Suspension/Handling Problems

[nikolas@ingres.com (Nikolas Terizakis)]

Hi,

I hope someone can help with this one:

Machinery :

	87 Audi 90 Quattro (one of the first ones that came to the UK)
	89000 Miles (and still going strong)

Problem:

	On full lock especially with the well turned full to the left
	I hear a noise comming from the front left wheel when the car
	is moving. At the same time the car shudders, especialy 
	noticable when moving backwards.

	Don't know if it is related, but the car feels rather 
	unstable when moving at speed 60mph +, especicaly if there
	are grooves running along the length of the road.  The
	feeling I get is as if the car is not sitting 'square' on
	its 4 weels.  Compared to my father's 91 80q, it feels
	both considerably unstable and more 'bouncy' on undulations.
	Furthermore the handling on corners is not near as good as
	my father's, even though we both run the same tyres.

History:

	The car was bought 2nd hand, I am the 2nd owner, have never
	had an accident, and according to the Authorised Audi Dealer
	(Dovercourt of London) the car was never involved in an
	accident (although I believe that the front right wing
	and door has been resprayed).

	The front shocks have been changed with not original, but
	approved German made shocks (can't remember name), with
	no improvement.

	The car had a recent service by a different dealer + annual
	inspection, as well as MOT test, yet by a different shop,
	and even though I mentioned my problem, they could find 
	nothing wrong.

	An Audi Dealer I was using 2 years before, suggested that the
	instability was due to sidewinds and turbulance created by
	traffic in the M-way, magnified by the known instability of
	low drag co-efficient of new cars, but my father's almost
	identical Audi (save engine output) feels far superior, 
	especially with undulations on the road.

The thing I am suspecting at the moment are the wheel bearings and
rack and pinion joints, but wouldn't it be reasonable to expect that
the dealer would have found a problem with them during the service,
especially having mentioned the problems?

Thanks for any pointers,

Nikolas Terizakis
CA-Ingres Technical Support
Brussels, Belgium