B7 general discussion/chat thread.

[swisstony]

One thing that really irritates me with my Avant and has done from day one is that the rear seats don't lay flat , they are always at an angle , it is not an issue except when I am transporting my fish tank containing my rare Koi carp to fish meets...

Edited for you so we can understand your frustration

TBH I have never noticed but now you have mentioned it I might have to go and have a look ....

 

[Charlie Farley]

It's real pain ,something that's allways bugged me from day 1 back in june 2014 but just assumed it was an oddity and worked around it , clearly not and certainly not one of Audi's better designs.

 

[Charlie Farley]

Standard S-Line trim just all in soul black which is what I wanted. If the rain stops and I dont get blown away by the wind today, I might attempt the removal.

Is it Valcona, nice if it is as that's the top of the range leather trim , is lovely and supple.

 

[northpole]

@Charlie Farley not to worry you know the biggest volume car from the VAG group? yes the VW golf has the same problem... not even those go completely flat... comfort over function is to blame for it... as the cars that do fold all the way flat in the back... trust me long trips sitting in the back isn't nice at all.

@swisstony I do want to see a picture of those seats as i did see some in black but they were not S-line seats think they came from a convertible A4.

 

[swisstony]

Is it Valcona, nice if it is as that's the top of the range leather trim , is lovely and supple.

My knowledge of different leathers is low so TBH I couldnmt tell the difference.
When cleaning it yesterday it felt nice and supple but looking at the leather in detail I diont think it is the same as what is in there. Might have to take some photos.

 

[northpole]

If the leather feels softer than the 2-tone S-line seats than it's the top of the line nappa leather... just keep them in top condition by doing at least a yearly leather treatment

 

[swisstony]

If the leather feels softer than the 2-tone S-line seats than it's the top of the line nappa leather... just keep them in top condition by doing at least a yearly leather treatment

my neighbours think I am nuts already so me going outside and gently massaging my leather seats whilst whistling a tune will look perfectly normal

 

[swisstony]

Ok as a layman I cant tell the difference but to me the new seats feel softer ever so slightly

Current seats

and not the same bolster but side of the front seat on the new set

 

[northpole]

lol what are you hiding? looks like those are the softer nappa leather ones... but as i said if it feels softer than the 2-tone seats than it's got to be nappa leather... It's feels way more comfortable and is less prone to damage... not free of damage, so treat it well and double think putting sharp edged stuff on the seats without some form of protection on the leather.

 

[swisstony]

lol what are you hiding? looks like those are the softer nappa leather ones... but as i said if it feels softer than the 2-tone seats than it's got to be nappa leather... It's feels way more comfortable and is less prone to damage... not free of damage, so treat it well and double think putting sharp edged stuff on the seats without some form of protection on the leather.

Just covered them in the garage away from our cat !!!!

 

[swisstony]

Actually need some help chaps are n the rear backrest . Watched a YouTube clip to remove the backrest which everyone takes out the plastic inserts that hold the headrests but mine won’t budge ! Tried levering and brute force but nothing will move them . Thing is I need to remove them as they hold the backrest in and if I was to recolour I would have to get them out

 

[northpole]

as from what i know about them they actually hold the backrest in place... only one way to deal with them .... use a lever and brute force... be careful not to damage them as they are expensive... around 120 pounds for a set from the dealer. but good news you could pull them out a scrapped car... regardless of them being leather or cloth... but colour might be different.

 

[swisstony]

Brute force and ignorance it is then !

 

[swisstony]

Well I think I have decided that the new interior must be the fancy leather as side by side they feel and look a lot different !

Now all installed and next job is clear airbag light

 

[northpole]

Jup they are different... one thing I can give you as a tip.... heat the new seats leather up with a heat source like a paint stripper... that'll make the leather shrink a little bit and expand the seat foam but still keep the lot in good nick... say goodbye to the weird creases...

That is if you keep the thing at a safe distance from the leather...

 

[swisstony]

Good tip
I have a heat gun so will try that out and don’t worry if I get anything wrong I will just send you the bill

 

[northpole]

Just use your brain the idea is to gently heat the leather up not hold it in one position for to long...

And if you do mess them up... no billing will be accepted... as I just gave you a tip not a guaranteed solution... ( it does work though)

 

[swisstony]

Just use your brain the idea is to gently heat the leather up not hold it in one position for to long...

And if you do mess them up... no billing will be accepted... as I just gave you a tip not a guaranteed solution... ( it does work though)

no billing LOL.... brain engaged for that job.

Just had another go on the rear and those plugs and nope, not budging. Even got a pair of molegrips on them and still no joy. Will go and post on a few other forums to see if they have any tips as I NEED to get them out

 

[NM07]

Actually need some help chaps are n the rear backrest . Watched a YouTube clip to remove the backrest which everyone takes out the plastic inserts that hold the headrests but mine won’t budge ! Tried levering and brute force but nothing will move them . Thing is I need to remove them as they hold the backrest in and if I was to recolour I would have to get them out

View attachment 272029

I can speak from experience in saying these are virtually impossible to remove without breaking (at least on the fixed rear seat saloon, as you have no access from the back). The issue is, the end of these inserts is barbed, so once fitted, the base flares out within the cylindrical tube they slide into, which is metal. Audi I think have an official tool to remove them, which might help, if you can find one. Levering up on them from the top is very likely to break the flared top section too, ask me how I know.

The other issue is, at least on the saloon, the inserts that have the button on were £105 from Audi EACH when I last bought them, nearly as much as I paid for the whole leather interior, and because they're near impossible to remove, you won't find them on eBay second hand. I don't think Audi makes them any more, and there's limited numbers left in the UK, and for whatever reason there are none on the aftermarket.

When I upgraded my Special Edition leather seats to the Valcona seats, I actually ended up cutting 3 holes in the rear seat back so I could get access to the base of each tube. This allowed me to compress the barb with big pliers, and remove them without breaking them, which saved me around £300. It's a shame it came to that, and it may be different on the Avant.

 

[swisstony]

I can speak from experience in saying these are virtually impossible to remove without breaking (at least on the fixed rear seat saloon, as you have no access from the back). The issue is, the end of these inserts is barbed, so once fitted, the base flares out within the cylindrical tube they slide into, which is metal. Audi I think have an official tool to remove them, which might help, if you can find one. Levering up on them from the top is very likely to break the flared top section too, ask me how I know.

The other issue is, at least on the saloon, the inserts that have the button on were £105 from Audi EACH when I last bought them, nearly as much as I paid for the whole leather interior, and because they're near impossible to remove, you won't find them on eBay second hand. I don't think Audi makes them any more, and there's limited numbers left in the UK, and for whatever reason there are none on the aftermarket.

When I upgraded my Special Edition leather seats to the Valcona seats, I actually ended up cutting 3 holes in the rear seat back so I could get access to the base of each tube. This allowed me to compress the barb with big pliers, and remove them without breaking them, which saved me around £300. It's a shame it came to that, and it may be different on the Avant.

I posted on the RS owners club on FB and a very helpful chap sent me the photos from the workshop manual on how to remove them using a special tool which you mention as well. £120 from audi !! Bought the same tool from amazon for £7.99 so will have a go with that and see if it works. Obviously I want to avoid breaking them as I know from other people that to replace them is near impossible. So fingers crossed I dont break anything


These are the pics he sent

 

[Charlie Farley]

Etka

Fronts

 

[Charlie Farley]

Rears

 

[swisstony]

snap

 

[Charlie Farley]

Have to say a big thanks to @printmonkey for the s-line 18" alloys/tire combo, really appreciate them and they should help address a few issues inc the problematic conti's fitted at present

I'm going to get them fitted tomorrow on the old bus, hopefully should just clear the big brembo's on the front, the 19" Oz's will be off to the refurbs chaps for a change in finish and by which time I will know if the conti's were the problem.
If they are , as i'm 99.9% sure now then the refreshed Oz will be in line for some new F1 Eagles.

Probably leave the 18" s-lines on until the better weather in the spring now aswell.

just another piece in the jigsaw really.

I have a spare plenum cover if anyone is looking for one , pm me on that front otherwise going on fleabay.

 

[NM07]

Treated my barge to a full 4 wheel Hunter alignment today, made the world of difference! Nice to see the geometry figures back in the green all round. Very pleased

 

[Charlie Farley]

Was this via a main stream tire centre?

 

[Charlie Farley]

I normally use Merit tyre as there are a couple within 2-3 miles from me but just recently their service has been a bit poor in general .

 

[NM07]

Yep my local Kwik-Fit, really good guys, got a good rapport with them and they look after me. They know how fastidious I am about my cars and always go the extra mile to get everything as close to 100% perfect as they can. 5 minutes down the road, and the only place in the area with a Hunter alignment machine, I won't use any others machines as the accuracy is nowhere near as good.

Excellent cafe just round the corner too, treated myself to a full English while I was waiting. Went down a treat

 

[Gmac]

Yep my local Kwik-Fit, really good guys, got a good rapport with them and they look after me. They know how fastidious I am about my cars and always go the extra mile to get everything as close to 100% perfect as they can. 5 minutes down the road, and the only place in the area with a Hunter alignment machine, I won't use any others machines as the accuracy is nowhere near as good.

Excellent cafe just round the corner too, treated myself to a full English while I was waiting. Went down a treat

Out of interest, why did you have it done? How much did it cost? and are you able to put up the printouts if you’ve got them? Would like to get mine done.

 

[NM07]

Out of interest, why did you have it done? How much did it cost? and are you able to put up the printouts if you’ve got them? Would like to get mine done.

I had noticed some uneven tire wear, and had just had some suspension work done up front too, so wanted to get it done as a matter of course. It came to about £80 for the full Hunter 4 wheel laser alignment at my local Kwik-Fit.

I'm not sure if I kept the print out, I'll post it if I find it, but everything was green afterwards, aside from the front camber which was slightly out at -1° on both sides. The front camber is non-adjustable on the stock suspension, and because the values for both sides matched perfectly and it was negative camber not positive, we were happy to leave that as it is.

Drives beautifully now!

 

[NM07]

One thing to bear in mind @Gmac is if you've not had an alignment done in some time, the rear camber and toe adjustment bolts are likely to have seized, they're bad for that, and have a strong possibility of snapping.

I'd start soaking them in penetrating oil for a good week or two before you go to take it in for the alignment so they have a fighting chance of getting them loose. I had to replace my camber bolts as they would not come free without damaging them. Luckily the toe bolts came loose with some penetrating oil and a bit of elbow grease.

 

[Charlie Farley]

On a soggy Saturday afternoon, I spent a couple of hours on the old bus having an 18" alloy retrofit.

In my ongoing quest to get to the bottom of the tramling the old bus is suffering from at the moment, I've downsized from the Oz 19" 8.5j alloys with 235/35 19" continental tyres .
I have double-checked and triple-checked suspension, wheel alignment, etc to no avail so I've refitted OEM 18" 8j alloys with 253/40 18" Goodyear F1's

From many previous wheel fitments etc I have a good idea what will fit over the Brembo 18Z caliper in B7 fitment and I wasn't expecting these to clear them either, would have been nice but, nope not to be.

Luckily I have a good selection of Decent hub-centric spacers and Audi-shouldered bolts of various lengths to work with those spacers' widths.
10mm on the front and there is a 2mm gap at the closest point to the caliper, I've had closer but it will suffice for the purpose in mind.
15mm on the rears works ok, so the front and rear are now pretty close to the offset I was running with the Oz's.

Time for a quick splash before it was dark.

Off for a spin tomorrow to see what occurs, i'm hoping it will be a positive step and I can then organize suitable rubber for the Oz alloys, if not then I'll need to rethink the situation.
Dropping them off Monday for a color refurb before fitting new rubber should it transpire the continentals are the culprit.

So a few rubbish pics in the fading daylight, I'd forgotten how snug 18z's are with 18" alloys..lol

 

[Jamsmoo]

Gotta say since I’ve slung the 9s on I now recognise what an annoyance tram lining is ,could be the change of tyres from good years to Toyo proxes I suppose but it can’t be just the tyres to be that significant


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[Charlie Farley]

I'm keeping an open mind but just by a process of elimination thus far, I have checked the other factors, plus it wasn't an obvious issue with the 19" F1s I was running so I can't see what else it could be, the only difference in the equation is the conti tyres.
Ok, 19" 8.5j alloys are not oem on the A4 and never were and a 235/35 is quite low , but 19" is a size that works on the Rs4 platform ok, given the Rs4 runs a wider and taller profile tyre that may well be a factor.

 

[Charlie Farley]

And bearing in mind all my front suspension bushes were shot with a lot of free play in the front end when i had the F1s on , there wasn't any tram lining then, and one would expect the steering to be all over the place in that situation.

 

[Jamsmoo]

235x35 19 is oem on a lot of BMWs ,wouldn’t of thought that would be an issue ,suppose with less side wall give it could exaggerate it more
Also thought about the fact I’ve added an extra 1” track width to mine shouldn’t be significant enough to cause what I’m experiencing,maybe extra tyre stretch from an 8.5 to a 9 combined with the extra wheel width /track width is the issue


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[Charlie Farley]

I have seen it mentioned before that running a lowish profile along with a fair bit of stretch does reduce the sidewall flexibility a lot making things a lot stiffer than the design spec, I suppose that may be a contributing factor, if it's not an issue you encountered with a same dia rim/tire but with out the stretch factor.

 

[Jamsmoo]

Yep ,it makes complete sense
I’m one of the form over function brigade though ,it’s not my daily so I’m not too fussed


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[Charlie Farley]

A4 B7 S-line etc with 8j 18" alloys, for the most part, came with 235/40 18" tires and had an overall dia of 645mm and circumference of 2027mm, so to keep as close that factory spec, 235/35 19" is 647mm and 2033 mm, that as close as one will get, but it will mean having that lower sidewall profile, which may be prove to be an issue, it hasn't been for me as yet but I'm open to all possibilities.

based on new tire tread levels.

 

[swisstony]

You have been busy on a saturday there.... I had no such luxury with even playing with cars. Instead I was pruning/hacking at the big tree in our front garden. The good lady wife hates autumn as " it is so messy" so instead of waiting for the leaves to drop and then pick them up like a normal person, she brought winter early to the tree...
Maybe next week if the weather improves I might actually do some car stuff...