New to Audi

[J30GST]

Hi all
I have just bought my first Audi, 59 plate A4 Sline B8,
I am very happy with the car but there are a few niggles I was wondering if someone could help out.
When I am going round a roundabout at 30mph the steering seems to be quite heavy and also when slowly turning the steering wheel such as parking the wheel vibrates and can here a rumbling noise through the wheel, I just hope it's nothing serious but any info would be great
Thank you

 

[Meemo]

funny what you describe as I had the same symptoms, I thought my steering rack was dying. vibrated with a noise when turning the wheel when parking or tight bends... Turned out one of the heat shields was bent and rubbing on the ball joint when i turned the steering, mechanic friend found it when underneath and bent it back, hay presto!

with the heavy steering, I drove a work friends 59 plate a4 just like yours actually, as he asked if i could to see if his was a duff as the steering felt wrong, and his steering was very heavy and strangely twitchy after 50, felt pretty unsafe tbh.
Audi told him the steering system used in the 2009 models was replaced by an uprated part from 2010 and this was just how that year felt to drive.
He also had budget tyres on when it was bought, and found the steering felt less twitchy immediately after changing the tyres for new decent brands.

 

[J30GST]

Hi Meemo, thanks for the reply, well I have bought the car from a garage and the first time it happened I took it back and the mechanic said something about there are a lot of A4 owners that have had this problem and he phoned Audi who confirmed some cars do it and some don't which I find a bit odd but regarding the tyres there is continental on the front and Pirelli on the rear so not budget tyres, I will nip it to my local Audi garage and ask if a tech will have a look

 

[Meemo]

sounds like you have a heavy steering one I guess, very odd but not uncommon apparently.

I hope the vibration is bent heat shield too, mine got initially bent by the wheel when taking it off we reckon, then bent more by my driving height being low. Your vibration things sounds just like mine from the description, for weeks i thought my car had a serious issue, I thought it felt dangerous too but that must of been in my head as bent it back and is lovely to drive.

 

[J30GST]

I will ask the garage to look at the heat sheilds and fingers crossed it will be, this will sound stupid but could you describe where the said heat shield is? I think going from a 08 plate fiat bravo to this the steering will feel a lot heavier haha. Fingers crossed its something silly and nothing that will cost a fortune when my warranty runs out. Thanks again Meemo

 

[Meemo]

I will ask the garage to look at the heat sheilds and fingers crossed it will be, this will sound stupid but could you describe where the said heat shield is? I think going from a 08 plate fiat bravo to this the steering will feel a lot heavier haha. Fingers crossed its something silly and nothing that will cost a fortune when my warranty runs out. Thanks again Meemo

I left it with him to investigate as I thought it was something more serious so never saw it for myself, i believe it is the large piece of metal cover under the car protecting the rest of the bay from the exhaust heat, or possibly the heat shield behind the brakes as he wasnt specific to which one now I think of it. google image both.

But if you tell the garage about my heatshield rubbing on the ball joint when steering they should know where to look (if they are not stupid mechanics), they should also turn the steering whilst it is on the ramp to see what is making contact that shouldnt be. I would personally ask to watch, I dont trust many garages with my car, allot of cowboys out there.

 

[Chop.]

Hi mate welcome

Hope u get your problems sorted, the heavy steering could just be down to it being a bigger motor than your last

I get the the slight feed back and rumble through the wheel when going through full lock coming off my drive but just put it down to the car being lowered as didn't notice it before and it drives fine rest of the time

 

[J30GST]

Hi Chop thank you
Yeah I do think it is down to it been bigger and also I have just checked the tyre pressures on my way to work and I don't think 30psi was helping, I have put them to 35psi as stated on the sticker (for 245/40/18y). I will be getting the heat shield checked as mentioned by Meemo just to be sure. Other than these minor issues I'm loving the car.