Ok, head count... Those of you who have had bad wheel bearings diagnosed and repaired, please raise

[BG AR]

your hands and share your symptoms. I am trying, once again and hopefully once and for all, to locate the culprit for my front left cluncking noise. Dealer has replaced both control arms, airbag and strut, tie rod and tie rod end, checked subframe for looseness, checked CV joints, "discovered" that my H-Sports bar is not to blame (duh), used wired stethoscopes with laptops, run all sorts of tests, and my problem is still there. So, it HAS to be the wheel bearings because that's something they haven't checked, and I refuse to believe that it might be aliens playing nasty tricks on me... For now...

[CTallroad]

Symptoms were not like you describe, definitely no clunking. It started as a whine that got louder and louder. It sounded a lot like a tire that is badly cupped, kind of a low howl. I drove on them 5,000 miles before I finally realized it was the bearings and not the old tires.

[gragravar]

took me a while to figure out they were bad

[Zwoobah]

Two good friends who have recently done significant rebuilds on C4 S6s discovered the had bad front wheel bearings, that were not making the typical bad bearing noise. Once they got everything apart, the bearing had significant vertical play. Maybe Audi bearings are somehow different than typical...it's definitely worth checking into.

You can actually test them yourself. Jack up that corner of the car, and grip the wheel tightly with one hand on each side of the tire. Using some pretty decent muscle, try to move the tire front-to-back (parallel to the side of the car) and up and down. If it has a small amount of play, your bearing is shot. It'll feel loose for a small distance then abruptly stop, this won't be a progressive feel as if you were compressing the suspension.

Otherwise, check your strut mounts, and then start checking your steering rack and centerlink. Best of luck!

[kasey]

yes, Left rear Wheel Bearing went out a 35k on 01 AR. Low freq whinning noise on broad med speed right turns on hwy. Audi Palm Springs did the $650 replacement. Faulty seal on bearing, but 1 month out of warrentee... yikes

3rd set of front rotors also. This is crazy!

[The Farmer]

[BG AR]

but rather some kind of bushing, because in addition to the clunking sound, it also makes kind of a rubbery sound, like rubber being squeezed against metal, or rubber against rubber. I might have to go to a reputable local shop and pay to have the problem diagnosed, then go back to the dealer and point it our to them... Thanks again for all your input, it is appreciated!