this thread is being written in regards to my buddies a4 since he isnt part of these forums...yet!

we were taking his 96 2.8 qtm up to the mountains the other day and everytime we got above 60-65mph in 4th or 5th gear the whole car would start to shake and feel like something was off-balanced somewhere. i told him he should get that checked out but he assured me everything was fine.

what do you think that would be caused by...?

i also noticed that his rear wheels were wearing down in a really weird way. like the outer part of the tire was wearing down faster than any other part of the rear wheels or front wheels

thanks a bunch in advance.

 

Sounds like a balance problem or a bent rim.....

 

Tires,bent wheel, out of balance.....most likely balance, Usually happens around that speed.

 

just got back from the local eurosport shop and they gave me a few estimates for my buddy. So pretty much his front upper and lower control arms are shot causing the alignment in the front of the car to throw off the whole alignment in the rear of the car. so after alignment and replacing the upper and lower control arms and link we are looking at $1500. does that seem pretty reasonable?

 

You could do it yourself for ~$700 including the alignment.

 

yeah thats what I told my buddy and I think thats what we are going to do. I think we are going to go with the Meyle Complete Control Arm kit that comes with everything including tie-rods and sway bars for 569.95.

Do you know where I could find the best DIY for this?

 

i would def DIY, infact, i have... The alignment will need to be done on a rack tho. Also check the tires for bubbles... it sounds dumb, but ive seen shops rip people off replacing control arms and this n that, when its actually just a nice dangerous bubble causing the crazy shaking.

 

www.audidiy.com is a place you should become very familiar with.

A couple of tips from someone who has taken apart hte front suspension a couple of times:

• make sure you torque the top contol arms with them paralell to the ground, if you don't do this the bushings will be torqued wrong and prematurely wear
• get LOTS of PB Blaster or your favorite 'rust killer' for the pinch bolt
• the best way to get the lower control arms out of the spindle is to support the spindle with a jack and tap the LCA's with a hammer
• MAKE SURE you get a hardware kit and replace it all.
• measure the amount of thread showing on the TRE's when you take them off so you can put the new ones at close to the same setting when you put it all back together
• the first place you should drive is to the alignment shop.

I'd get the kit here:
http://www.purems.com/products/product.php/II=1013
w/ hardware and HD tre's and swaybar endlinks for $500

Good luck!


edit-
something is going on with that rear wheel if the tire is wearing unevenly... take it to a wheel shop and have them balance it or just check to make sure it's not bent.