Wheel bearing or what??

[tbar23]

Late this winter I started noticing "road noise" while driving my 2012 S4. Crossing my fingers, I hoped it was simply worn snow tires since they are pretty loud to begin with.
Well, I have now swapped to my summer tire/wheel set (the OEM 19" ones) and the noise is still there.
Wheel bearing, you all say - of course.
However, I cannot get the sound to change at all with side loading ... I can lightly saw the steering wheel back and forth or pay attention during sweeping on- / off-ramps (both directions) and there is literally, no change in sound.
Tonight I got all four tires off the ground - no noticeable play and hard to discern any possible bearing noise given brake rotor noise. I tried the trick I read on the forum of holding the spring while rotating tires (front only), but couldn't feel anything obvious.

Any advice on ways to confirm / deny wheel bearing (and isolate which one)?
Any other suggestions of possible causes?

Car only has ~37k miles, but I have read here about lots of early wheel bearing failures on these cars.

Thanks!

[Navyseal#6]

I recently had to replace a wheel bearing in my 2011 S4 with 67,000 miles. Didn't notice much turning left or right but noticed the noise got louder when going faster/little vibration, less loud when slowing down and nothing at complete stop. Hope that helps.

[madman4you]

Similar noise/actions as Navy. I replaced passenger last year and I can hear the driver side one starting to make noise.
It's like a whisper sound. Imagine a house fan that starts to go bad or if the fins are touching something? It gets a little louder the faster you go. My car has approx 86,000km or (53,500miles)

[tbar23]

Thanks guys. Did you both replace front bearings? Did you do both sides? If not, how did you / mechanic figure out which side to replace?


Similar noise/actions as Navy. I replaced passenger last year and I can hear the driver side one starting to make noise.
It's like a whisper sound. Imagine a house fan that starts to go bad or if the fins are touching something? It gets a little louder the faster you go. My car has approx 86,000km or (53,500miles)

[MrFunk]

Have you done any mods at all? If so what?

[dls11b8]

Sub'd. I've got a similar road noise issue with my '11 S4... I bought the car in the beginning of the month and didn't notice it because the winter tires that were mounted were so noisy and poorly balanced.. Once I put summer tires on it, I feel and hear a small vibration, side load independent, and the frequency changes w/ speed, but the intensity is stable. From reading around, I'm getting the impression its either a ball joint or a wheel bearing... But the car only has 47xxx on the clock, and is to the best of my knowledge stock(though, no info on the previous owner)... Are these components really only good for less than 50k??

[tbar23]

@MrFunk - I haven't done any mods, but I bought the car with a Revo chip.

[Arn560]

What is a reasonable amount to pay an Indy shop to replace front L & R bearings?

[Navyseal#6]

Right wheeling bearing cost $349. With my extended warranty..I paid $149. It's funny because the wheel bearing itself cost less then $75, the rest is labor.

[tbar23]

My dealer wanted $870 for the job!! I started doing it myself last night.

I would be interested to hear from anyone that knows whether the job can be done without unbolting the axle from the center of the car. Some folks seem to imply that if you pre-load the suspension, that provides enough play in the axle to access the four XZN wheel bearing bolts. I'm going to try to finish tonight, so confirmation on that would be great.

Thanks.

[adro830]

Sounds like I have the same issue, I'm going to rotate/balance my tires and get an alignment, I hope this helps ):


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[artz66]

Had the same thing. It was both rear wheel bearings. My car had 37k miles on it and it was all covered under warranty.

[Arn560]

I was quoted $1,100 for both Fronts including an alignment, plus a lifetime warranty on the parts and the labour!!!!!

[Davido1]

Oldish thread. Driver's side needs to be replaced at 50k, same type noises/symptoms as the above. Was also told the passenger is not very far behind. Seems crazy that both are bad right around 50k.

[Pawan2013]

I had to get my rear passenger replaced at around 55,000kms, I believe it was a $800 job from the dealership

[tbar23]

Well, after replacing my driver's front at ~37k, I'm pretty convinced that I have at least one more that is getting close. $1100 for both fronts including lifetime parts and labor is starting to sound like a better deal!

[dls11b8]

Well, after replacing my driver's front at ~37k, I'm pretty convinced that I have at least one more that is getting close. $1100 for both fronts including lifetime parts and labor is starting to sound like a better deal!

I would never pay $1100 for the fronts, regardless of warranty. I bought both front bearings for $200, and it took me 1.25 hours per side to change them, with the car on jackstands in my garage. At a shop, it should take less than an hour to complete a bearing. $200 for parts, leaves $900 in labor... $450/hr is a decent labor rate... if they're giving you a 'happy ending' while you wait for your car to be fixed...

[Davido1]

Quoted 405 for part, 350 for labor at dealership. Part is 300 on Audi's parts website. Same part can be found sub $200 online and I'm fairly certain it shouldn't take 2 hours at a $125/hr labor rate. I don't know why I expected any less from the dealer.

[tbar23]

I did the job at home for about $100 ... maybe $125 plus a few hours. It is a bit of a PITA, but not terribly difficult.

[EuroJunk]

Is the job completely covered by Audi CPO? I started noticing a sound when the car's going over 60.

[hotleadsingergu]

Ya, wheel bearings is one of the things that everyone should learn how to do. It's prohibitively expensive to have a dealership do it, and it actually doesn't take long to do yourself. Spending $1,000+ for a shop to do something that should take you 2-3 hours, not even knowing what you're doing, is ridiculous. Very few people make enough money per hour to justify that.

[S4'ed]

Yes, Audi wheel bearings and front upper control arm bushings fail early, often within 50K miles....sad, as this has been an Audi weak-spot since 1997, starting with the B5 A4 and B5 Passat.

[tbar23]

A bit off topic, but @S4'ed ... what's the symptom for failing front upper control arm bushings?

[S4'ed]

Clunking noises from the front suspension

[tbar23]

How tough is bushing swap?

[S4'ed]

I just replace the whole arm...the balljoints on the other end are not exactly known for their durability either......