Re: HELP,Big vibration

[Daniel Hussey <GY3WSX@VM.SC.EDU>]

      I had a rather large and loud vibration in my front of my 5ktq as well.
I thought it was the wheel bearings so I brought them in to have them replaced
and the shop told me that the bearings, CV joins, etc were all fine and that it
was the tires/wheels.  Sine I had gotten a flat tire and then just bought a set
of Dunlop D60A2's, I thought it might have been the new tires, or the alighnmen
t was off or the wheels were out of balance.  So, I brought it in for an alighn
ment and balance (to the best shop in town).  Sure enough, the alighnment was o
ut of wack, so they corrected this.  They told me the balance was fine, but fou
nd that one of my wheels was "out of round", (one of the front ones) and that w
as most likely where the noise/vibration was comming from.

      When a wheel is "out of round", it is just slightly bent enough so that i
t is not perfectly round, although you cannot usually see the damage.  When I g
ot that flat tire, I had to drive a short ways on the blown tire, and I probabl
y bent the rim slightly in doing this.  This makes sence because the noise/vibr
ation wasn't apparent untill I put the new set of tires on (just after this inc
ident).

      So, over the break, I will be bringing my wheel in to get fixed.  The pla
ce I am taking the wheels to is called Rennsport and they specialize in refinis
hing Porsche (Fuchs) alloys.  I have the Audi Fuchs alloys, so I think this wil
l be good.  I am also going to have them check the rest of my wheels, and possi
bly (if the cost isn't too high), polish the unpainted alloy parts of my wheels
, especially the lips of the rims!  I think that would be cool.  I hope this so
lves the vibration problem, and I think this is probably what your problem is t
oo.  BTW, It's usually about $100 per wheel to get fixed.


                                                                Later,
                                                                Dan