Audi A5 - Vibration and Steering Issue - Need Help/Opinions
Discussion
Hello all,
I'm a long time lurker, first time poster. I wanted to canvass some opinions with the issues surrounding my A5.
The car is an Audi A5 2.7 CVT Sportback (registered Jan 2010). The car suffers from vibrations at around 60-65mph where is can be felt through the steering wheel and visible oscillations can be seen. At around 75mph the problem is less noticeable. The problems are such that a long drive can result in aching wrists and a tight feeling in my fingers.
I have taken the car to Audi West London (AWL) in an attempt to resolve these issues and unfortunately despite being looked at by a number of Master Technicians they are unable to correct this.
AWL were quite adamant that the issue resides in the balancing of the wheels and initially all attempts were centred around this approach. However, despite several wheel balancing attempts there was no noticeable improvement in the condition.
I had read on various internet sites that this is a common problem with A5/A4 models of the same year an earlier as mine. Some owners found a fix by changing the lower control arms. I mentioned this to AWL and after much discussion the lower control arms were replaced. As with the wheel balancing there was no discernible difference to the vibration issue.
As time went by AWL tried a number of other fixes including, changing wheel bearings, 4 wheel alignment, new steering rack, different set of wheels and road force balancing.
Frustratingly, none of these attempts have resolved the vibration problem and in actual fact after changing the steering rack the car now drifts to the left and suffers from torque steer.
Having spent a year and a considerable amount of time and money in trying to resolve this issue, I am no further forward that I was in September 2013. My question to the forum is simply what else can I try and do to resolve this problem other than sell the car? Surely, the car is not made this way and something must be performing incorrectly for it to introduce such vibration and now pulling to the left. Does it sound like a gearbox or diff issue as one independent garage suggested?
Any positive comments would be greatly received.
Thanks.
I'm a long time lurker, first time poster. I wanted to canvass some opinions with the issues surrounding my A5.
The car is an Audi A5 2.7 CVT Sportback (registered Jan 2010). The car suffers from vibrations at around 60-65mph where is can be felt through the steering wheel and visible oscillations can be seen. At around 75mph the problem is less noticeable. The problems are such that a long drive can result in aching wrists and a tight feeling in my fingers.
I have taken the car to Audi West London (AWL) in an attempt to resolve these issues and unfortunately despite being looked at by a number of Master Technicians they are unable to correct this.
AWL were quite adamant that the issue resides in the balancing of the wheels and initially all attempts were centred around this approach. However, despite several wheel balancing attempts there was no noticeable improvement in the condition.
I had read on various internet sites that this is a common problem with A5/A4 models of the same year an earlier as mine. Some owners found a fix by changing the lower control arms. I mentioned this to AWL and after much discussion the lower control arms were replaced. As with the wheel balancing there was no discernible difference to the vibration issue.
As time went by AWL tried a number of other fixes including, changing wheel bearings, 4 wheel alignment, new steering rack, different set of wheels and road force balancing.
Frustratingly, none of these attempts have resolved the vibration problem and in actual fact after changing the steering rack the car now drifts to the left and suffers from torque steer.
Having spent a year and a considerable amount of time and money in trying to resolve this issue, I am no further forward that I was in September 2013. My question to the forum is simply what else can I try and do to resolve this problem other than sell the car? Surely, the car is not made this way and something must be performing incorrectly for it to introduce such vibration and now pulling to the left. Does it sound like a gearbox or diff issue as one independent garage suggested?
Any positive comments would be greatly received.
Thanks.
Thanks for the replies. I've had a set of different wheels from another A5 without this issue fitted to my car. It made no difference.
In view of this, I think that the problem is not wheel related but perhaps related to transmission.
Forgot to mention that I had the brake discs checked to see if these are true, and they are.
In view of this, I think that the problem is not wheel related but perhaps related to transmission.
Forgot to mention that I had the brake discs checked to see if these are true, and they are.
Rather than throwing more parts at it (and by the sounds of it they still need to resolve the replacement steering rack and/or alignment after changing it) they should be getting head office to send an engineer to assess the vehicle. It's not acceptable for them to keep throwing new bits at it (presumably at your expense) simply because they can't identify the actual fault.
I've been largely underwelmed by Audi dealers fault finding abilities - a harmonic balancing issue ought to be straightforward enough to resolve. If the wheels have been ruled out, and with all the other work carried out, the suspension appears the only place left to look, unless there's a fundamental flaw in the construction of your car which seems doubtful.
I've been largely underwelmed by Audi dealers fault finding abilities - a harmonic balancing issue ought to be straightforward enough to resolve. If the wheels have been ruled out, and with all the other work carried out, the suspension appears the only place left to look, unless there's a fundamental flaw in the construction of your car which seems doubtful.
Sorry, can't offer a solution but was interested in your problem - I had exactly the same issue on a 2007 A6 3.0tdi Quattro I bought used a few years ago from Norwich Audi. Whilst they we're very helpful they never found a cure and, sorry to say, I ended up p-xing it after 6 months. There was, I was told, a TP (technical note of some kind issued by Audi I think?) on the subject but if it included a cure it didn't work.
Probably unrelated.....
Probably unrelated.....
Have you read this?
http://a6retrofit.tripod.com/articles/a4a5vibratio...
It's a long list containing info and several links to marque related forums. I did a little bit of reading up on it before recently buying my A5, from memory it seemed the solution was changing some of the aforementioned control arms, though there was a different part number for some of the parts which cured it. Disclaimer for my iffy memory!
Happy reading.
Regards.
http://a6retrofit.tripod.com/articles/a4a5vibratio...
It's a long list containing info and several links to marque related forums. I did a little bit of reading up on it before recently buying my A5, from memory it seemed the solution was changing some of the aforementioned control arms, though there was a different part number for some of the parts which cured it. Disclaimer for my iffy memory!
Happy reading.
Regards.
I recently had an MOT fail on my Fabia ,due to rear wishbone bush rubber cracked and showing movement. I'd noticed some minor vibration in the steering prior to this. As this bush can be a nasty to replace, I opted for PSB bushes, and my investigations found that most of the VAG ( and even Porsche) use a similar setup, as the supplier I went to was a high end specialist, but even Porsche bushes followed the same idea. Bush changed- no vibrations. Just a thought.
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