To start things off I purchased a 2003 Audi a6 2.7t. I have currently 76k miles on it and today I just picked it up from my friends shop for a ton of work. He owed me work for curbing a wheel from a set that I let him borrow... This is going to go in detail because I have spent lots of money and the problem still persists.

When I first bought the car everything was great. Slowly I could feel a shutter at high speeds. At first I was only feeling it in the gas pedal, just a slight shutter (I thought maybe brakes). The car needed brakes so I bought new rotors and pads and installed them all around. That slight feeling was still there. The right front wheel bearing was also going. Slowly it got worse to the point that anything over 45mph I could feel it start and it would go until 80mph then it'd stop but something felt rough. I took the car to a shop and they noticed the wheel was bent on the right front so I bought new aftermarket wheels quicker then I thought.

I put on all new tires and two piece wheels had an alignment but it was still there... It also felt different. It felt more suttle but it was there and the feeling in the steering wheel was worse. So I let this go for a few months and dealt with it. My friend borrowed the stock wheels, fixed the slightly dented one but curbed one real bad, luckily his father owns a shop and he hooked me up with a sick deal.

Being that the hub bearing was toast I figured this would fix it. I also found out a CV joint was bad... So I got both hub bearings fixed on the front and brand new axles because you can't just do one side. The timing belt and sensors were also done, the total came to $945 for all this work! I was told that the CV joint and the bearing could of done it because of the play.

So I take it out on the main road. Everything feels tight with no more woosh woosh, I step it up to 50mph then bam the shutter starts... and my heart sank . So after new brakes and rotors, wheels/tires/alignment, hub bearings, CV joints... WTF is going on?! In a lower gear as I rev it towards the 40mph you can feel it worse then if I were in 3rd vs 4rth. Throwing the car into neutral at the speeds the problem still persits. As you can tell this really isn't a newb post... as I've tried to seek the problem myself and after thousands of dollars still no luck. Anything that I might have looked over please let me know!

Thanks!

 

what do you mean by shutter? vibration? Shimmey? wobble? any noise when you turn the wheel?
Many owners have delt with this type of problem (vibrations) and many have spent time and $ trying different things... there could be various sources or a combination of. Some have harmonica vibration in the driveshaft, some have rust deposit around the hub, some have warpped rotors, others have just bent rims, defective tires or misbalanced wheels, or even a spring that shifted... mine was a shot inner tie rod, outter tie rod and play in upper control arms...
Maybe try a another shop, an Indy shop with an Audi tech and have them check all steering components in detail inner and outter tie rod, upper and lower control arms.... also suspension components...

 

The steering wheel will actually shutter, like a thud thud thud... and you can feel it in the pedals. You can feel it in the right front of the car when sitting in the passenger seat. There is a slight feedback though when breaking when coming to a stop. The control arms and tie rod ends have been checked numerous times. I've had the car to three different places already. I know it can't be the wheels-tires/alignment/hub bearings/cv joints bc it still persisted before and after install. Even though the brakes were just done is it possible it still could be brake related? IE sensors, calipers, or warped discs still... I just popped the wheel off but couldn't locate any issues.

 

Too bad you're having these problems - the 2003 is a great vehicle.

I read your post a couple times and you replaced a lot of parts and did an alignment. How about speed balancing all the wheels? In my experience a mis-aligned car will pull to one side and wear tires, but won't shudder. The shudder comes from an out of balance wheel at certain (higher) speeds.

I can't explain why it feels worse in lower gears - that doesn't make sense.

PS - $945 for all that work sounds reasonable. I paid around $850 just for my timing belt work.

 

$945? Where are you getting all this work done? You may want to find another place, because it does not add up. Parts cost alone can easily be that much for bearings, axles, timing belt and related stuff... Are you sure that the mechanic who is working on your car knows what he is doing? I don't think he does.

Anyways, here is what I would do.

1. Balance wheels and tires. $90 You mentioned that two pieces of wheels got alignment... Do you mean balanced? Anyways make sure all four wheels are balanced. They will tell you if any of wheels are bent out of specification.
2. Geta 4 wheel alignmentdone. $75 (Any knowledgeable shop will tell you if any steering and suspension components are shot when you get it aligned.)

A dealer will even balance and align for roughly the same price. If I were you, I go find another shop.

 

The work was done by my friend's father. I went to highschool with him. He also has an A6 himself. His father hooks us up for the cost of the parts and "fair" labor at the cost of waiting if other vehicles arrive, out of respect. Really nice guy and even showed me all the stock parts and his bills for the parts. He told me "I don't understand how these other guys wake up in the morning. They wonder why they get cancer or something... maybe one day their d*ck will still be in the bed when they wake up." He knows what he's doing more then any other mech. I've been to. I took the wheel off to investigate the brakes and noticed really uneven wear on the front right. Next week they will be replaced and hopefully solve the problem. I believe the problem came from STS... yes I said it... when they installed the brakes, using the cheap "OEM" rotors and pads. They probably overtightened them or got warped by other means. I will keep you all posted, hopefully with a solution.

 

Any rist on the hubs, behind the brakes? Your brakes could be at fault, slightly tilted rotors? warped?

Igotta tell you, my inner tie rod was causing the vibration in the steering when slowing down.. it is not so much the play sideways but the in/out play that caused it, and it was not obvious until after he took everything apart as he ahd identified play in the outter RE and upper CAs...

 

Hey Turboeda6, did u ever find out what the vibration problem?
I understand your frustration, I have a 2000 a6 2.7 with the same problem. The front end has been checked out by 3 different shops and they all say everything seems tight. They then go about telling you that u r being to picking.

Any way, I understand your pain.

Good Luck,

Cary

 

I washaving similar problem with my '03 2.7T - vibration/ shuddering primarily felt through the steering (steering wheel would visibly move slightly back and forth at 40-50mph).Long story, but along the way I discovered that I had slightly bent rims and this seems to be the primary cause of the problem. Also progressively worse uneven tire wear - so I assume I also need alignment. I just endured it for the last 25K miles - the vibration was getting pretty annoying between 40-70mph.

I finally picked up a new set of wheels and tires yesterday. Also just had new frontbrakes and rotors installed. This seems to haveeliminated the vibration problem - but just tonight I noticed a faint vibration as I was driving home....or wasI just imagining things??

I'm still planning to take the car in for full alignment right away.I believe this was also contributing to the vibration, and over timeit will cause thetires to wear unevenly.

Let us know if yousolved your vibration / shudderproblem.