I get this noise that comes from the front end passenger side tire area. It happens when i get around 40 mph and up and i have a little vibration at higher speeds. If i turn slightly to the left it goes away but if i turn right it gets louder. I do have aftermarket rims on it also. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Could be a fewthings. The first thing that comes to mind is alignment, second would be balancing, and the third would be tie-rods. Does it clunk at all when you turn the wheel? If not, you "could" probably eliminate tie-rods from the equation.

Do you have hub-centric rings on the aftermarket rims? Could be that it either broke, or never put on initially, or it could have fallen out if you've recently had serviced performed that required removal of the rims.

 

Yea no clunking when i turn or anything. I also hear a little squeaking from the same area. Could it be the brake thats making all that noise and vibration? The wheels i got came on the car so i'm not sure about the ring how would i check and they arn't there where can i buy some.

 

It very well could be that you have a loose caliper. Could also be a bad control arm. Jack the vehicle up and grab the tire on both sides and try to move it left and right (towards front and back of car). If there is a good amount of play, then you probably have a bad control arm.

If it feels solid, thenpull the wheel off and inspect the caliper to see if ithasn't comeloose.

Whileyou have thewheel off, look on the rim itself and there "should"be a little plastic gasket that goes on the inner hub of the rim where it mounts to the axle on the car. That's the hubcentric ring. If it is not there, then either a) the rims you have did not require hubcentric rings to begin with, or b) they never put them on (check other wheels too). It depends on the type of rim.

What rims do you have? I should be able to tell you if they need hubcentric rings or not.

 

If you grab the wheel at 9 and 3 and shake it, while it is hanging, and it
is loose, you need tie rod ends.

 

well either way i noticed some plastic rubbing on my wheel so i'm not sure if its the noise tomorow i'm going to zip tie it so its not rubbing. and for my wheels it doesn't matter because i hit a huge hole in the road and crushed my wheels so i've gotta get some new ones. On monday i'm gonna throw my car up on the lift. I start my new job at a benz dealership so i'm gonna see if one of the techs can narrow it down. My buddy works at the audi dealer near me and they still wanted to charge me 100$ to just even look at it. What price am i looking for buying tie rod ends or a control arm?

 

Assuming the wheel isn't rubbing against something, sounds like a wheel bearing.

 

yea i've had a few people tell me that who rode in my car and i have mili miglia wheels i'm hoping i can just purchase two but if i can't find any i'll be getting 4 new rims

 

Well the tech at my mercedes dealer said its definately a wheel bearing by the sound of it. He told me i have to get them done at an audi dealer. Is this true because i found the parts cheap but i don't want to spend the 300 for them to put it in, my buddy said he can put them in using a hammer and something but i dunno if that is legit. And does anyone know the size of the bearing? Help is greatly appreicated! thanks guys.

 

If a wheel baering starts humming, will riding on it do damage to other parts of the car?

Thank you all and hello for the first time! I've seen this sight a lot but never posted. I've got a 1996 a4 2.8 5 speed FWD. 96k miles. Loves it.