the dreaded high speed vibration

[Spawne32]

Let's talk about this for a second, because I cannot pin down anything in particular that seems to cause this. Between 70-80mph I get a "shudder" or "vibration", sometimes its in the steering wheel, sometimes its under the seat. For the life of me I cannot track down the cause of this. I have heard stories of TSB's regarding control arms, issues with brakes, worn bushings, bent wheels, bad tires, etc etc especially prevalent on the 09 but none of these solutions seems to treat the symptoms.

Thus far I have replaced or repaired the following....

new set of nokian zline tires
road force balanced all wheels
repaired one rear bent wheel
replaced lower rearward control arms
replaced upper control arms
replaced shocks/struts/springs
replaced motor mounts
rotated tires
had wheel alignment done at audi
replaced brake rotors/pads

I have new front lower forward control arms and ball joints on order, and I am having the rotors and pads replaced again this time with brembo stuff. What the hell is going on here?!?! I am at my wits end with this and ready to sell the car. I have thousands invested into this car, and probably almost 2 grand itself into trying to fix this phantom vibration. Has anyone had any luck with this that experienced it?

[misiak]

Have you considered driveshaft?

[Spawne32]

Have you considered driveshaft?

I have, thats the next thing on my list to check. I'll have to check to see if the carrier bearings are shot, if the driveshaft does wind up being bad, im going to lose my shit.

[WarmFuzzies]

Have you balanced your tires?


Sent from my iPhone using Audizine

[Spawne32]

Have you balanced your tires?


Sent from my iPhone using Audizine

3 times

[WarmFuzzies]

I wonder if something is loose or not fully connected under the car (seat area) that wobbles at speed — kinda like the sweet spot for resonance.

Sound panel loose?
Loose wiring that rattles?

... that’s where’d I’d search depending on how intense the vibration is


Sent from my iPhone using Audizine

[acidvoodoo]

I'll be watching this thread. I have the same problem, car is totally smooth up until I hit about 80, then a very noticeable vibration begins. Sometimes it goes away once I get going 90-100. Seems to come from the floor up through the seat, I've never felt it in the steering wheel. Last few times I've been to the dealer they've told me I have two bent wheels. So I just bought a new set the other day and getting them put on next week. I'm really hoping that fixes the vibration.

[porwal22]

Put the car up on 4 jackstands. Or if youre lucky enough to know someone with a lift - Take off all the wheels and bolt up all the rotors to the hubs with lugnuts/studs. Run the car through the gears until you feel the vibration. Usually if you feel a vibration with all the wheels off, its a driveline vibration ( u-joints or rear driveshaft center support bearing ).
If theres no vibration, its the wheels.

[Novarider]

Don't you have the esc inserts on the diffs and transmission? If so take them out and see if it goes away.

[Spawne32]

Don't you have the esc inserts on the diffs and transmission? If so take them out and see if it goes away.

Took them out already.

[Theiceman]

if you are in NJ don't you have winter wheels and summer wheels ? or know someone that does ? whenever I have this issue I just throw my other set of wheels on and it narrows it down pretty quickly.

[SDF1]

Look this up. The updated control arms have much larger bushings
TSB #2019644/3 (Vibration in steering wheel at high speeds. R/R control arms

[jn1kk]

What year is yours? 8 or 8.5?

[Spawne32]

Look this up. The updated control arms have much larger bushings
TSB #2019644/3 (Vibration in steering wheel at high speeds. R/R control arms

I replaced those lower control arms a few months ago, gonna re-inspect the whole front suspension again but the last set of arms I had to replace were the lower forward arms (straight arms) along with their associated ball joints. Besides that, both uppers, and lower rearwards were all replaced when I did the bilstein struts/shocks and H&R springs.

What year is yours? 8 or 8.5?

2009, so B8

[Spawne32]

if you are in NJ don't you have winter wheels and summer wheels ? or know someone that does ? whenever I have this issue I just throw my other set of wheels on and it narrows it down pretty quickly.

Nah, I only run one set of tires on my DD, all season tires. Our winter weather is not bad enough around here to warrant running dedicated winter tires. Nor is the car fast enough or roads challenging enough to warranty dedicated summer tires. While I do suspect this could be an issue with my alzor wheels, i have had them inspected 3 times already, 3 of them passed the road force balancing just fine, the one I had straightened was just repaired the other day and re-road force balanced which checked out fine, which had no significant improvement on the vibration issue.

[didyouseethat83]

I have had this issue on my 14’ forever! Did a bunch of different things and it’s still there! Literally 70-85mph. WOT passed 100 is smooth it’s just that zone on higher highway speeds. So damn annoying! Car drives like an Audi until I reach those speeds!


Sent from my iPhone using Audizine

[didyouseethat83]

If enough of us complain won’t Audi fix this shit? I’ve seen multiple threads of people with similar issues


Sent from my iPhone using Audizine

[Spawne32]

If enough of us complain won’t Audi fix this shit? I’ve seen multiple threads of people with similar issues


Sent from my iPhone using Audizine

I went through all of the suspension TSB's for 2009, there is shit that is as subtle as corrosion forming around the hub bearing causing clicking to TSB's explaining the importance of road force balancing. Who the hell knows what the cause is really. Getting absolutely sick and tired of dumping money into this over-complicated turd. The return on the investment isn't worth the trouble. Nothing particularly special about the way this car handles or rides for how overly complex it is.

[Theiceman]

If enough of us complain won’t Audi fix this shit? I’ve seen multiple threads of people with similar issues


Sent from my iPhone using Audizine

lol your kidding right ?

[Spawne32]

lol your kidding right ?

lol everyone of these issues the TSB's say, not covered under warranty, repairs done at owners expense

[acea4q]

I had this issue! tires were rotated and winter tires were replaced with all season. That fixed it for me

[rcprato]

You really need to try another set of rims/tires that are known to drive smooth at the problematic speed on another Audi.
Only way to rule out with100% certainty it is not rims/tires

[Theiceman]

wow road force balancing is my usual go to so if you have done that you really have to wonder.. personally i would not even go close to 100mph in this car as you lose your car for that here but i would think at 70 its really annoying,

if you lived closer id give you my wheels to throw on even to give piece of mind if anything. an hour and a couple of beers in the driveway and you would know for sure..

[CloseEncounters]

You really need to try another set of rims/tires that are known to drive smooth at the problematic speed on another Audi.
Only way to rule out with100% certainty it is not rims/tires

Could not agree more...try swapping out your wheels with another A4 B8 that has no known vibration. Sometimes we put too much weight (no pun intended) in balancing and road force machines. Had a similar issue with my winter wheels and tire combo that went away after switching to my summer wheel and tire setup.

[Spawne32]

Here's my thing, besides not having a spare set of wheels to swap with. If I focus on the idea that this is centered around the wheels, I have to also accept the fact that I have been ripped off 3 times with balancing and road force balancing, including wheel straightening. At 3 different independent shops. So should I indulge my paranoia on this? Possibility it lies in the wheel bearings?

[S-Liner]

Most likely no. I don’t believe there is much centrifugal force there to actually cause much vibration....It’s basically center axis.

Sorry if that sounds lame AF, but that’s my take.

I get the same vibrations, sour spot is exactly between 73-78mph. I’ve learned to deal with it and not linger much in that speed zone


Sent from my iPhone using Audizine

[Spawne32]

Most likely no. I don’t believe there is much centrifugal force there to actually cause much vibration....It’s basically center axis.

Sorry if that sounds lame AF, but that’s my take.

I get the same vibrations, sour spot is exactly between 73-78mph. I’ve learned to deal with it and not linger much in that speed zone


Sent from my iPhone using Audizine

Here's what confuses me most of all, if it was a balance issue, or road force issue, I feel like it would occur all the time. I went over some perfectly smooth newly paved roads today around 70-75mph today, and it started out fine as I accelerated onto the highway, then as I started changing lanes, left and right, the vibration got so nasty it felt like a wheel was going to fly off. I don't know what to make of this. Tomorrow im going to investigate further, get it up on the stands and see if I have a wobble in the wheel.

[Jet08]

Are the CV joints\seals in good condition and are all the bolts tight on trans and diff flanges, I lost a bolt on the drivers side inner and had a similar vibration.

[Zuzuwu]

Here's what confuses me most of all, if it was a balance issue, or road force issue, I feel like it would occur all the time. I went over some perfectly smooth newly paved roads today around 70-75mph today, and it started out fine as I accelerated onto the highway, then as I started changing lanes, left and right, the vibration got so nasty it felt like a wheel was going to fly off. I don't know what to make of this. Tomorrow im going to investigate further, get it up on the stands and see if I have a wobble in the wheel.

From this description it sounds a lot like an inner tie rod or wheel bearing. Wheel/tire and driveline vibrations will occur all the time, they don't need to be triggered. Steering and bearing vibrations usually need to be triggered by a turn, bump, etc.
You really need to stop throwing parts at this thing and actually pinpoint the problem, or find someone who can. You've spent 10x the amount not fixing the problem than you would have spent just paying for diag at a reputable shop.

[Spawne32]

From this description it sounds a lot like an inner tie rod or wheel bearing. Wheel/tire and driveline vibrations will occur all the time, they don't need to be triggered. Steering and bearing vibrations usually need to be triggered by a turn, bump, etc.
You really need to stop throwing parts at this thing and actually pinpoint the problem, or find someone who can. You've spent 10x the amount not fixing the problem than you would have spent just paying for diag at a reputable shop.

Diagnostic and repair at a reputable shop in new jersey is going to end up being roughly $700+ if not well over $1000 dollars. Most of the repairs i've done were needed at the time, just hasn't helped any of the main issues I am having. If you think I am joking about the prices, I can show you some quotes. lol CV joints were good at last inspection, tie rods are brand new and done at the time of alignment last year, ill double check the bolts however.

[Jet08]

I trust you in this regard so it is only for someone reading this thread with a similar issue that I ask - all the suspension bolts were tensioned and torqued with the vehicle at ride height and full weight on the components.

[Spawne32]

I trust you in this regard so it is only for someone reading this thread with a similar issue that I ask - all the suspension bolts were tensioned and torqued with the vehicle at ride height and full weight on the components.

Yes, but for shits and giggles, I plan to go back and double check this again to make sure none of the bushings are twisting. If something is wrong with the suspension, I will try to find it tomorrow.

[old guy]

I doubt this is your issue but I will throw it out there. I had a similar vibration with my A4 B6. It would start to shimmy around 65 mph. It ended up being my left front brake caliper. The piston boot had cracked and consequently the piston had some corrosion that caused the caliper to drag slightly. It came and went for about a month before it got bad enough to identify the issue.

[madrid1292]

I don't know if it will help but If it's happening on aftermarket wheels the vehicle wheel hub might be smaller than rim hub diameter, so you'll have to use hub centric rings, I had a vibration in between 70-85mph, belle tire balanced the rims twice, checked the rims for bents, checked the tires but they couldn't figure it out. At the end they told me it was suspension issue (even though car was fine on factory rims day before) later that day I found a thread on one of the forums where someone had same exact problem, $15 hub centric rings solved the issue.

[Spawne32]

ECS Claims that the alzors do not require hub centric rims, but im going to measure the bores anyway to verify

[Depthcharge]

In thinking about the other thread, do you think it could be related to the FMIC (or charge pipes if ECS) or even your exhaust?

[Theiceman]

Only thing that jumps out is the "bent wheel" could the impact of such bent wheel damaged a hum assembly or something ? i know im grabbing at straws but just trying to give some ideas.

Took my car up to 160kph yeterday just to see and was smooth all the way through . Actually ia bit frightening with how smoothly it got there given its a little 4 banger and how quiet the car was . I would never have realized I was zipping along that fast if i had not looked.
so definitely something is a miss with your car

[old guy]

ECS Claims that the alzors do not require hub centric rims, but im going to measure the bores anyway to verify

If there is any play at all between the wheel center bore and hub you may have a vibration source. If there is any play you can use the same procedure that I use to prevent vibration from using spacers. Just shim between the wheel bore and hub. Clicky click®

[captain_video]

If enough of us complain won’t Audi fix this shit? I’ve seen multiple threads of people with similar issues


Sent from my iPhone using Audizine

Unless you live in Germany and drive on the Autobahn I doubt that you can get Audi to fix something on a car that's being driven above the legal speed limit in all 50 states here in the U.S.

FWIW, I have the same issue on my 2014 B8.5 and it's driving me nuts, but I haven't tried troubleshooting the issue yet. I've theorized about several things it might be, but I haven't started throwing money at the problem since I don;t really know what's causing it. My initial reaction was that the tires were not balanced properly. I did notice an aftermarket drivetrain stabilizer being sold on one of the aftermarket parts supplier sites and was wondering if that might be the issue. It doesn't feel like it's in the steering since I'm not feeling any shuddering in the steering wheel.

[Depthcharge]

There are plenty of highways where the speed limit is 70, or 75 MPH. North Dakota, Texas, Arizona..