Where do I start? I just bought an 06 A3 2.0. Outstanding car. Small? issue...

It was making noise at low speeds 10-20 mph andin general, there way more road noise than sounded normal.Also, there was wheel shimmy70-85 when accellerating.AnAudi techlooked at the tires, ran hishands across them and told me they were "scalped" and werethe cause ofnoise and that the car might need alignment.The stock wheels were scratched up and I thought possibly bent so I picked up a tire/wheel package to rule-out any issues there. I gotASA AR2 wheels in 18 x 8andGeneral Exclaim UHP tires 225/40.Both highly rated and an amazing $1012 all-in at Tire Rack. The car looks great.

I hit the road and it was quiet as a whisper. But accellerating at speed, same problem. A shake at the wheel. I checked the service records and saw it had an alignment 3 months ago and at 13k when I also saw the tires were replaced. I took the car back in to Audi. This time, theychecked everything under the car and found everything to be 100% tospec.Next, they balanced the wheels and told me they were off ...which I found odd being thatI just got them in, brand newand balanced from Tire Rack.Anyway, that didn't fix the problem either.

Now they want to align it again.So I'm starting to get a littlefreaked out. Maybe the previous owner hit a curb, drove through a crater or who knows what. Ireallydon't want mynew tires to wear out, get "scalped" and get that noise back. My thoughts are maybe its a shock/strut issue? Maybe there is a bad ball joint? I have no idea. Otherwise, the car drives great. Straight as an arrow on the highway, handles great, etc.

Any suggestions from the pros out there? Anyidea what could be causing this, what to check next? Please help me get my ride in shape!

Thanks!

-Anthony.

 

Pics are always good.
No to the problem. Sounds like everything that could cause it you have fixed. Now depending on were you live I would see if there was an independant service tech out there that just deals with audi/vw 90% of the time they are a great place to go and have it looked at. They will be more thuro then a dealer who's tech drives a honda and get payed no matter what. So if you let us know were your at it will help. Also you may want to have a body shop check the suspension for minor damage. A few suggestions.

 

I've just recently had a very similar experience. I, too, have just mounted an ASA AR2 wheel/tire package from Tire Rack. My symptoms were the same as yours, shimmy around 70 - 85mph. Only thing, I did not have that problem with my original stock setup.

We found that two of the Summitomo tires were out of round. I had Tire Rack send two more tires. Replaced and all is good now. I'd look closely at the tire/mount job from Tire Rack and have a local shop try to re-balance.

Yep, you are correct. AR2's look great on an 06 A3.

 

I also had the same problem, I moved to Hankooks and new suspension and the problem went away.

Shaun

 

I bet the aftermarket rims are the cause. I had exactly the same issue you describe with a Saab 900 I used to own. I tried everything - bushings, tires, balancing, etc., but the only way I could get the shimmy to come and go was swapping the rims. Maybe some cars are overly sensitive to changes in wheel offset from factory specs. You may want to compare the offset of your aftermarket wheels to that of the OEM wheels.

 

Check your wheel bearings, too; there have been quite a few replaced on 06 A3'sdue to excessive play and/or roughness.

 

I took off the ASA AR2 rims. Having gone to two Audi dealerships and two tire places, Tire Rack agreed to take them back. Those guys are outstanding!

I put the original Audi 17 rims and sucky tires back on and marched back into the dealer. They had the car for three days and finally got approval from the Audi in Germany to replace the tires for free. Which was ...nice. But I never intended to keep those rims.

So I just got my new OZ Ultralegarra 18 inch (sp?) wheels on with General Exclaim UHP tires (a very light setup) andthe car isperfect. Basically, I was extremely unlucky to have had two problems: 1)the original tires were messed up and 2) There was something wrong with wheels. Finally got it figured out - now need to drop the car and tighten it up with a set of Koni coilovers or KW Variant 2 coilovers.