and i'm not happy. Took them 48 hours to get the hydraulic fill right, whatever that means.

Here's the problem... the ride is ok, a little harsh perhaps but ok. However the handling for some reason has gone to ****. I dont know what they did but any hard turn induces a crazy "chatter" from the front end now. It's as if the tires refuse to bite and they are just skipping across the tarmac. The t/c light comes on in almost every hard turn and the front end literally hops up and down while the tires struggle for purchase. Not fun. I checked the pressures and they were at 46 all around so i lowered them to 40 psi but no difference. I can't figure out wtf they could have done to create this. I'm running H-Sport sways F/R, is it possible that now the front end is so stiff that the sways are causing a problem? Could it be alignment related, I thought about this but the car tracks fine and I cant imagine how bad it would have to be out of alignment to cause this.

Any ideas what this could be? I'm not looking forward to trying to explain this to them and expecting a real resolution, should i jus tsuck it up and go stasis? Damn this car is starting to lose its luster....

they claimed it wasnt necessary. It tracks straight although i know that doesnt mean anything.

As common as the DRC complaints are here, it still appears that the dealerships are ill equipped, from a knowledge perspective, to deal with these DRC issues. The problem you're experiencing sounds as if it's easy to replicate and it's quite noticeable. Take the car back, have the shop foreman to ride with you or drive the car and let him feel what you do. Make them fic it. It's not your responsiblity. This isn't a problem that you should have to foot the bill for by going the Stasis route. Stasis is a good idea, but Audi needs to fix this problem for you first.

Just my $0.02.

once it didn't work. Mine all 4 replaced and center valves and good for 6 months anyway. Good luck, few ever get it fixed right.

do you know if anyone on the RS6 board has had any handling issues after a DRC replacement?

in terms of alignment thats not the issue, we have confirmed its not needed and wasn't on my car. Your symptoms sound like the pressure is still not right. One of my friends has similar effects as if its too stiff which is his description but he also only had two replaced. I think it may just not be enough pressure though. As my DRC was going thats how it felt to me as it failed that any sweeping turn on the highway it felt like it was skipping or could breakaway at any time. Especially your 'clatter' description.

You may want to do a long search on the RS6 forum for DRC and read descriptions and see what fits.

it wasn't necessary!). Ride was crap of course - rear end skipped left or right over bumps with dangerous unpredictability. I showed them the Audi technical manual which specifically stated that the accumulators need to be replaced if the shocks were leaking. Did they replace yours? Oh, and after they did replace the accumulators, the ride was still crap, so I opted for STaSIS (which does indeed clunk, at least on my car).

both fronts, and both center valves. They re-pressurized the system and damaged one of the valves so they replaced it with another one.

Ride height seems normal. Clunking is completely gone over bumps - the front end feels tight and does not make any strange noises. Struts are clean, black, and all the rubber control arm bushings look either new, or cleaned.

I did a little bit of slalom in a parking lot this weekend and it seemed compliant. At speeds of 20+mph if I flung the wheel one way the front wheels will definitely skip before they grip, but I did not hear any clunking or clattering noises. I don't remember if the skipping occurred before the DRC replacement. It did catch me a bit off guard, but these turns were very abrupt and the surface was concrete and not tarmac.

Please describe exactly what you are doing to reproduce this noise, and I will go out and try to do the same thing.

Btw my dealership would not cover an alignment as they said it wasn't needed. They put it up on the alignment machine and showed me that post-DRC replacement it was still within spec. I believe them as my car tracks straight and does not wander.

The shop foreman and service manager worked on my car, and I believe they did a quality job. They were very communicative with me and while it took 4 days, I told them to take their time to get it right. Hopefully this chatter you're experiencing is something weather-related (cold tires, cold roads), etc. Let us know.

It is definitely stiffer, which is better than the progressively floaty feel it was getting. They replaced both front struts and the center valves. This was the second repair in under 5K miles. About 1700 miles since repair and those symptoms have not returned and the shocks are dry.

I don't get the chatter you describe. I agree with the other people on this list - something is wrong. Alignment is high up there on my list.

Also the initial repair on my car was front shocks only and that failed. The second was shocks and center valves and that worked - at least for now. I don't pretend to understand why, but supposedly the center valves need to be changed when the front shocks are changed. DRC seems to be a needlessly complex solution to a simple suspension problem - those wacky Germans, you know.

I have started to get an intermittent knock, for the past week or two, in the right front corner. I had the car in last week for a CEL (random misfires) and had them check it out. They said all looked fine. I am going to have to check it myself as it is not fine. I looked and the shock is dry but I need to check that all of the bolts are tight when I put my snow tires on next week.

Bring the car back and complain. For the 3.5 months I have had my car, I have spent about 2 weeks in a loaner., primarily DRC issues.

I have a couple of turns on my commute that i hit pretty ahrd and am very aware of how the car "should" act through them. When i hit those turns now the car initially pushes way wide and i can feel the front tires skipping along, the steering wheel actually jumps in my hand and I can get the traction light to go on. I tried some low speed slaloms and its similiar but obviously less drastic, sharp pulls on the wheel cause an immediate push and chatter as if the front wheels were turned to 90deg. I checked pressures and theye were at 46lbs on the fronts so I lowered them and that helped a little but didnt fully correct.
First of all thanks to all of you for the feedback...

I am now wondering if the hotchkis front sway is causing some of the problem so i'm returning it to stock. If the front shocks were leaking and soft when I put the bar on it would make sense that the front bar stiffened things up. Now that the front end has been stiffened up even more would an overly large swaybar cause these symptoms? I will report back when i have it taken off.

Also still not convinced that alignment isnt part of the problem although they continue to claim it is not affected by a shock replacment.

down. If you are getting clunking its not the DRC but probably something else giving up on life.

You guys are enjoying the exact same failures as on the RS6 but i guess you know that by now. Maybe one day Audi will actually fix it.

I'll definitely be able to tell if something's wrong when driving that road. Why were your tires at 46psi? That's about 10 lbs more than it should be, right?

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I think it might be your sways, since you had the exact same repair as I did and no alignment. This was one hell of a fun road. Checked the shocks when I got home and they were leak-free. For now. Fingers crossed. :)