great deal of fun to drive with class. Unfortunatelly this specific car I drove has a slight vibration/grinding sound that becomes slightly noticeable at around 35mph in 4th gear and aroud 55mph in 5th/6th. If I place it into neutral when I first hear the noise it becomes more noticeable but does go away after coasting for a bit or tapping the breaks. Does anyone have input or ideas into what this could possible be? And should it be a show stopper in a purchase? Should I ask them to repair or walk away? The car is so likeable that I want to look past this item but with a quattro transmission and possible bearing or other tranny problem I know I'd be looking at a lot to repair. Any guidance/suggestions would be very much appreciated. Thank you from this future Allroader.

allroaddave

That just sounds like brakes, might be no big deal. Look at the rotors and see if they need replacing............

ccjmAllroad

Thanks for that interesting input, because I pretty much accepted that the car needed new rotors and pads. When applying the brakes hard it was evident that the car/steering wheel vibrated somewhat and the car didn't stop quite as fast as I expected. I'm ok with that type of repair.

mjposner

Make sure to get full service history as these cars are repair hogs. If the suspension bags have not been replaced yet they will definitely need looking at shortly. Also, check the throttle body boot, engine seals for leaks, and whether fluid changes have been done regularly. I have owned two ARs and have had over 20k in warranty repairs on both.

ccjmAllroad

Thanks for the replies. Turned out to be a worn and unbalanced tire in the front. When both front tires replaced and balanced the sound went away. Incredible a tire could cause such a sensation.