S4 Cab understeer

[Steve_B]

Have an 04 S4 Cab which I have had for a couple of months now. It seems to me that when going round a roundabout or pulling out of junction where steering is involed, giving the throttle a slight "tickle" the front end is understeering\front tyres seem to be struggling and scrubbing. I thought the quattro would give sharp handling (yes I appreciate it is a heavy car with a heavy engine in) but this surprises me, infact my oil burning passat feels like it handles better...

Car only has 19k on so can't be mileage related.

Is this common? easily fixed? I have read about RS4 ARB being fitted though not sure if one would fix this? If so is it an easy job?

Cheers

 

[bubstar]

I'd give the RS4 DRC 22mm anti roll bar a go, it will make a difference to understeer and 'loosen' the back end a bit. Well worth doing for less that £90 odd.

BUB

 

[Steve_B]

I'd give the RS4 DRC 22mm anti roll bar a go, it will make a difference to understeer and 'loosen' the back end a bit. Well worth doing for less that £90 odd.

BUB

Cheers...

is that £90 for all the parts from Audi?

wonder if anyone has used bits knocking about for less... hmm

cheers

 

[jdp1962]

Cheers...

is that £90 for all the parts from Audi?

wonder if anyone has used bits knocking about for less... hmm

cheers

Contact forum member pjmspeedy. He'll fix you up.

 

[stoakseya4]

There isn't a massive jump though from an S4 to the B7 RS4 22" one.

A cheap way of trying to resolve though.
Alternatively try Hotchkis ones...

 

[BahnStormer77]

or but nice new top spec tyres on the front and borderline road legal ones on the back... that "policy" used to make my old Golf REALLY good fun in the wet - lift-off oversteer and controlled drifting around roundabouts with 18k mile Toyo's on the back and <1k mile Toyo's on the front

 

[Steve_B]

or but nice new top spec tyres on the front and borderline road legal ones on the back... that "policy" used to make my old Golf REALLY good fun in the wet - lift-off oversteer and controlled drifting around roundabouts with 18k mile Toyo's on the back and <1k mile Toyo's on the front

hmmm- yes thanks very much for that My old M5 and TT Supra had fantastic oversteer abilities... traction control off, right foot down...

cheers

 

[Steve_B]

There isn't a massive jump though from an S4 to the B7 RS4 22" one.

A cheap way of trying to resolve though.
Alternatively try Hotchkis ones...

Many thanks, if it won't improve things I shall leave it alone. Would stick with Audi part mainly to avoid insurance issues.

cheers

 

[aragorn]

What tyres are currently on there?

 

[aragorn]

I would defo get the RS4 bar on there for the cost of it, it will most definately help, although it wont make such a HUGE difference like on the lesser spec cars.

 

[Steve_B]

What tyres are currently on there?

They are what was originally fitted - Dunlop SP Sport 07 (pah) this is probably the root of the problem... when I get the choice GY Eagle F1's will being going on...

 

[Steve_B]

I would defo get the RS4 bar on there for the cost of it, it will most definately help, although it wont make such a HUGE difference like on the lesser spec cars.

Cheers - I will see if it is a job I can tackle in the drive or something I need to get an expert with a ramp on...

 

[Xmay4444]

I used to get that feeling on my old 1.8T with the GY F1's on the front, plus the wear rate was really bad. If you're going for GY's I'd say go for the asymetrics as the others are quite a soft compound and the asymetrics may be harder and cope better with the weight.

 

[stoakseya4]

Hard pushed to better Vredestein Ultrac Sessanta TBH.
Great all round tyre, and good value too.

 

[Steve_B]

Hard pushed to better Vredestein Ultrac Sessanta TBH.
Great all round tyre, and good value too.

Vredestein really? - remember having some tyres made by them on my BMX some <cough> years ago... always stuck to GY Eagle F1's and their precedesors on my Cav GSi back in the mid 90's. Have them on my TDi Passat now.

Agree they are quite a soft compound though. Think I managed 8-10k on my M5.

 

[no_idea]

Hard pushed to better Vredestein Ultrac Sessanta TBH.
Great all round tyre, and good value too.

Not sure how much truth was behind it but I was warned away from the Ultracs as apparently they tend to change their tread patterns quite often. So if you need to replace just one the tread pattern may have changed. As I say not sure how true it is?
I ended up fitting GY F1 assymetric. Only done about 400 miles on them but so far so good.

 

[Steve_B]

Fitted the RS4 arb yesterday and certainly makes a difference to the to the one fitted as standard on the S4. So far haven't noticed any understeer (fingers crossed).

Did the work on a friends ramp and was quite fiddly, especially getting the brackets back on. Don't think I would have managed it lying it on my back in the drive. Though of course mine is a cab and has extra bracing bars which have to be dropped and unless removed get in the way.

I just bought the bar and rubber mounts as the mounting brackets are the same across all models, cost £67inc from Audi (only one trip as I called them first :icon_thumright

 

[Marc1]

The brackets are different, to accomodate the larger rubber bushings. There's a picture thread on audizine showing them side by side, also different model numbers. You
could be ok, but I'd think the rubber bushings would be more likely to deteriorate over time.

 

[Steve_B]

Marc1,

The parts guy at Audi said they had the same part number for all B6\B7's. It didn't take a huge amount of effort to get them in the brackets.

I am sure I read a post where someone said they had the same problem even with new brackets.

 

[BahnStormer77]

Steve - watch out those parts guys at Audi will normally only give you the parts number for your car, not the one you're asking for.... when I was looking to get the S-Line door blades... it was only when I went and looked up the part numbers afterwards, I realised tha tthe guy had only given me the part nubmers that were already on my car - despite me repeatedly stating that I was trying to source the S4 or S-Line equilvants to what was already there....

And well done on getting Audi to order the parts in advance - none of my local ones will let me order in advance or even do card details over the phone, despite having bought dozens of parts through them....so that means two trips: usually on two consecutive Saturday mornings

TBH I've had such bad expereinces with arrognace and inflexiblity of the Surrey Audi dealers it's actually putting me off the thought of a brand new Audi.

 

[Steve_B]

I gave the guy in parts dept the p/no of the RS4 one listed in numerous threads, he said it was the same as listed on the S4... can never be 100% with dealer parts depts...

Yeah the dealer was good, offered to pay upfront when ordering and they said "no need". Maybe yours has been left with special order parts in the past perhaps.. or just a franchise thing?

I said the same when I had a BMW, I even told them I would never buy another and they would just shrug, as if to say there will be plenty more who will. Atleast BMW would 99% of time give a 10% discount on parts - Audi just laughed and said no chance!

 

[BahnStormer77]

Audi just laughed and said no chance!

Try PJMSpeedy - he can normally get some discount... or if the parts are universal (LHD/RHD), you can always source them from Germany....

Don;t get em wrong: I'll probably keep buying Audi's for some time yet: but why go for a new one if you have to deal with those guys?!? 5yrs old and I'll take my "chances" with good independant mechanics and/or parts suppliers any day... if the car was <4yrs old, I'd feel obliged to put with those idiots....

Which Dealer is yours? Any ide aif they do delivery? Stafford seem very flexible and "switched on", but sadly once you include delivery, their prices start climbing...