Help All 4 wheels buckled

[feeltheburn]

Regardless of the Manufacturer, the wheels should be designed appropriately for the vehicle and prevailing conditions. Manufacturers already do this for aircon, fuel grades, dust ingress etc depending on the country of sale. I like nothing better than the look of a spindly 21" wheel, however the OEM wheels should still be engineered to meet the purpose for which they will be used. Holes in roads are not unique to the UK, and therefore the durability should be built in to the original wheel design and/or we are only offered sturdy(f u g l y) wheels in the configurator.

[robf]

Visit Russia and ex-Soviet countries, their roads are WAY WAY WAY worse than ours!

I agree with the above wholeheartedly - they are not fit for purpose. However, it's not up to us decide whether it's worth following up. It's opportunity cost - fighting the battle will take a lot of time and probably money with a solicitor. You have to ask yourself whether your time is more productively spent elsewhere.

[MikeFish]

If you don't get anywhere with a couple of emails to senior managers and a bit of bad social media publicity then give up. You are not gonna win any form of legal battle without heavy investment of time and money.

[almoRS]

Exactly my original thoughts. I could push back right now but I have more important things to do. I have new after market alloys due in next couple of weeks so these wheels will be off the car. I'd rather concentrate on looking forward to the new look that worrying about the current wheels.

[MikeFish]

What wheels have you gone for or is it a secret?

[almoRS]

What wheels have you gone for or is it a secret?

Ispiri FFR6 10x21.5"

[MikeFish]

Nice! They were on my list of potential wheels. In a dark colour I presume?

I assume you meant 10.5" not 10"?

[almoRS]

Nice! They were on my list of potential wheels. In a dark colour I presume?

I assume you meant 10.5" not 10"?

Cheers Mike. Yes meant 10.5". The 21s only come in brushed silver and they won't deviate. I will have the fitted that colour but I'm pretty certain I will get them powder coated a dark grey or similar with logos done in same colour as car. I think they will look pretty smart.

[wildbore]

Regardless of the Manufacturer, the wheels should be designed appropriately for the vehicle and prevailing conditions. Manufacturers already do this for aircon, fuel grades, dust ingress etc depending on the country of sale. I like nothing better than the look of a spindly 21" wheel, however the OEM wheels should still be engineered to meet the purpose for which they will be used. Holes in roads are not unique to the UK, and therefore the durability should be built in to the original wheel design and/or we are only offered sturdy(f u g l y) wheels in the configurator.

I have had a little exposure to the testing regime that alloy wheels are put through by VW Group, and I don't see why Audi would deviate from the process I have seen.

Alloy wheels are put through extensive, precisely controlled testing procedures both at the design stage (before the wheel is released for manufacturing) and then subsequently, when periodically wheels are pulled from the production line and subjected to the same tests to ensure there is no deviation in manufacturing quality. Any deviation of production samples from the expected performance is immediately addressed (seen this happen for myself). And, needless to say, although manufacturing is sub-contracted, the wheels are made by top wheel manufacturer(s).

So, I might be jumping the gun here because we don't know how this will play out with Audi but, whatever the problem here is, I don't think it is poor quality wheels from the manufacturer.

[Bit_evl]

I would agree with the fact that vendors do quality control and we have an expectation of sufficient strength but let face it everyone aims to make certain they are not "over-engineering" and so leaving cost in items these days. All I am going to say is Diesel-gate. Early BMW Run-flats going bang. Thats also the purpose of the recall program but that does not occur until the figures get to legal status now does it. Anyone remember the story about the Top Gear magazine Audi A4 that randomly lowered its drivers window due to a known bug ? It had been reported widely but not hit big time until it happened repeatedly in their car park to their loan car.

I don't mean this to penalise Audi. They probably all do it to some degree. I am also not intending to infer that I think this is the ONLY possible reason for the issues people are having. I do drive my car around the EU and in some countries the roads are worse than the UK. I would expect that these larger pot-holes or canyons should be avoided but should I hit a bit of debris I do not expect to get a wobble develop.

Mine has now developed the wobble. First small then noticable. Audi has already taken the car off me and fitted new (steel) brakes which has cleared this part of the wobble. However there was second wobble underneath this which I did highlight on handover. The car has comeback with this same wobble. I suspect that the offending wheel/tyre combo has been moved front to back as the rear is now clearly the culprit. Person in the back seat last night commented on it at 70mph on a flat clean motorway. Steering is constantly shimmying. The worst thing is that on a corner I take most nights (A34 Whitchurch Southbound exit) which has a lovely twisty it nearly stuffed me into the bushes last night in the damp. Rear contact patch is clearly not contacting and at this point the car is dangerous. Its going back in.

First sign of a "not our problem" will see the full and final legal hit. £90k and 6000 miles means I do not expect to be sitting in something that shakes like a LonDon Cab. It did not do this on arrival and it should not do it now. I am starting to regret buying this car if the stories you guys are sharing turn out to be true. It would not be the first time the lemon rule was applied.

[wildbore]

.. it nearly stuffed me into the bushes last night in the damp. Rear contact patch is clearly not contacting and at this point the car is dangerous. Its going back in.
.

You cannot seriously think that the wheel on your car is buckled enough to reduce the contact patch??!! Have you been watching too many episodes of Whacky Races?

[feeltheburn]

I have had a little exposure to the testing regime that alloy wheels are put through by VW Group, and I don't see why Audi would deviate from the process I have seen.

Alloy wheels are put through extensive, precisely controlled testing procedures both at the design stage (before the wheel is released for manufacturing) and then subsequently, when periodically wheels are pulled from the production line and subjected to the same tests to ensure there is no deviation in manufacturing quality. Any deviation of production samples from the expected performance is immediately addressed (seen this happen for myself). And, needless to say, although manufacturing is sub-contracted, the wheels are made by top wheel manufacturer(s).

So, I might be jumping the gun here because we don't know how this will play out with Audi but, whatever the problem here is, I don't think it is poor quality wheels from the manufacturer.

I am not talking about the quality of the wheels. My 21" wheels are beautiful to look at (imo), the sharpness and quality of the diamond cut is top notch as is the overall finish- and from an appearance perspective they have proved very durable for the 24months and 13000 miles that I have run them. I am talking about the Engineering Design and the relevance to real world conditions that their test programs follow. I count myself as lucky that I have emerged from quite a few potholes unscathed - however if I was looking at at £5K bill to replace buckled wheels I 'd rightly be calling Audi out on this. That said it still wouldn't take the shine of this fantastic car

[Bit_evl]

You cannot seriously think that the wheel on your car is buckled enough to reduce the contact patch??!! Have you been watching too many episodes of Whacky Races?

I know the bend, the car and previous runs.
I did it in my other car earlier in the day in the same conditions and it did not change from normal.
Back twitched.

You are right there are a couple of other reasons (diesel on road etc) but either way the difference was quite considerable and almost resulted in a brown moment. 2 tonnes sideways on a small road is not something I want to experience. I used to do it with my GTR33V but this is a different beast.

[wildbore]

I am not talking about the quality of the wheels.

I wasn't talking about the quality of the wheels, either. I was talking about a destructive testing regime to ensure the wheels' structural integrity and, throughout its manufacturing lifecycle, continued compliance to the design specification. The testing basically involves smashing the wheel to bits on a test rig that simulates pot holes, hitting kerbs, etc.

[almoRS]

Update on my OEM wheels. A fellow RS6 owner had the same issue and got pointed in the direction of a local tyre and alloy specialist to have his fixed successfully. I did the same and had all 4 wheels straightened yesterday. Drive there and back is about 30 miles across country roads so good test before and after. Car is completely cured and at a fraction of the cost of new Audi alloys.

Speaking with the owner of the specialist he said it was one of the worst he has seen, out over 10MM on at least one wheel. He did say that the wheels although not that light did appear to be rotary forged in that the face is cast and the barrel forged but with a cast lip on the inside which is too soft, hence possibly being the problem. I think Audi do offer, or use fully forged wheels on some R8's so it would be a nice option for future RS models.

Unfortunately I have had to cancel my new Ispiri wheels for the moment due to delays in manufacturing so still looking for options. There are very few options for flow\rotary forged wheels in 21". Plenty of options for fully forged but I can't justify the cost of these at the moment.