I live near the NH seacoast just north of Exeter and drive RT 495 to N Billerica for work each day. I don’t know a really good Audi mechanic so I end up doing most of the work myself. I get most of my parts from Chris at Force Five in Concord NH, a few on the internet, and some at AutoZone. When I don’t have time, I usually have J&R foreign car in Lowell do the Audi stuff and Price’s Sunnyside Garage in Newmarket NH do the American cars.

My son was an Audi-Porsche service writer at Dover Auto World but left after about a year because he didn’t like the way they did things. In all, we have owned or still own the following Audi’s -- 4000Q, 90Q, 200QT, A6, and A6 Avant Q along with a VW (the Audi wanta be) Jetta and Passat 1.7T. The best Audi investments I have made are manuals, and VagCom.

If you see a crazy old guy in a black A6 Avant in the left lane of RT 495 going 15 -20 MPH over the speed limit, it just might be me.

PS On Friday evenings during the summer, I usually get off at exit 52 to take the back road around Plastow so I can get to LEE-USA where I spend time in the tower making sure the drivers behave themselves.

 

I vote prop shaft as it only happens at speed, just a guess

 

"prop shaft"? What's that?

And NH_USA - Have you ever heard of Dan at Exeter Motor Works in Exeter? One of my clients swears by him. He works primarily on Audi's and Porsche's, and I've talked to him on the phone about my Tb, which he quoted me 7-800 to do. Seems like a reasonable price from what I read.

 

Prop shaft - Could be either a half shaft or drive shaft, but it makes me think that a CV joint or even a wheel bearing might cause vibration. Usually a bad CV joint will click when turning and a wheel bearing will make noise long before the vibration thing will happen.

I had some work done at Exeter Motor Works about 8 years ago and was not impressed. Maybe they are different now. I would be careful about 7-800 for a TB job. Make sure he is doing the Water pump, tensioners etc at the same time....

 

Do you recall if it was Dan at Exeter MOtor works? I know the person who referred me wasn't going there 8 years ago, so maybe it's a different guy?
I do get an occasional wheel shudder when I try to make a full-bore turn from a dead stop. Is that the same thing as a "click" you're talking about?

 

Also, where have you taken your cars for TB jobs? J&R's?

 

SUCCESS!!!! Everyone who voted "bent rim" was right, and everyone who said "check balance on all 4" and "tires out of round" was ALSO right!!!
I found a great, competent shop that found one badly bent rim, so they put on my full size spare. They said the Yoko's were junk and badly out of round, but I'll keep them for now since they're new. All 4 were also badly out of balance (eevn though I got them re-done several times!!).
So now all is well and it's like a BRAND NEW CAR on the highway!!!
can't tell you how happy I am

 

Happy to hear that you got it fixed.....Your Yoko's must have been trashed by the bent rim and other encounters with the curb. I can hardly wait until I wear out the Michelins on my A6 Avant and get new TRZ's.

I don't remember who was at Exeter Motor works, but I do know I was not impressed and did not go back.

As for TB. The two A6's had them done just before I got them.My son and I did the 4000, 90 Q, and 200QT.

 

What work did you have done at Exeter Motor? What was it that you were disappointed in?

As far as tires, which michelin's do you have now, and who makes the TRZ's?

 

The Michs are Pilot Exaltos - Inspit of what others have said about Michs, I have never been very impressed with them. The ride seems harsh and if I wanted something to really stick I would buy Pirellis.

I used to race Datsun's (Nissan) and Alfa Romeo's at places like Watkin's Glen and becamesensitive to what tires could do for handling. The Datsun handled best when it had Semprets on the rear and Pirellis on the front because of the pig loved to understear and they helped get a better balance. The Alpha was better balanced from the beginning so I used Pirellis all around.

I tried Michs on the race cars and it was a disaster. They are too hard for good grip and my current experience with the A6 Avant continues to confirm my opinion. I had SEAR's Michs on a VW bug years ago and they were just OK - good milage (hard), medium ride, and medium stick. I put BF Goodrich tires from Sam'son my other A6 (due to cost) and although they were not supergrippers they did a good job - smooth ride and realistic milage.


The TRZs are Yoko's. I recently replaced the OEM Brigdestones on our van with them and the difference was like night and day. In my opinion the Yoko's are fantastic and not very expensive. Iam looking forward towearing out the Michs and putting the TRZs on the Avant, but with the way things are going the Michs will probably last forever.

As for Exeter Motor Works -- I seem to think it had someting to do with a broken spark plug that I didn't have time to do myself because of travel for work. If I remember correctly they claimed they had to replace all the wires, plugs, cap and rotor to get the car running afterremoving the broken plug. It was strange because I hadput new one's on when I broke the plug. It also took them over a week to get to the car when then they had origionally told me that they could do it in two days. I was happy to get the car back and didn't have time to argue with them, so I decided to never return. I can understand problems but if I can't trust a shop, I don't go back.