I have a 2002 Audi A6 with a 3.0 that has a vibration in the front end that I just can't figure out. I bought the car a couple months ago from the original owner who had great service records, but got it fairly cheap because it needed new tires and brakes. No big deal because I would rather do that stuff myself anyways. The tires were definitely bad and it had a slight vibration in the front end causing steering wheel shake from about 45-80 mph. I just figured it had to be the tires. So I bought new wheels and tires and was confident that would take care of the problem. It didn't so I took the tires back and had them re balance the wheels with a road force balancer to make sure the tires were good as well. Still didn't help, so I thought maybe the warped rotors could possibly have something to so with it. Replaced all 4 rotors and brakes. Still vibrating. When replacing the brakes I did notice that the outer driver side cv joint boot was torn and slinging grease.

After reading about the cv joints I am curious if I should replace the "indestructable" Audi cv joint, or should I just replace the boot? Also not sure if the cv joint would cause the steering wheel to vibrate. If it is the cv joint, then would replacing the boot and adding grease actually cure it? It sure doesn't seem like that would be enough to help it. I also think I can hear a very slight speed sensitive humming sound coming from the location if that helps.

Can someone please give me their best advice on what to do? Thanks in advance for any help you guys can give me. I'll post my results as I try fixing this so hopefully someone else can benefit from my trial and errors.

 

The steps you have taken would get rid of most steering wheel shake problems. If its still doing it, get the axles looked at as well as the suspension. You might have a bad shock or some suspension damage. The speed range of the shake is pretty broad, more than typical wheel balance would cause. Do you hear any clicking when turning sharply at low speed? This will usually be the first signs of bad CV joints. I also suggest looking at the axle runout for a bent axle and the front wheel bearings for damage.

 

Thanks oldmots for your reply! That's the weird thing. I know the boot is bad and I know it's slinging grease form the boot, but I definitely don't hear clicking coming from the cv joint. Only the humming sound that I get when I am going down the road. I like to try to do everything myself and I hate to just start replacing parts. Would a cv joint that doesn't click make a humming sound and make the steering wheel shake? I'm just not familiar with what effects a bad cv joint have on the vehicle. If you were to start looking into something else, what would you first suggest? Thanks for your replies!

 

Replace all front control arms. Had the same thing, on the same model. Replaced the control arms, problem fixed.

Bearings maybe too, but don't think so. Used bearings would give bad humming noise.