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I have an annoying low level vibration through the car at most speeds. It isn't that long ago I had new tyres on and the guy that balanced them made no comment with regards to struggling to balance them.
When I took the car to the local specialist he had the car on the ramps and span the wheels. To my eyes they looked like there was 2 wheels that were out of round 2-3mm. He said they were close to needing replacement but from his experience working for Audi in the past they would have been deemed okay within their own figures. I believe Audi has had history with chocolate alloy wheels?

2-3mm to me seemed like quite a lot but apparently wheels can be out of round by a fair margin and balanced out to suit, what exact figure that could be is not known to me.

Now for the questions!
Anyone had issues with the alloys buckling and at what sort of 'out of round' amount you noticed something was amiss?
Also how did you sort it?
Can they be straightened back out with a suitable process?
Could the vibration be transaxle related? (though I get the vibration whilst coasting too)

None of mine have buckled, but I know one of my wheels was cracked and had been welded before I bought it.

There have certainly been cases of driveline vibration from either driveshafts or propshaft centre bearings but they aren't that common.

One of mine was out of round by more than that and it balanced fine.

Does your vibration get worse as you accelerate?

Are you using spacers or any other mods on your hubs?

Do you still have TPMS?

Thanks for the replies!

That's good to know bearing issues within the driveline are fairly rare. Also that wheels can be balanced out beyond 3mm.

I would say the vibration is speed related. Accelerating or coasting does not seem to improve the level of vibration.
I do not have spacers and the TPMS has been removed (as far as I know)

There was one bad wheel on each axle if that makes any difference?

Also I could liken the vibration as being almost circular in nature, it has its better moments then the vibration will increase slightly, then slightly fade away. But never goes completely. I was thinking this could point towards one of the diffs maybe? Would getting underneath and giving everything a good pry/shake bring up any possible issues?

Hope the description makes sense. It's why I ruled out weights/balancing as I've had them looked at very recently and from past experience it was always at certain speeds.

I had that with a dodgy spacer once. The wheel wasn't quite centered on the hub and the vibrations would fade and get stronger over a period of about 20 seconds.

If you swap the rears to the front, any change in the nature of the vibrations?

Shoppinit wrote:I had that with a dodgy spacer once. The wheel wasn't quite centered on the hub and the vibrations would fade and get stronger over a period of about 20 seconds.

If you swap the rears to the front, any change in the nature of the vibrations?

I shall give that a try and report back

I had same thing - buckled Alloy. It was out by 5mm - went home put on a spare - instantly fixed. Then it happened again! I buckled 2 alloys in 12 months Took advice from 2 specialist repairs - both advised scrapping as they were twisted and buckled! Great roads in Surrey.

My buckled ones are on the back now. They were on the front and gave an evil wobble. All is good and smooth now.