Handling under acceleration

[Andy H]

I am fairly new the the world of Audi having only owned my Avant for a few a week or so. My two previous cars were both Seat Leon's, one Cupra R and the last an FR which both had there abouts the same power as my A4. Now both these cars handled low down acceleration with rock solid steering, you could almost take your hand off the wheel. Now the Audi seems very nervous to me under acceleration, any slightest change of road suface will take it off line and it doesn't seem setled to me. Even at slower speeds it almost feels like it is trying to centre the wheel too much.

Is this normal? should I expect it to feel more planted than this?

Now I am going to be really crap here and admit I haven't checked the tyre pressures and I can't even remember the tyres that are fitted. I'll go out and have a look but I thought I would ask first.

Cheers

 

[drewbee]

maybe you wana check your wheel alignment and if that fails, maybe your rims are bent?

 

[solaris]

As above...Please check tyre pressure, wheel alignment, camber and castor. The A4 is prone to shed loads of understeer due to engine being mounted way past the front axels.

 

[Andy H]

Will do. So should I be expecting a very solid feeling from the front just like my old Leon's?

 

[fattiereturns]

I wouldn't expect it to be as tight as that buddy, but you could make it so if you wanted to. Depends if you're willing to fart around with the front end...

 

[Andy H]

I wouldn't expect it to be as tight as that buddy, but you could make it so if you wanted to. Depends if you're willing to fart around with the front end...

I don't mind doing a bit if it will ease the nervous feeling it has. To be honest I don't feel confident that it will stay on my side of the road enough for oncoming cars on tighter lanes!

Once again, wish I had held out for a Quattro

 

[fattiereturns]

You might be surprised how much the quattro takes a funny line under hard cornering, I've sent it to the naughty step to have a word with itself many a time...

If you're seriously bending it around corners, few motors will suffice right out of the box, but sticking on lsd might seem a little ott and would probably cost upward of £500?

On the plus side it be well wicked innit

 

[Andy H]

I have to say how much I now appreciate how good both my Leon's were with no changing from the standard spec. Point and press at a corner and they would just stick and go round. Now don't get me wrong I am no longer looking for the ultimate corner machine, been there and went rallying with my brother instead of on the road, plus I have a two wheeled machine if I need to scratch that itch

What I would like is for this car to be happy on the backroads and put a smile on my face when the revs pick up. The Leon did this so well and I thought the A4 could do a similar thing with RS4's in the line up? So not the ultimate, not even the best but just something that I can still decide to take the backroads rather than the mainroads as I will have more fun. Should an S-Line spec do that?

 

[wyliss]

Go to a proper 4 wheel alignment outfit. Dont just get tracking done, waste of time.
I got my car aligned a few weeks ago and it drives like new now.
hth

I am fairly new the the world of Audi having only owned my Avant for a few a week or so. My two previous cars were both Seat Leon's, one Cupra R and the last an FR which both had there abouts the same power as my A4. Now both these cars handled low down acceleration with rock solid steering, you could almost take your hand off the wheel. Now the Audi seems very nervous to me under acceleration, any slightest change of road suface will take it off line and it doesn't seem setled to me. Even at slower speeds it almost feels like it is trying to centre the wheel too much.

Is this normal? should I expect it to feel more planted than this?


Now I am going to be really crap here and admit I haven't checked the tyre pressures and I can't even remember the tyres that are fitted. I'll go out and have a look but I thought I would ask first.

Cheers

 

[johnnythepie]

What size wheels do you have?If they are 19" then thats the norm.If 18", then get the alignment checked.As stated it must be the full laser job (dealers price is around£300).Failing that id consider uprating the anti rolls front and rear.I had a 2l tdi B7 sline avant with stock sline suspension (30mm drop) and 18" wheels and got the occassional tramlining, but with the width of the tyres you have to expect it a little.I know exact feeling that you have at the moment, when i got my B8 equiv last year I was straight back to the dealers cos i thought it was downright dangerous.The ****** would skip across the road if it was uneven.It improved a bit as the tyres bedded in, but i didnt trust it fully.New arb's last week has sorted that out in my particular case.But there are issues with the B7 having its engine 'too far forward', not sure about the 2.0t but def with the 2.7tdi that i test drove.That was lethal,Real bad understeer, but thats off topic.
Id def go for the alignment first...that might kill or cure it...hopefully it wont reveal any nasties such as previous collision damage etc.But thats your first port of call.Good luck.

 

[Andy H]

Many thanks for that detailed explanation John, much appreciated. I might go and talk to the dealer as the car is still less than a month old to me so I will try and blag a 4 wheel alignment. Failing that I will find someone that does this and check it out. New ARB's seem like a very good idea and I hear what you are saying with the engine hanging out the front.

Oh yeah, the wheels are the standard 18" SE ones rather than 19". Tramlinning is the phase I was looking for, thank you. This is exactly what the car does on the backroads when I give it some right foot.