Clunking when braking hard/accelerating slowly... Everything seems tight? Bad CV?

[gubro30]

Hey there. I'm having a trouble here that nobody can find, and this is beggining to be a serious pain in the A$$ time and money wise... When braking hard, or slowly accelerating AFTER braking or slowing down, I get a clunking sound/feel in the front end, that can be mainly felt in the feets. Every bolt have been checked, and there does not seem to be excessive slack anywhere. Also, I don't know if they are related but a vibration around 70-80MPH has begun. The noise can also be heard even more loudly when parking in reverse with the wheel turned, like when you park in parrallel. Two weeks ago, I had the whole front left axle changed on my 99A6Q2.8tip, and the right outter boot changed and the bearing repacked. The tech said that the ***** and cage looked fine, cleaned everything and repacked it with grease. A week ago, I changed my front-lower-rear-control arms, wich were the last part left to be changed in the front suspension - no more clunking and worn out tires on the inside! 3 days ago, I changed all four wheels brake pads for Akebono Euro ceramic something, and I tested the brakes/did the break in procedure and no sound. It began to make the clunk in stop and go traffic two days after the brakes were done. Calipers, caliper holders, dics, wheel bolts, everything has been re-checked. I looked for the dreaded sway bar end link, everything seemed fine, and I even greased everything while I was there. Could it be the CVs again acting up? The right CV is still the original one, however, the tech double checked it and after being rebuilt like I said, it looked perfectly fine and it was not after two weeks that the problem began. Help me out please! I can't sleep at night because of this... and it is really annoying!

[Flint'sA6]

[gubro30]

wouldn't make the clunking sound everytime I would hit the gas in Tiptronic mode ( to lock up the torque converter ) ? It does make the sound too even when I'm in Neutral. It also feels that like once I,ve taken off or braked hard, it "sets" like that, as is it won't make the noise again until I brake or accelerate to make it move again.

As for enging mount, I suspect that you have to take the whole front end off eh? There are no known tricks to test this like the urethane trick with the tranny mounts on A4 B5 ?


THANKS A LOT!

[computrtutr]

CV's only have a rotational force. When they go, you can hear a rapid clicking while turning the steering wheel or moving with the wheel tightly turned.

I would check other suspension components- such as engine or tranny mounts, or even the tightness of the tranny-to-engine bolts.

[gubro30]

If I back up straight, just after engaging in R, no noise other than what seems to be a front to back knock. However, if I turn the wheel succesively a couple turns to the left and the right while backing up, then the "DONG" happens much more.

Worn out strut top plates maybe? They were perfectly fine about a month ago when I had lowering springs installed. They dropped the car about 1.25". Not a single problem since until now.

[Kris Hansen]

i've seen it more than once.. And when it happens, the pad material will move back and forth, and cause a clunking/banging noise when you change direction.

[gubro30]

if I'm doing like 80mphs on the freeway then brake quite hard to let's say 50 or 60, then reaccelerate somewhat hard, it will do the bang.

I really thought about the brake pad but everything seems ok!

[computrtutr]

But the suspension and power steering rack are involved, as is the support provided by the engine mounts and tranny mounts, for the motions you are describing. When I first started reading your post, I was dead sure that it was ball joints, but it looks like you ruled that out.
There is a slight possibility that you have a CV coming loose, but it wouldn't be a bad joint- it would most likely be a collar bolt coming loose, easily checked by popping off the center part of the wheel cover and applying 85 (Or is it 140? check the Bentley) ft-lbs. of torque to the collar bolt (I think it's a 24mm bolt, or a 17MM allen, IIRC.)

[Melange]

Did you look at the steering rack bolts? I had the same issue on my 2.8 and could not find anything when I lifted it and tried moving things around.

The rack was loose, but still tight enough to not move by hand. I pulled the battery and the bolt was not tight, my wife moved the steering wheel and it was all over the place. I cleaned the hole and bolt and retightened it with some thread lock and it is good as new. I also had a similar issue on a Passat, that is how I thought of it.

Just an idea for those unknown not so obvious noises.

[GDawgA4]

sub frame and the crap pinch welds Audi used (at least on the B6). The folded sections in the sub frame were crimped and pinched welded at the ends, not the entire fold. Welded up the entire fold along the sub frame and clunk gone!