2009 Audi A4 and S5: Steering Vibration Wrap Up

It must be good to work at Edmunds. I can't imagine the Audi dealer in Cary, NC giving anyone that kind of troubleshooting attention.

So the sunroofs are properly gapped but the cars shimmy, seems like a fair trade.

Nice to see they came up with a fix. Still, the initial problem is unacceptable.

funny ckk2

Seems like a logical fix to me - using softer bushings so you don't notice the vibrations. But it also seems to me if this was a GM, Ford, or Chrylser there would be many comments about their quality and how the problem is not really beig fixed, that this is just a band-aid solution and another example of domestic auto maker incompetence.

I agree with bkochuk. There's no way a private owner would ever have such service and attention to detail as Edmunds has seen. That's why it's such a sham to have anything in the long-term fleet that has been provided by the manufacturer.

At least it's an indication that the dealer is capable of getting it's act together. I've been to some that were seemingly run by apes.

Those new control arm are probably from "rough road package" Germans install for Russia and places like that. I wonder how long it will take for the US to fall into the same camp.

bad control arm bushings... typical Audi flaw

@wk
"Those new control arm are probably from "rough road package" Germans install for Russia and places like that. I wonder how long it will take for the US to fall into the same camp."

In the Midwest, we're already there!

agree with bkochuk too.

I'm sure audi of santa monica has gotten wind of this blog and ramped up your service accordingly.

I would never get such service.

Control arm problems with an Audi? Shocking! First-generation A4s go through control arms (among other things) like nobody's business.

I'd just like to mention, Audi has some of the most attractive stock wheels on the market today. The 2009 A4 parked next to the S5 has Stock rims, and they actually look like upgraded rims.

I owned a C5 A6 a while back. Big mistake. You'd think the control arms were made from candycane peppermint they would fail so regularly.

I have the worst problem with my AUDI A5 Sline 3.0D 240ch.

Since the first day, 3 months ago, I have been able to drive my car only 3 weeks ! The car is having big vibrations while driving between 120 and 130 km/h.

After 3 months of waiting they told me I will for sure received the car the first week of July, then the week after and last time I was promise I will have it this tuesday 14th July and guess what... no car... still in Germany.

And now I just heard there are 6 Audi A5 in the same garage where I bought mine which has the same vibration problems... I don't how many in belgium and Europe but it must be a lot !

So people don't buy an Audi A5 right now. Wait @ least 6 months till they solve the problem...

I'm sure they will solved it in the next weeks/months but if you want to buy a Audi A5, you should definitively wait a few months otherwise you will probably encounter the same problem as me.

Sweet quality. It's hard to be an Audi homer when I constantly hear this kind of stuff. Have to love a $60k car with improperly balanced wheels from the factory. And I love the half *ss fix with the new control arms.

I have an 2009 A4 sedan with the vibration problem at around 65 mph. Balancing has helped but not cured. It's going in next week for some kind of special balancing, but it looks like they're expecting the need to replace the lower control arms since they've got a loaner reserved for me without my even asking. I'll report back.

My 2009 A4 has the shimmy around 62 mph. First the dealer said that one of the wheels was out of balance and re-balanced it. I test drove it and the shimmy was still there, then they told me that the car just needs to be driven a bit more, so I drove the car for couple more weeks and shimmy is still there. I took the car in for the second time and the service advisor said I might have defective control arms, but he called me back couple hours later and said that they just had to road force balanced it and claimed that they took the car to 80 mph and detected no shimmies. I drove the car home but noticed that the vibration is still there, but not as bad as before. I then drove the car for couple more days, then the shimmy came back. I brought the car back right to the dealership for the third time and this time the service advisor told me that they couldn't get the Audi Engineering to authorize the control arm replacement previously, but he'll try again this time. Finally, got the call from service advisor the same afternoon and told me that they got the go ahead from Engineering to order new control arms for me. He told me to expect at least 3 weeks to get the parts but don't be surprised if it'll take up to 2 months. Btw, he said he only had to replace the control arms on one other 09 A4 the entire year since 09 A4 came out. Stay tuned.

I am about to purcase one of the left over "09 A4's on the dealers lot due the pretty good incentives (as they try and get rid of inventory). When I test dorve the car (has 78 miles on the odometer) I noticed a vibration at around 65 mph (as shared here).

I sure don't want to go through all the dealer visits etc., to get this corrected. I may look elsewhere and eliminate Audi as a candidate for the family. Thanks for all the info.

I would definitely eliminate Audi from your candidates. It seems that most A4's have a vibration problem. I picked up my A4 3 weeks ago, and reported the problem the FIRST day. They told me to give it a few more days, than another week! They replaced two tires, still no solution. I get the vibration starting at 10km! Anyone else get it at such low speeds?

I bought an A4 3.2 last week -- hardly a few thousand miles on it. I felt the shimmy as soon as I hit the highway around 60mph. It's an uneasy feeling knowing you paid $40K+ for car and its steering wheel vibrates?! The dealer looked at it and said the driver's side wheel is bent -- they replaced it. The shimmy is still there. I have to slow down to 50mph on highways. I'm taking the car back to the dealer and have it FIXED for good or ask them to take it back. This is my second A4 and mighty disappointed.

I had the vibration issue on A5. The only fix is to have the control arms replaced as detailed in this article. You have to be very forceful with your dealer. Audi has a procedure in place for this issue where they will attempt to road force balance your wheels before replacing the control arms. They will only replace the control arms after this has been attempted. My issue has been completely resolved with new control arms.

I purchased a 2009 Audi A4 about a year ago. Like all the entries above, the car had a shimmy, so before we purchased it, we had them balance the tires, and for the most part it fixed the issue. About a week ago, the car really started to vibrate at approx 60mph. I took it to the dealer and they wanted to road force balance the car. Sounded fine to me. Got a phone call from the dealer notifying me the road force balance did not meet their specs. So, they placed a phone call to Audi. Audi told them to replace the front control arms. Seems to have fixed the issue.

I know this is a very old post/thread, and probably no one will read this, but just to throw it out there: I have this car, and love it. I have had 3 Audis, including an S6 and a TT 3.2L. This will be my last Audi. I have this vibration at high and low speed. Just do a search, you'll find thousands of other owners in the same boat. IT FULLY depends on your dealer experience. Since I've used about 5 Audi dealers over the years and locales, my experience is 100% negative. It took 4 visits just to get them to replace the power steering hose (or pump or whatever) - even though it is really common and there is a TSB for it. They insisted 3 times that there was no problem. 3 times in the shop took me about 8 hours total, all when I should have been at work.
Finally, I got them to recognize the problem, and they did the wheel balance. Still there. Then they did the power steering hose. No change. I just don't have time for this. So, I'm going to sell it and get something non-Audi.

What a pity.