[Tigger]

Do Bentley has the equipment that balance the wheels on the car?

 

According to users on the 3 quoted wheel vibration threads Audi UK have been sending RS3s to Bentley in Pulborough who appear to have a track record (excuse the pun) in resolving these prtoblems.

 

Regards, C

[Tigger]

I also had vibration issues and took the car to Derby Audi, after a bit of faffing they ended up taking the car to Bentley in Leicester to do 'special' balancing (I saw the receipt from Bentley and it cost around £225), but I don't know if it was road force balancing or on car balancing.

It did seem to sort it out though !

 

Be interesting to this fourm to find out what Bentley garages have that is enabling them to make a difference on these issues.

 

Regards, C

[Uncle Fester]

You don't need to pay "Bentley" prices to have your car wheels balanced on a "Hunter".

 

http://www.balancemycar.co.uk

[Tigger]

You don't need to pay "Bentley" prices to have your car wheels balanced on a "Hunter".

 

http://www.balancemycar.co.uk

 

I couldn't agree more which is why I'm asking these questions. But as yet I don't know what magic Bentley are bringing to this issue hence the questions to establish what people know about what they're doing to solve the vibration issues being discussed in these threads.

 

If we (as RS3 owners) find this out then this gives us the option to approach the right place with the right equipment so the problem can be solved more cheaply than visiting Audi.

 

After all, if this is due to "soft" low profile alloys hitting pot holes (which I accept is an issue when driving any sports car on a thin strip of low profile rubber on British roads) then I'd prefer to approach the place than can solve the problem directly rather than approach Audi to do the same thing by refering me to them and then putting their T&M on top of the price, especially once the car comes out of warranty or if Audi refuse to accept the problem is a warranty issue and claim it's wear and tear.

 

Regards, C

 

P.S. Thanks for the link. Had that one from one of the other threads and I've booked marked it but it's not a comprehensive list of the Hunter specialists as I've found someone quite local who has this equipment that's not listed on there.

Edited by Tigger, 20 July 2014 - 08:33 PM.

[Danny]

Be interesting to this fourm to find out what Bentley garages have that is enabling them to make a difference on these issues.

 

Regards, C

Tigger, my 3 has had the wheels balanced at Bentley on numerous occassions. The reason it went there is due to warranty, with Bentley/Audi all coming uder the VW group. Audi UK, insisted the car go there and no where else. The first time it came back from there, I still had steering wheel shake so they just went ahead and changed all 4 wheels and tyres under warranty. when it came back, my shake had gone. So they just assumed there was a buckle in one of the alloys. But literally after a few months I got the shakes back at around 75 mph. Again they insisted on the car going back to Bentley. When the car came back the shake had gone so they insisted I pay this time as they put it down to the wheels going out of balance, and not a warranty issue. So, screwed over there! BUT, here I am again a few months later and its back!!!!  I am going to try an independant garage this time. As I pretty much now know its definately a balancing problem. I'll post after I've been to a garage to see if it resolves it.

 

To me it seems that the hard suspension, low profile tyes and some dodge roads is causing the balancing to go out after being fine for a while.

 

The tops of my suspension mounts have worn out after only 13,000 miles!

 

Still love the car!

[Danny]

I also had vibration issues and took the car to Derby Audi, after a bit of faffing they ended up taking the car to Bentley in Leicester to do 'special' balancing (I saw the receipt from Bentley and it cost around £225), but I don't know if it was road force balancing or on car balancing.

It did seem to sort it out though !

Caveman, Has your steering wheel shake gone? Did you have to pay?

[Tigger]

I couldn't agree more which is why I'm asking these questions. But as yet I don't know what magic Bentley are bringing to this issue hence the questions to establish what people know about what they're doing to solve the vibration issues being discussed in these threads.

 

If we (as RS3 owners) find this out then this gives us the option to approach the right place with the right equipment so the problem can be solved more cheaply than visiting Audi.

 

After all, if this is due to "soft" low profile alloys hitting pot holes (which I accept is an issue when driving any sports car on a thin strip of low profile rubber on British roads) then I'd prefer to approach the place than can solve the problem directly rather than approach Audi to do the same thing by refering me to them and then putting their T&M on top of the price, especially once the car comes out of warranty or if Audi refuse to accept the problem is a warranty issue and claim it's wear and tear.

 

Regards, C

 

P.S. Thanks for the link. Had that one from one of the other threads and I've booked marked it but it's not a comprehensive list of the Hunter specialists as I've found someone quite local who has this equipment that's not listed on there.

 

OK. A couple of phone calls determined what the Bentley garage in Pulborough and the Bentley garage in Leicester have that others don't and that's a Hunter Road Force® GSP9700 Wheel Balancer. On that machine they can put each wheel and spin it up under the load that would been on the wheel/tyre and then more accurately calculate where the weights need to go to trim out flat spots, slight buckles, misshapen wheels/tyres e.t.c. This is a premium system from Hunter that other places simply do not have. Other places that have offer Hunter balancing/alignment have Hunter systems but they're more basic (and less expensive) than the Road Force model.

 

Hunter Road Force® GSP9700 Wheel Balancer

http://www.hunter.co...ncer/roadforce/

 

Here's a couple of YouTube links that show what it does (if you're interested):

 

 

Hunter have a link on their web site to locate places that have one but hiliaroiusly it only covers thre USA, Canada and Germany:

http://www.gsp9700.c...findgsp9700.cfm

 

So I now know that two Bentley garages have them:

 

Bentley @ Pulborough "Harwoods" : http://www.harwoods....bentley-sussex/

Tel: 01798 300 248 (Service)
 

Bentley @ Leicester : http://www.leicester...service-repair/

Tel: 0116 367 8847

 

The Leicester garage quoted £225 as a guide price to balance 4 wheels/tyres. Pulborough wouldn't give me a price as they said it would depend on a number of factors as they diagnose the wheels/tyres.

 

. o O o .

 

So ... question for the forum:

 

Who else has found a place that has the Hunter Road Force® GSP9700 Wheel Balancer system?

 

Should we start a sticky thread on the forum called "Hunter Road Force Locations" that lists places that we collectively find?

 

Regards, C

[Tigger]

Tigger, my 3 has had the wheels balanced at Bentley on numerous occassions. The reason it went there is due to warranty, with Bentley/Audi all coming uder the VW group. Audi UK, insisted the car go there and no where else. The first time it came back from there, I still had steering wheel shake so they just went ahead and changed all 4 wheels and tyres under warranty. when it came back, my shake had gone. So they just assumed there was a buckle in one of the alloys. But literally after a few months I got the shakes back at around 75 mph. Again they insisted on the car going back to Bentley. When the car came back the shake had gone so they insisted I pay this time as they put it down to the wheels going out of balance, and not a warranty issue. So, screwed over there! BUT, here I am again a few months later and its back!!!!  I am going to try an independant garage this time. As I pretty much now know its definately a balancing problem. I'll post after I've been to a garage to see if it resolves it.

 

To me it seems that the hard suspension, low profile tyes and some dodge roads is causing the balancing to go out after being fine for a while.

 

The tops of my suspension mounts have worn out after only 13,000 miles!

 

Still love the car!

 

I've recently become an RS3 owner and my car had the shakes between at 70+ so it's been back to the dealership who've been excellent in working with me to understand the problem. I gave them a list of the things that are on this foum as potential issues and they checked each one and confirmed that all the upgrades were already on the car, e.g. discs, control arms e.t.c. so they balanced the wheels again at the dealership to no avail (they don't have a road force balancer there) and then Audi UK asked them to send the car to Bentley for the Road Force balance. Hey presto the car is back with a lot of metal on the front wheels and no more vibrations at legal road speeds. I'm happy and it was all done under after-sales / warranty so I've not had to pay anything.  However, having had the chance to take the car up to 80+ (where it's safe and legal to do so of course) I still get a vibration coming in about 82-85 and higher but it's much less that what I was experiencing before.

 

I'll grab a picture of the weights that have been added and post.

 

Regards, C

[Tigger]

I've recently become an RS3 owner and my car had the shakes between at 70+ so it's been back to the dealership who've been excellent in working with me to understand the problem. I gave them a list of the things that are on this foum as potential issues and they checked each one and confirmed that all the upgrades were already on the car, e.g. discs, control arms e.t.c. so they balanced the wheels again at the dealership to no avail (they don't have a road force balancer there) and then Audi UK asked them to send the car to Bentley for the Road Force balance. Hey presto the car is back with a lot of metal on the front wheels and no more vibrations at legal road speeds. I'm happy and it was all done under after-sales / warranty so I've not had to pay anything.  However, having had the chance to take the car up to 80+ (where it's safe and legal to do so of course) I still get a vibration coming in about 82-85 and higher but it's much less that what I was experiencing before.

 

I'll grab a picture of the weights that have been added and post.

 

Regards, C

Danny,

 

Also see the other post I made today re: the Road Force balancer that other places might not have. That seems to be the key technology that's able to trim out these problems better than other balancers.

 

Regards, C

[Tigger]

. o O o .

 

So ... question for the forum:

 

Who else has found a place that has the Hunter Road Force® GSP9700 Wheel Balancer system?

 

Should we start a sticky thread on the forum called "Hunter Road Force Locations" that lists places that we collectively find?

 

Regards, C

 

Not forgetting of course that a lot of them (but not all) are listed on this link:

 

http://www.balancemycar.co.uk/

 

(Thanks Daytona500)

 

Regards, C

[Tigger]

I'll grab a picture of the weights that have been added and post.

 

Pictures ...

 

Regards, C

Attached Files

•  Left Front - inside.jpg   19.07K   5 downloads
•  Left Front.jpg   25.49K   3 downloads
•  Rear Left.jpg   24.56K   3 downloads
•  Rear Right.jpg   21.45K   3 downloads
•  Right Front.jpg   25.21K   2 downloads

[Tigger]

And yes, my wheels need a clean!!

[P_G]

Even so, that is a load of weights they have put on both front wheels. If anything when I have had it R/R force balanced they have taken weights off from normally balanced wheels.

 

There are a number of places that use these but not all can use them well. Tams Tyres next door to Revolution; 4 tyres balanced for £40 cash; JCT 600 Bentley on Silverlink; 4 tyres balanced for £160+VAT!!!

[Uncle Fester]

PG is right that is a lot of weight they've had to use on your wheels.Heres some photos of mine after they were road force balanced with a Hunter

 

[Tigger]

> P_G - Even so, that is a load of weights they have put on both front wheels.

> DAYTONA_500 - that is a lot of weight they've had to use on your wheels.

Yes, much less than on mine.

A quick count up shows:

Front Left: 5+10+5+10 = 30g Outside + 5g Inside : Total = 35g
Front Right: 5+10+5+10+5+10+5+10+5 = 65g
Rear Left: 5+10+5+10+5+10 = 45g
Rear Right: 10+5+10+5+10 = 40g

Still, it's pretty much solved the vibration problem (at least at legal road speeds) that was most concerning me. I no longer vibrate on the way in to and back from work for example. The vibration at higher speeds is very slight and it's not as if I'm going to be travelling everywhere at that kind of speed. Should I live with that or keep going with Audi until I have no vibration? I’m not sure how far I'll get taking it back to Audi as they can't/won't test drive at that kind of speed and it’s already been to Bentley to be RF balanced.

However, in my mind this is a premium performance car that shouldn't have any vibration at all from 0 mph up to its (limited) 155 mph maximum (and beyond). I'm guessing the next step would be to demand that Audi UK provide 4 new wheels and 4 new tyres, balanced (e.g. at Bentley) on a Hunter RF and then I arrange to meet them somewhere where those 4 (perfect) wheels/tyres can be fitted to my vehicle at a venue that would allow me or an Audi Master Tech to test the car at all speeds to prove/disprove the problem is solved. If solved then I drive home with 4 new wheels/tyres. If not then I drive home on the originals and we're back to wondering "What next?"

The alternative is to accept there’ll be a slight vibration which will probably get worse as the tyres wear and I hit pot holes and kerbs over time and that I’ll have to ave it Hunter RF Balanced every now and again. The car came with the Audi recommended Continentals that so many people on these forums are saying are crap and recommending dumping them for the Goodyear F1 or the MPSS tyre so that's what I'll be going for when the Contis wear out. At that time I'll no doubt need to go somewhere and get all four Hunter RF balanced again and that may or may not finally solve the slight vibration problem at 80+.

Regards, C

[MacD]

Just keep an eye on those conti's as these were still legal and causing a lot of feedback/road noise! 

 

You can clearly see both tyres beginning to fall apart! 

 

 

[Caveman]

Caveman, Has your steering wheel shake gone? Did you have to pay?

Hi Danny,

The Bentley Leicester balancing did a good job - it was good for vibration, but somewhere whilst the car was with Audi both front wheels were damaged so I insisted on new ones, after that, a normal (Audi) balance was ok, so I suspect the original wheels may have goe a little out of true.

No I did not have to pay, but as mentioned earlier I dis see the bill from Bentley to Audi was £225.

Unfortunately after having to subsequently replace a front wheel and tyre I do have a slight vib back again - I took it back to Kwik fit today and they checked them and the values were different from when they fitted the tyres & balanced last week, but they did say that their machine was due for calibration so they were not that confident that it would be better .

I'll keep trying !

 

Caveman, Has your steering wheel shake gone? Did you have to pay?

 

Caveman, Has your steering wheel shake gone? Did you have to pay?

[Caveman]

Cavey,,

 

How is the car now mate is it all sorted ?

 

Hi RoyG,

Sorry I've not replied sooner - my phone line is faulty and its playing havoc with my internet.

Yes, I'm now back on the road, but as mentioned in my other post, some small vib with the new wheel & tyres, but I'm working on it !!

Cheers,

Caveman

[Somniac]

The Hunter road force balancer did the job for me.

I've had the vibration at 75-85 since changing my wheels and tyres.

I had the geometry done recently which was already pretty good and had all 4 wheels balanced twice but still I had the vibration.

After reading this thread I thought I'd find a garage nearby with a Hunter RFT balancer.

 

I took the car to Discount Tyres in Luton this afternoon and now I'm a happy man.

They were great, they kept me informed about what they were doing and showed me the results on the balancer before suggestion solutions.

It turns out I have a visible flat spot on my NSF wheel and one tyre that was a bit eliptical (BL***Y POTHOLES !)).

However they were able to rotate the tyres to the optimum position on the rims and then add balance to offset the remaining issues and voila the vibration is virtually gone and what there is happens only over a very narrow 4-5 MPH speed band (I can't expect much more with a flat spotted wheel).

 

So a Hunter RFT balancer in the right hands is definately the way to go and at £95 a damn site cheaper than Audi or Bentley.

If your down south or midlands and having the vibration problem ask for Johnny at Discount Tyres Luton.

[T-800]

When mine was in at Stafford Audi last week for the Haldex pump, I asked em to check all 4 tyres as they have a new Hunter road force balance machine, I had a slight vibration at 70-75mph. Since they did it the car is a lot better it cost £150.