spindlewood

My Audi started making a noise. It first appeared driving at high speeds. It will now do it driving at very slow speeds. It seemed that turning with a hard radius triggered, but now it's shown up even driving straight. The attached recording was below 5 mph inching forward. It sounds like it is below the passenger side somewhere between the front and rear seats. Opening the windows made the sound clearer.

My initial thoughts was that it has to be something in the rear passenger wheel well. I need to get under the car in the morning to see if something is caught behind the wheel.

Any ideas if there is nothing to be found visually?

Wires

Have you taken a look in behind the wheel? Ours eats those level sensors (the ball corrodes, plastic arm seizes on one side and pops off the other. Might be rubbing if that popped off.

If you turn hard driver, you will be able to see it there.

383vett

Maybe a rock wedged between the rotor and backing plate.

AudiAllTheWay

I would start with a visual inspection under the vehicle for things like loose lower covers and around the wheels for any contact from loose well liners, road debris making contact, etc.

spindlewood

Thanks for all the suggestions. I took some pics which revealed only a small piece of gravel stuck in a place which takes a stretch of the imagination to assign as the cause. Does the rubber boot next to the gravel somehow make the noise with each bump? I hope so. The noise does mainly happen with bumps.

I'm waiting for the rain to stop to put it up on a ramp so I can more easily get under it - tomorrow.

AudiAllTheWay

I would remove that rock to prevent longer term damage to the ball joint boot.

The rock is not the cause of the noise.

Sounds like it is time to lift the vehicle and inspect driveline and suspension.

spindlewood

I think I found the problem. It was odd to come out to my car and find an 18" long stick protruding from and jammed into the edge of the underbody cover under the passenger rear door. I had bent under the car in that place more than once. But I believe it explains the symptoms. My guess is that it worked its way loose over time. The initial symptom of only making noise at high speed would indicate that the wind vibrated the stick only past a certain point. Slowing down stopped it. It sounded like a stick all along.

But, I'm still not positive how it made the noise at very slow speeds without us noticing it. It must have been tucked under the frame but rubbing on what and how? Still, it has been noise free for a few days. I'm driving on the freeway tomorrow and will do some higher speed runs just to give it a test.

It's a challenge getting under the car without a garage or ramps, especially when it's wet outside. Hopefully this is the end of it.

AudiAllTheWay

Takes effort to figure it out and glad to hear you have it sorted 👍