Hi all,

Newbie, just picked up a 2006 A4 2.0 quatro. When I hit exactly 50 MPH - 62 MPH my steering wheel shakes. It does not do it at any other speed.

Has this happened to anyone else. Whay was the fix.

 

wheels need balancing

 

+1 get it aligned also.

 

agreed

 

Hi. I too am a new guy and just got my A4 2.0T S-line with Dunlop Sportmaxx tires this past Saturday.
So far I love it, except for the shimmy which has me concerned.

I too get a shimmy only between 50-60mph, smooth before and after that.
I've checked a couple of forums and it seems balancing may not to the trick.

I will have my dealer do a balancing as that is the right place to start. However, it seems very very very odd that the shimmy is being
reported by people in the exact same way. It's always around 50-60mph and it's not just with any one brand of tires, nor is it just with
the 18's as it happens on 17's as well.

I'll try to get my wheels rebalanced this weekend to see if that is it.
But, if what I've read on other forums is correct, there may be something else. I hope not.
I'm wondering if it's connected to the new "electric" steering?
Personally, I don't like how light the steering effort is at parking lot speeds. It weights nicely once at speed above 10-15mph, but I've already had
a couple of times, during slow back up and turn around, when the steering wheels goes extremely light to near lock-up in feel.
Does the electric steering have an automatic wind deflection assist? There are servo/electric steering systems that try to compensate for side winds on the highway, which would normallly lightly push the car left or right. The assist applies light correction to the steering so that the driver doesn't notice and course deviation during high winds. Does the new B7 A4 have that?

 

Hi All, has anyone actualy had this proble and had it resolved. What other message boards did you read that had a similiar problem Did anyone get the sutuation resolved.

 

hmmm...I haven't noticed this on mine and I've already put over 1200 miles on it. Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention, but if the steering wheel shakes while I'm driving it, I would definitely notice it right away

 

Have you followed people's advice on here and gotten your wheels balanced and an alignment done? That is the most likely cause. We have had the same problem with other cars, people not balancing the tires properly.

 

Balancing is good place to start. Alignment is almost never the cause of a front end shimmy at speed.
Tire balance, wheel balance, tire/wheel condition, bent rim, out of round tire, even axle's not properly balanced are all good things to look for.
Alignment? Not so much.

I noticed on my A4 the wheels do have inner wheel stick on weights in 2 locations, which is a good sign that extra care was done to get a good balance.
I've had tires that had internal "shifted" belts that would show good balance on a machine but still no good on the road. Same with a wheel that had a "hop" in it as it was out of round. It too showed balance, but on the road not so good.
The worst balance issues are the oscillating kind, where the at the same speed the car would be super smooth and then the vibration starts slow and builds to stronger and stronger vibration and then back down to smooth again. That one drove me NUTS! Finally fixed with a whole set of new Michelin tires even though the Dunlops showed good balance.

I was hoping it was the Dunlops as I've had the most problems with those tires over the years. However, after reading other forums it seems this shimmy exists on Dunlops, Michelins, and the Conti's in 17" and 18" size.

I might try a simply front to rear wheel swap just to see if the vibration changes.
One more thing; when looking into the problem dont' forget that just because the front may have the shimmy that does NOT mean that the problem is only coming from the front. Rear wheel/tire balance can cause a front end shimmy felt through the butt and through the steering. A problem in the rear can set up a speed oscillation felt in the front as well.

 

Well the wheel balancing would be the obvious start. It seems that Dlowe doesn't want to figure things out, he wants an answer. The next step would be swapping tires around to see if it moves, like you said. The only other thing I can think of, could a bad wheel bearing cause this?

We have always only had the wheel balancing problem. If the car was in an accident, that may be an assocaited problem.