Hey everyone, just a quick update on one of the family cars: the A4 Quattro. This is what the wife drives, so it's actually quite stock and will pretty much stay that way 
Recently, I put some new wheels on it and some lowering springs. I am quite pleased with how it turned out.
I realize now that I don't really have any pics of the Audi before the wheel swap. Here's some pics of the Llama, and you can sort of see the Audi in the background...to get a feel for what it looked like with the stock wheels:
And one of it in the garage:
Sorry for the crap pics. No idea why I don't have better ones :-/ Anyway. Got the wheels installed at Discount Tire, and then put it in the garage on jack stands to swap out the springs:
And then all done:
Observations: working on an Audi sucks. Terribly. I also did the rear brake pads - that was interesting. Dealer wanted around $650 to do it. For rear pads. Lol. The trouble is the rears use an Electronic Parking Brake. So, in order to get the caliper pistons to fully retract required me to buy a VAG-COM. Anyway, I did. And it all worked. And was still cheaper than $650. And now I can do more things with the car, thanks to the VAG-COM. Anyhoo. The springs. OMFG. It took like 3 days lol. To do the rears, I had to actually drop the rear subframe on each side to get the stock springs out. Ugh. And the fronts. Punch me in the face. Oh, and - of course - Audi uses Torque-To-Yield (TTY) bolts in the suspension. Which means you aren't supposed to reuse them. So there's like another $100 in just hardware alone that is supposed to be replaced. Uggggghhh. Ohhhhh - and getting this car on jack stands? Fergettaboudit. Absolutely ridiculous. Would you believe that there is no central jacking point at the front OR rear of the car? Meaning, you have to pretty much jack up each corner, put a jack stand, and hope to god it doesn't fall off as you do the other corners. Uggggggggh. Audi pretty much assumed it would always be on a lift, and efff the people at home. Seriously.
Anyway, after much cussing and shouting (and maybe a little crying) it all got done. And, if I must say, it looks damn fine.
The wheels are 18x8.5 Rotiform SPF's - we looked at CSL's (and equivalents) but I feel like every European car (Beamers, Audis, VDubs, etc.) have these wheels. So we wanted something that was a bit different. I really like these wheels. They also poke out just a bit more, so the wheels aren't tucked as much anymore.
The springs are H&R OE Sports - they are supposed to provide a "mild" drop of 1.2" front and 1.2" rear. I was concerned that the car would still look 4x4-ish after all the hard work I did - well. Suffice it to say not an issue. If anything, the drop is more than I expected. It's about 1 finger width of a gap. Dayum. Looks really good. And it was super important that the ride stays as close to OEM as possible (again, wife's car). And it is. The ride is just a tad bit stiffer, but still rides pretty much like OEM. And it's still using the non-sport OEM shocks and struts. Overall, this is a great combo if you want a bit of a drop but want to keep the cushy ride...
I am happy with how it turned out, and even more importantly, the wife is happy with it as well
Recently, I put some new wheels on it and some lowering springs. I am quite pleased with how it turned out.I realize now that I don't really have any pics of the Audi before the wheel swap. Here's some pics of the Llama, and you can sort of see the Audi in the background...to get a feel for what it looked like with the stock wheels:
And one of it in the garage:
Sorry for the crap pics. No idea why I don't have better ones :-/ Anyway. Got the wheels installed at Discount Tire, and then put it in the garage on jack stands to swap out the springs:
And then all done:
Observations: working on an Audi sucks. Terribly. I also did the rear brake pads - that was interesting. Dealer wanted around $650 to do it
. For rear pads. Lol. The trouble is the rears use an Electronic Parking Brake. So, in order to get the caliper pistons to fully retract required me to buy a VAG-COM. Anyway, I did. And it all worked. And was still cheaper than $650. And now I can do more things with the car, thanks to the VAG-COM. Anyhoo. The springs. OMFG. It took like 3 days lol. To do the rears, I had to actually drop the rear subframe on each side to get the stock springs out. Ugh. And the fronts. Punch me in the face. Oh, and - of course - Audi uses Torque-To-Yield (TTY) bolts in the suspension. Which means you aren't supposed to reuse them. So there's like another $100 in just hardware alone that is supposed to be replaced. Uggggghhh. Ohhhhh - and getting this car on jack stands? Fergettaboudit. Absolutely ridiculous. Would you believe that there is no central jacking point at the front OR rear of the car? Meaning, you have to pretty much jack up each corner, put a jack stand, and hope to god it doesn't fall off as you do the other corners. Uggggggggh. Audi pretty much assumed it would always be on a lift, and efff the people at home. Seriously. Anyway, after much cussing and shouting (and maybe a little crying) it all got done. And, if I must say, it looks damn fine.
The wheels are 18x8.5 Rotiform SPF's - we looked at CSL's (and equivalents) but I feel like every European car (Beamers, Audis, VDubs, etc.) have these wheels. So we wanted something that was a bit different. I really like these wheels. They also poke out just a bit more, so the wheels aren't tucked as much anymore.
The springs are H&R OE Sports - they are supposed to provide a "mild" drop of 1.2" front and 1.2" rear. I was concerned that the car would still look 4x4-ish after all the hard work I did - well. Suffice it to say not an issue. If anything, the drop is more than I expected. It's about 1 finger width of a gap. Dayum. Looks really good. And it was super important that the ride stays as close to OEM as possible (again, wife's car). And it is. The ride is just a tad bit stiffer, but still rides pretty much like OEM. And it's still using the non-sport OEM shocks and struts. Overall, this is a great combo if you want a bit of a drop but want to keep the cushy ride...
I am happy with how it turned out, and even more importantly, the wife is happy with it as well
