<lorrainesden60@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1154977164.898387.60170@75g2000cwc.googlegrou ps.com...
> Hi there I have had my lovely A4 97 model for 2 years now and loved it
> until the night I hit a high curb. Geez it took the steering wheel out
> of my hand now whenever im in the car it makes a horrible whirring
> sound under the passenger side near the wheel. I feel ive totally
> wrecked the car and am totally distraught does anyone have any ideas
> what this could be?

I'm not sure what my wife did to her A4, but the front tires suddenly
started wearing out fast with a pattern that seemed to indicate positive
camber (worn on outside edge of the tires). She also complained of a
multiple of strange sounds. I did a quick run up and down the driveway and
found there was a sound like a straining power steering pump (like you get
when you turn the wheel all the way and keep pushing). She went to a local
mechanic and they said it needed power steering fluid, which she said helped
with the noise but didn't clear it up completely. She took it to the dealer
for alignment, but I had a feeling there might be something more to it than
just bad alignment. Back in the days of RWD, cars seemed to need alignment
more often than they needed oil, but after switching to FWD and then AWD,
I've never needed to take a car for alignment, even after driving over some
very rough unpaved roads. Anyway, the dealer declared that it needed a new
steering rack. $1500 for the steering rack and $500 for a set of tires, and
now she says it is running normally again.

So... you may be in for a new steering rack. You probably could get it for
less than half what I paid if you can find a reliable mechanic rather than
an Audi dealer. If you have it done soon enough then you won't need to get
new tires. Of course the problem may well be something other than the
steering rack, but whatever it is, there's a high probability that it's
wearing down your tires.