Re: High Speed Vibes

[rdh@sli.com (Robert D. Houk)]

   While cruising to Jacksonville last night I was accosted by a Volvo 850 turbo
   wagon.  Defending the old girl's honor we leapt into the fray.  He faded
   ...

Oh yeah, another thing that can cause "shimmy"-like vibration is slightly
warped rotors and/or grabby/frozen calipers. If the problem is severe,
there is no mistaking the problem, but if it is mild, the "oscilating drag"
can set up interesting resonances with the suspension that causes "shaking"
at different speeds (and temps, and phasii of the moon) that come and go
with little apparent correlation with Reality(tm) -- feels just like a
mild "out-of-balance" problem.

And, Audi being Audi, don't forget that there are a zillion or so little
(and big) nuts'n'bolts holding framlettes to subframes to chassis, with
all sorts of rubbery bushings sandwiched inbetween things, and it only
takes *ONE* loose bolt/worn bushing/etc. to make things loose and inter-
esting. Usually only loose enough that you can "detect" it, but not
loose enough that a casual inspection can find it -- it really takes a
trained and competent Audi mechanic to wad through all that under-chassis
crap to find the worn/loose component *before* it gets bad and falls off
of its own accord.

Or a flat-spotted tire . . .

Or . . .

. . . 

					-RDH