Wheel Issue/Question??

[W8PMC]

The Beast is still at the dealers having the drivers seat problem rectified & while she is in there, i asked the dealer to check the wheels out, as i was experiencing wheel wobble through the steering wheel at speeds between 40mph - 70mph (worst at about 50mph). The steering wheel would move clockwise & anti-clockwise about 1-2cm, but there were no other symptoms, such as the car pulling etc.

Dealer has balanced all the wheels, but one of the front wheels required 80 grams to balance & in my mind that is quite excessive ballast.

Been reading new issues on other forums with RS4 & RS6 wheels buckling recently & wondered if this could be a possible cause??

Not an expert when it comes to wheels etc. but given the performance capabilities of the car, i'm slightly nervous if i have a more serious problem that could affect the handling.

Any ideas?

[ChrisB]

You're on the 19" wheels, right? I think they do bend slightly if you hit a pothole or bump/lump in the road at speed. I think the change in the wheel shape is slight enough that it's not visible on a traditional balancing machine, but sometimes a lot of weight is needed to balance out (I've had similar balance weights required on mine) any axis wobble. It's all vey well having no wobble, but if the rolling circumference isn't a perfect circle there is bound to be some amount of uneven force created when the car is moving. The C5 platform seems to be particularly susceptible to this force being felt through the suspension - lots of complaints from the US about 4.2s and S6s in particular, with a few 2.7T problems.

Get a Hunter GSP9700 balance done (see http://www.pro-align.co.uk/hgsp9700.htm for GSP9700 info) and that might cure it. If not, can your dealer temporarily swap wheels with a used or demo one? After that, I think discs (and pads) and new hubs all round, then if still no joy you're looking at driveshaft imbalance or something else that involves lots of ramp-time.

[ChrisB]

Oh, and the GSP9700 may be known as a VAS 6230 by your dealer, if they have one.