I'm not sure if any of you have experienced this but this is the second time it has happened to me. I live in Cleveland, OH and after a really good snow storm or extremely low temps, my front tires get a rough vibration while i'm on the freeway. It happens when i'm doing 70-80mph and it is very annoying! I spoke with my local dealership and he says that he has had many complaints about that and the reason why these cars are doing it is because if the car sits for awhile with snow built up in between the rims and you drive it in higher speeds, the snows melts down from the wheel spinning and somehow creates an ice layer on the rims cause an imbalance. Has anybody else experienced this issue?

 

yea basically the salt/sand/snow and how close the wheel is the to the fender builds up and cuases huge shimmy's that are noticable from 68-85 mph if u stop off tho and knock off the snow buildup it stops.....it can get very bad sometimes and if its rubbing ur wheels it will make your tires wear out faster

 

I just bought my first A4 two weeks ago. I live in Cleveland and worry more about the craters on 480, 422, 77, 71 and on and on and on. I have a little vibration between 65 and 70 which I assume is either wheel balance or an alignment issue. If spring ever comes I'll have the wheels balanced and aligned.

 

Ice melting and refreezing into the rims does not seem plausable.

However, some tires will get a flat spot from sitting overnight in the cold. Will go away when the tire warm up.

 

hahaha u must not live where it snows .....its really common in most cars when they get sand n grit in the wheel well and the spokes the car vibrates like a bitch....its really weird at first i was like holy **** my wheels are going to spin off but then i puled over and looked at them and they had gunk all over them once i cleaned it out (by kicking the fenders a little and poking it with the handle of the squeegee at a gas station) everything went away and i have only had this problem in the winter when its been snowing

 

wheels aren't balanced. do you have OEM or aftermarket wheels? some cheap aftermarket wheels have hollow spokes and when **** gets inside the voids it throws off the balance of the wheel.

my OEM wheels have no voids behind the spokes and i've never had any vibration issues. it's winter where i live 5 months of the year.

 

Wheels were balanced at the dealership a few days earlier. The rims are the factory ones it came with. It was indeed a build up of ice and snow on the rims.