02 A6 Quattro, Avant
I just replaced the tires, road forced balanced on a hunter. and it has been aligned. Tested the struts, bounce test they seem fine. Greased The CV joints and checked the wheel bearings they seem fine-no noise. Rotors are smooth and pads are not glazed, calipers are good and it does not happen when braking.

First things first if I kick these wheels are they supposed to jiggle? like the girls on a rap video.

The only way I have found to test them are when they are completely gone and clunking. You must feel something before they get to that point.

At it's worst the steering wheel would wobble left to right at about 50-60mph. No matter what I do or how violent the wobble it is always at this speed. The steering wheel has a slight tremble any time I hit a small bump say less than a reflective marker in the road. Happens when just driving over cracks/ expansion joints.

I had it aligned and road forced balanced and it went away by 90% or more but there was still a small vibe. The vibe increases from here until it is realigned and balanced again.
I am not positive which is correcting it, but I am pretty sure it's the balancing because the wheel weights are getting moved around a lot and the alignment has not been out by much.

It seems to be better on very hot days 100+ degrees.

It is better under power, If I nail it I do not feel it as much.
(for me that sort of eliminates CV joints-inner and outer but they are still on my mind)
I feel it most when I am cruising. somewhere in between acceleration and deceleration. It does not go away in deceleration. It more or less improves only under acceleration. I was thinking maybe because the front wheels are putting pressure on the control arms during acceleration and tightening things up.

If I am going slow over bumps the steering wheel trembles.

When I hit 50 mph the steering wheel starts the left right wobble and goes away after 60 mph (The new Audi's are having this same problem but between 60-70 mph. It is being resolved with a stiffer lower control arm)

My car has 117K I don't think the control arms have ever been changed. They do not make any noise. They are not clunky.

I think it might be bad rubber bushings in the control arms that are just played out. It seems the new Audi, Bimmers and Mercedes also experience these symptoms caused by lower control arm bushings weakening.

I have found a few control arms sets. It doesn't really make sense to replace just the lowers, when you get the entire kit for an extra $100.

$359 by replacement? I have no idea who they are.(update- reported to be a cheap junky set)
but the site has some cheap parts.
http://www.car-stuff.com/carparts/au...l#manufacturer

$529 by Ocap, Don't know them either. Update- reported to make noises in hot weather
http://www.blauparts.com/proddetail....A1102%2D02%2DA

$592 by Meyle, Know them but...$$$ This is the set I bought
http://www.partsgeek.com/catalog/200...epair_kit.html

$659 Fibi set, I would have done this set but didn't know about it.
http://www.purems.com/products/product.php/II=1869

I'm sort of hesitant about the cheap one but maybe the $529 Italiano es a good for me.

Well that's it in a nut shell, any insight would be greatly appreciated.

 

I found play in the flange of the right side front final drive. It is not leaking oil and it is full, but I can push it about 1mm in any direction. It feels like the outer needle bearing may have failed. Not sure. I would say that would be a good source of my vibration. Have you seen that before?


To be clear, If i grab the flange I can move it in any direction outward from the center by 1mm.


Maybe no. 11 Bearing/race is history.

This car is killing me!

 

So I checked my A8 and it has the same amount of play at the output flange. But no vibration. I need a beer!

I have no idea where to go from here.

 

Reluctantly crawled back under there, Beer in hand!
i did find dryrot in all of the rubber on each control arm and I get a very wee little kink in one of the driver side upper control arms. The tires do not move an inch in any damn direction. So I guess I need control arms anyway seems like a good place to start.

This car is making me nuts, look I'm talking to myself on line. I need another beer.

Has anyone ever done the bushings in there old arms? I don't have it left in me to try but I was thinking of spraying them with liquid CO2 and freezing the aluminum to -180 then pressing them out and in. Something tells me I would be wishing I spend the 5 bills.

here is the damage;

 

Jack, I may not be the best person to jump on this, but I sort of relate to some of the things you described.
1) I also did the bounce test on my struts and they rebound almost right away without further bouncing, but that's not very indicative of a good strut. I need to replace them as all of mine look like Jim's before he installed the Blau kit. As I hit even the smallest bumps, I feel as I hit a curb.
Also, as I go over ondulations on the road the car starts bouncing, so the shock absorbers don't really work right.
2) On any car "kicking" the wheels causes a jiggle, but I doubt it should be as pronounced as the hips of a Hoola dancer.
3) My steering wheel also wobbles (or call it a small tremble) when going over bumps, so I suspect it has more to do with the struts, and not necessarily with the control arms.
Just like on your car, my control arms don't make noise, don't clunk, and are pretty tight. However, I only have one "lower" arm on each side, as compared to 4 on the C5s and C6s you guys have.
4) Since your wheel bearings seem to be fine and thinking at your kicking jiggling, is it possible you may rather have a tie rods problem?

 

Seeing how the bushings are cracked and torn I have to do the kit anyway. What do you think about those kits. Think it's worth trying the one for $320. Or should I just stick with the blau kit? anyone use any of those kits?

 

Meyle and Febi make the best suspension replacement control arm kits. Others seem to have crappy bushings which is where the problem is in the first place. I always use the Meyle kits myself.
The upper links won't cause a wheel vibration, but you will however hear a loud clunk when turning because the link will flop around like a fish and smack the strut tower housing or the springs.
Lower links can cause loose steering if the bushings are bad enough, but most steering issues come from the tie rod end links.

 

Also look at ecstuning.com for kits.

 

Jack, why don't you buy just a "Bushing Kit" from Blau or elsewhere?
Blau has a sale on bushing kits right now - Front only though - for $ 69.95.
http://www.blauparts.com/proddetail....od=MA21032%2DC
I never changed bushings, but it seems that are not that difficult to replace since they have a metallic outer edge. Don't they just slide or are tapped into the arm's holes?
If your arms themselves are not cracked, why wasting extra money to buy new ones?

 

Hi,


You ever had your wheels checked to see if one or more may be bent? I experienced the same problem with my car soon after buying it, and with only 39k miles on it.

After replacing the two bent wheels, the problem has been resolved.