Torque Steer

[jezitalia]

Mike/ Wildbore,

I never use the lane assist, it was put on my car in error and is always deactivated. As such I don't think its intervening.

As WB states, this is not how this car should drive. I am awaiting a call back but will take things to AUK if no sensible reply is forthcoming. This is a highly repeatable response, as others have stated too.

[10biscuits]

to all who have posted,in my earlier one,this is exactly what happened to me and that was pulling out to overtake and hard acceleration at the same time,the car virtually went 1/2 sideways and scared me rigid.you are so right my 85 k car should not do this,had B8 and before that B7, never ever had torque steer ,there doesn't seem to be a consensus as to whether it's tyres though.I would like to speak to my dealer as I've bin with them for years and they really do look after me well,but don't want to tread on other posters toes so thinks I will wait till you get a response from Audi UK.

[RS6chris!]

Like I said I another post. I'm on conti''s and no problems here. I run my drive select as follows
Gear box : comfort
Air suspension: auto
Steering: comfort
Diff: dynamic
Exhaust: dynamic
TBH. I've always hated Dunplops. Back in the 80's I had a MK2 escort RS2000 and I nearly died coming off a roundabout and was caught out in a big way. The car had always run goodyears previously and Id always drive it like I'd stole it as you do when your 18years old and stupid. But a set of Dunplops came cheap and they were the worst tyres I'd ever had and to this day I would never touch them with a barge pole. It was the same again when in the 90's I bought a Series 1 RS turbo and it had Dunplops D4's on it so I went straight to tyre sales and had goodyears fitted.
Ps my brothers and I nicknamed them DUNPLOPS cause they are just plain sh1te.

Tyre technology has come a long way since the eighties!!!.....and a 80 or 90,s Ford isn't really a comparison.

I had Dunlops on my C6....performed great even when mapped.

[Eddie555]

Fair comment. It's just my opinion. But at the same time in the 80s and 90s Goodyear were better and those days in a ford you had to drive those cars with a bit of skill else you'd be in a tree somewhere dead. I'm no Colin McRae (God rest his soul) but those fast fords taught you how to drive. No esp abs and tech of today. So tyre choice was defo something you had to get right.

[Eddie555]

Just out of interest. jezitalia and 10buiscuits. Do you ride motorbikes??? I know wildbore does. I ask this only because I used to ride bikes as well and I'm thinking that when I used to overtake it was a case of knock it down the box a couple gears right fist full twist and flick bike to right and flick it back into the left still with fully wrist full then back up the box and cruise. Correct me if I'm wrong if that's not how it's done on a bike. I'm thinking are you driving your RS like your riding your bikes. Ie hard acceleration to early in my opinion would be upsetting the balance in a car.
Now I'm back in my RS. To overtake I half or so right foot peer past the car in front while slightly over the centre line if clear enough( not much room really required) then progress to right lane as I dump my right foot and box drops a couple of cogs turbos kick in and blast past snail in front lift off loud pedal and move back over. So a bit different technique of overtaking method. Ps just a thought I'm not trying to say people can't drive or anything like that. Just maybe we drive differently and the RS6 animal we own needs to be tickled gently than other cars we've owned in the past.

[10biscuits]

eddie,never wridden a bike,first to admit I'm probably not the greatest driver ever,and maybe you need to treat the C7 like a wild animal !!but as I said earlier never ever experienced it on the B8 or the B7,now either they were better thought out cars,but compred with my B7 we are 9 years on-gulp !!the result of all this is that I am taming the car and I know what it's little quirks are, and just maybe that's why I'm getting more and more attached to the thing.in other words it just might be a driver's car !!

[Eddie555]

All wild animals need to be treated with respect in return for lots of pleasure.

[Shinobi675]

I had a 09 Yamaha Roar1, it was the same, crack the throttle feel face, face still intact, nothing left in front.

I had it in the c6 where the tyres had 3 psi too much, felt terrible pulling out of corners, could it be this?

[wildbore]

To overtake I half or so right foot peer past the car in front while slightly over the centre line if clear enough( not much room really required) then progress to right lane as I dump my right foot and box drops a couple of cogs turbos kick in and blast past snail in front lift off loud pedal and move back over.

That's how I am trying to train myself to drive the RS6, which is also how I ride my bike. i.e. full throttle acceleration is only applied when the bike is pointing straight ahead. It's just not what I am used to, but I am happy to admit that this is the most powerful car I have ever owned. I have just never noticed this issue in powerful RWD cars, though (e.g. C63, various Porsches) but then none of those cars are knocking out 550bhp.

[Eddie555]

To overtake I half or so right foot peer past the car in front while slightly over the centre line if clear enough( not much room really required) then progress to right lane as I dump my right foot and box drops a couple of cogs turbos kick in and blast past snail in front lift off loud pedal and move back over.

That's how I am trying to train myself to drive the RS6, which is also how I ride my bike. i.e. full throttle acceleration is only applied when the bike is pointing straight ahead. It's just not what I am used to, but I am happy to admit that this is the most powerful car I have ever owned. I have just never noticed this issue in powerful RWD cars, though (e.g. C63, various Porsches) but then none of those cars are knocking out 550bhp.

Me personally think it's got a bit to do with when the kick down of the gearbox and the spooling of the turbos kicking in all at the same time. Booooooom and we have take off. Hang on to your granny time.

[Eddie555]

I had this toy for 5 years and only recently parted with it and I guess my driving behaviour was adapted for her. If you didn't wait till you were straight before planting my foot it would be snaking up the road like a lunatic. 210 bhp and 550kg = a whole load of fun.

[Shinobi675]

I'd imagine that has a decent linear throttle though, the c6 is bad in this area, it really is all or nothing and o don't think it's the turbo combination. I think it's just a lazy gearbox. It's better in sport but I do wonder if a map is the way to go.

[Seacube]

to all who have posted,in my earlier one,this is exactly what happened to me and that was pulling out to overtake and hard acceleration at the same time,the car virtually went 1/2 sideways and scared me rigid.you are so right my 85 k car should not do this,had B8 and before that B7, never ever had torque steer ,there doesn't seem to be a consensus as to whether it's tyres though.I would like to speak to my dealer as I've bin with them for years and they really do look after me well,but don't want to tread on other posters toes so thinks I will wait till you get a response from Audi UK.

What you're describing sounds like a simple loss of traction, whereas what wildbore describes seems to be a case of the steering fighting his inputs. These appear to be unrelated issues, or am I misreading something?

[wildbore]

to all who have posted,in my earlier one,this is exactly what happened to me and that was pulling out to overtake and hard acceleration at the same time,the car virtually went 1/2 sideways and scared me rigid.you are so right my 85 k car should not do this,had B8 and before that B7, never ever had torque steer ,there doesn't seem to be a consensus as to whether it's tyres though.I would like to speak to my dealer as I've bin with them for years and they really do look after me well,but don't want to tread on other posters toes so thinks I will wait till you get a response from Audi UK.

What you're describing sounds like a simple loss of traction, whereas what wildbore describes seems to be a case of the steering fighting his inputs. These appear to be unrelated issues, or am I misreading something?

It's a difficult one... it's a bit of both: Under full acceleration, if I try to change direction (for example, to pull back in after an overtake), I put some lock on but the wheels try to stay pointing ahead. So you wind some more lock on and fight it for a moment and then suddenly it seems that the car wants to turn really tightly (probably picking up the vector of the front wheels which are now "over turned" as a result of the additional steering input applied).

As a result the car darts sharply left, back into the lane you want to be in. But now the maneouvre is too sharp, too strong, and you have to wrestle the wheels and the car back to the straight ahead position. Throughout the manoevre, it seems that the car either wants to be going straight on or turning sharply and flips from one vector to the other without regard to how smoothly you feed in the steering inputs.

So, generally, it feels like torque steer and it's not pleasant. But, like others who have posted here, I have experienced it once when it was so dramatic that I thought I was going to lose control of the car. I was doing around 60-70. I had buzzed round a car but I needed to get back in sharpish (and, yes, after the overtake was over, I realised I was being a bit chippy and shouldn't have gone for the overtake). I turned in, car wanted to go straight on. I wound some more steering in, the car basically shot sideways at what felt like 45 degrees as the tyres suddenly found the grip and hauled the front to the left really violently, and as a result the rear felt seriously destabilised. It was undoubtedly not as close to the edge as it felt but I thought I was going to spin the car.

Who knows what is causing this?

Maybe it was the mythical sports differential kicking in? Maybe there was a shift in power transfer from front to rear? I have no idea. But when people post that they thought they were in danger of losing control of the car, I know exactly what they mean.

I don't think it is anything to do with the air suspension, though a firmer setup (dynamic rather than comfort) might help to reduce body roll that seems to exaggerate the issue or - at least - the sensation.

I don't think it is the gearbox changing gear and I can't see the gearbox setting making any difference.

I haven't played with the steering setting (I don't have the fancy steering, whose name I have forgotten) but I think my car has some settings options for steering. That could help?

And I haven't played with the Rear Diff setting, which could also make a big difference.

It's not the exhaust!

I can't remember if there is anything else you can change the settings on. However, even with everything in Comfort, it seems this shouldn't happen. But maybe that's what 550bhp in a 2-tonne estate feels like. The closest I can compare the RS6 to in my limited driving experience is a C63, but that never felt like this - indeed at MB world (where I did a session in a C63) one of their "experiences" is a sudden change in direction, which the car did immaculately.

[Seacube]

I don't think it is anything to do with the air suspension, though a firmer setup (dynamic rather than comfort) might help to reduce body roll that seems to exaggerate the issue or - at least - the sensation..

Why are you confident it's not the suspension? At least two of you who report this problem have air. I have DRC and (so far!) have not experienced this issue. I'm also on Contis.

And you definitely do not have the Dynamic Steering option...?