I just installed the JHM lightweight Crank shaft pulley and Alternator pulley today but haven’t driven the car yet. But I do have the JHM Lightweight Aluminum JHM flywheel along with the JHM Stg2 tune, the tune I’m running is customized to the lightweight flywheel along with and SAI & Cat delete. I can say that there were a little more vibrations but not very noticeable, mostly at idle obviously. I don’t imagine that the install of the Lightweight Crank/Alt pulley will make much of a change.
Hey there, I am the guy who posted the pics of my car juddering.
JHM did get me and the other person, Steve, an updated tune that almost entirely eliminated the judder. The cold start is now dramatically different and does this “mini short rev” thing, and the idle is at a higher rpm. I believe that they are still working on some tweaks to get to the bottom of it all, but I am glad that the judder is (almost) gone.
I don’t know if this info is helpful to you, but I figured I would share this update…
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Hey Adam,
I been following you and @SteveRS4’s posts about the judder. I am considering the JHM LWFW, at the same time a brand new transmission unit, down the line for my B8 RS4, since I had some prior mechanical issues with my transmission that would be difficult to resolve. Installing the new trans unit would also be a good time to install the LWFW I presume.
I spoke to @Ape_Factory about this and he said that, with the latest JHM Stage 2 ECU + TCU remap, there should be close to no judder? Would you be able to share some more of your experience with this?
FYI I did the remap sometime around July 2021, and it’s on a B8 RS4.
Thanks and looking forward to hearing from you.
Just to clarify, most don’t have the noise after installation. If you do, and it’s severe, the tune can be modified near idle a bit to help.
I had the same issue as you say I had everything replaced in the transmission ie K1 & K2 clutches
a new mechatronic unit oils, filters, gaskits etc all OE parts. This did make the judder a lot lot better but it was still there slightly.
In the end JHM have been amazing trying to eradicate this issue after sometime the idle was turned up to just under a 1000rpm and it has made the judder disappear !
There is a very slight what I’d call a wobble its not felt at all like it was before but I do hear it as if the engine as pulling away has the slightest wobble to make the exhaust shake but its very very slight and almost unnoticeable 99% of the time.
I hope this helps, if it was me id still have the LWFW installed as there is ways around the problem thats if you get the problem in the first place as id say 98% of people don’t seem to be effected !!
Thanks @SteveRS4! That is useful information.
Since you said 98% of people don’t seem to be affected by this judder, does that mean they have a perfectly normal functioning gearbox, without judder? What about chatter at idle? Any other NVH i should be aware of?
Would you say it is good enough for a daily driver?
Yes its ok as a daily driver no issue as I use mine most days.
I’m not sure what causes the judder to be honest some say its gearlash and the tolerances are not as tight as others.
I know our RS4’s are lighter than the RS5’s i say that because mine seem to sometimes stutter and splutter went pulling away at a juction almost like it was over fueling its self and bogging down it was a bit dangerous at times if you needed to be quick.
Also if I was on a hill in reverse and holding it on the throttle then letting off slightly it would almost disengage the clutch and the car would roll forward as soon as you added the throttle again it would grip up and hold it ?
But since having the idle turned up it now does not do any of this and acts totally normal it holds on hills with no throttle input and as soon as you touch the throttle it moves away cleanly.
Infact its easyer and smoother to drive in general and pulls away perfectly and goes like a bat out of hell.
So to me its like the lightness of the flywheel struggled with the low RPM with the car maybe being that little lighter ? I also felt when I had passengers in the car it did not struggle as much with these symptoms !
Thats my feeling and what I think but that doesn’t mean anything or maybe makes no sense but thats how it felt …who knows 🤷
There is slight chatter when in park but hardly anything and no NVH at all.
Hey youdame86,
I am so sorry that I didn’t see your request until now…I’ll have to figure how to get notifications from this platform.
You may not still need an answer, but, and this is also to get @SteveRS4 an update as well.
My gearbox failed last year and I had it replaced, under warranty thank goodness. It took Audi 7 months to get me a new one from Germany which was a whole other annoying thing….but after it was replaced the judder disappeared. I have reflashed the car with the standard Stage 1 and 2 tunes and no judder!
Hopefully this is helpful information,
Happy driving!
Any updates Steve or others?
I’ve heard that there’s been 3 or 4 people with the JHM LWFW have had the teeth break, either causing the engine to free spin or damage their transmission, and Steve being one of these people. I know several others were running non OEM/JHM clutches and/or alternate software which could have caused the issues as well.
Since you’ve had juddering and issues since day 1, I wonder if this is partly the cause?
I’m around 5000miles on the flywheel, no issues, and worked fine since day 1, other than the chattering.
Are you talking about the Splines teeth on the input shaft or the teeth of the Flexplate (RS5 version known weakness)? I did install the S5/S6/RS6/etc… version in my car. I do notice a bit more gearbox noise while idling but only slighlty, no driveability issues or juddering. If anyone decides to pull their lightweight flywheel out I may be a customer as I’d like to install one in my S5 too.
I believe it’s the splines on the input shaft, not the flex plate. I do know the ‘new’ batch of flywheels have been ‘hardened’. I’m not sure how many people it’s impacted, but I know of 3 currently who’ve had mechanical issues.
I personally haven’t had any issues nor noticed any noise/vibration/juddering. I do have the ‘chatter’ in park and at idle. Tough call on ‘removal’ for a slim chance of failure, but something to keep an eye on. I do really enjoy the drivability with the LWFW, probably the best mod for the car to date.
I was in the group buy for the first batch of flywheels, hope mine is good. Haven’t really pushed it hard, probably push my S5 harder.
Yep, you Steve and I were the first 3, with Steve having it up and running first, then myself and I’m pretty sure Steve’s is now shot.
The shop car at JHM is running the JHM original batch flywheel allegedly with no issues, however, the clutches have been completely replaced with their new 15 plate system as the car is now supercharged.
Adam further up in this thread also had the juddering issue, with videos on YouTube and from what I read his transmission is done.
The good news @hahnmgh63 is that the common thread between the 3 issues I know of, was juddering and issues straight from the get go. Hard to know if it was the LWFW, or maybe DSG issues, older RS5 hardware and/or other hardware/tunes. Again, mine has worked flawlessly so far from day 1.
Mine doesn’t get driven much and I replaced the transmisison with a 2015 25k unit last year, probably only has about 26k on it now…too many vehicles.
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Must be nice!
Hey Guys,
My transmission failed about 1 year ago at ~68k miles ….I am pretty sure I was one of the unlucky ones who had the bad build from the factory….2014 model built late 2013. I had it replaced under warranty but had to wait 7 months for Audi to build and deliver a new one.
Since I have had the new gearbox installed in November 2022, the judder has disappeared. I went back to the regular tune from JHM as the “judder fix” tune is no longer needed. So, I am guessing that the judder had something to do with the gearbox.
I will have to go back and read about Steve’s story with the lwfw failure as I was unaware that he had an issue. Sorry to hear that @SteveRS4. I will be praying to the universe that nothing like that happens to my car. I haven’t had good luck so far with this car that I just love to drive…mechatronic, rear differential and gearbox all having to be replaced since I have owned it at 33k Mikes. I am currently at ~72k.
I’ll have to search too, I also didn’t know that Steve had a Flywheel failure? I hear a little flywheel/clutch noise at idle but that is expected, and really not much, maybe even more like gear lash noise. Mine is a '13 car with a '15 transmission, tranny had 25.5k when installed in the car.
The RS5 is a tough platform. The transmission internals seems to be the smallest and weakest along with the already known prone to have issues. It’s like you guys are on the front lines figuring out what issues are the norm on a limited production vehicle
I’ve had this jutter since 57.7k miles and I’ve put on 17k miles. I just thought it was a “feature” of the LWFW… It’s certainly annoying because you can hear it rattling from the outside and people think your car is broken.
I still don’t have any judder and have been driving my RS5 more often with the better weather. I can hear a little bit of very light rattle at idle but that is expected with a light weight flywheel but only perceptible to me really, nobody has noticed it enough to make a comment.