I have a 2001 Audi A4 1.8t Quattro, which I bought new and which has slightly less than 120 000 km on it. Last year, the right rear wheel bearing got noisy and had to be replaced. And I just had to have the left rear wheel bearing replaced this week to cure the same problem.
My previous car went 156 000 km and never needed a wheel bearing replaced, front (driven wheels) or rear. The car before went 193 000 km and never needed a wheel bearing replaced, front (driven wheels) or rear. So it seems to me that having to have both replaced in far fewer kilometers on my A4 is too soon.
The car has had all of its scheduled services performed by Audi or VW dealerships, on the schedule shown in the manual, so it isn't due to lack of proper maintenance.
Google Groups shows me a number of posts from people with older A-platform cars having rear wheel bearing problems, but not a lot for newer vehicles or B-platform cars. I did see a number of references to B5 A4 owners having rear wheel bearing problems in the forum at audiworld.com but I have no idea if that's indicative of a problem; being mechanical devices, some number of failures among a large group of people over the course of several years is perfectly normal.
Anyone comments?