Wheels! What to do

[dsmclark40v]

I have only owned my A4 for a couple of months now and when i bought it I noticed that it has two Avon tires on the front, and the back right has a michelin sport and the back left has some micky mouse make simlionatia or some thing like that (it also has a slow punture). Now that might be all good and well for nipping to the shops but i do about 80 miles a day. i have noticed the back end gets a bit twitchy on roundabouts if you push it a bit. And the other day after it rained i was going round a roundabout at a sensible speed of 20-25mph (its a big roundabout) at cadnam just at the end of the m27 and the back end stepped out and i had a nice little drift going. But i was lucky that there wasn't anyone in the lane next to me or i would have side swiped them.
Now the Question is do i just get new tires or do i buy a new set of alloys? The wheels on my car have seen better days to be honest and as i want to replace all the tires should i just go all out and buy new wheels aswell.
Also what size wheels would it be best to go for? I don't want to have to lower the car as the ride is already a bit harsh as my car has the sports package. and would i need to put spacers in or anything?
The wheels i was thinking of getting are either the new RS4 or the S4 wheels.

Thanks,
Sam

 

[Donald_MacIver]

If you need to replace all 4 tyres, its a good excuse to go for a new wheel and tyre package. I would suggest you go for a 17" package if you are not going to lower the car, and replacement tyres will be cheaper next time round too. I would also recommend you go for a set of OE replica wheels like the RS4, RS6 or A8 style wheels. You shouldn't need spacers, as the wheels should come in a fairly standard offset anyway.

 

[dsmclark40v]

Well a mate at work has a seat leon cupra R and i might try one of his 18" wheels on it just to see how high it is as i prefer the idea of 18" rather than 17" If i like the look of it i might consider getting it lowered.
But if my car was bought with the sports package doesn't that mean it lowered anyway.

 

[PhilR]

The 18s off the leon wont fit im afraid, different stud pattern

leon 5x100
a4 5x112

A4s on std suspension with 18s do look a little tall, saying that a4s with std suspension are too tall anyway ;-)

 

[Phantom_A4]

I say go for some nice 18's, with some better quality tyres on. Sell your old wheels to counter act the difference, and maybe a set of sport springs to decrease the ride height a bit more. The new RS4's are rarer!

 

[dsmclark40v]

The 18s off the leon wont fit im afraid, different stud pattern

leon 5x100
a4 5x112

A4s on std suspension with 18s do look a little tall, saying that a4s with std suspension are too tall anyway ;-)

Ah right well thats saved me doing that then
Well all i was going on there was that i saw a set of alloys on flEa-bay and it said they would fit all audi, vw and seats but perhaps you have to specify when you buy them. Looks like i might have to lowered then if i want to go for 18" as i do like the new RS4 wheels. so it will look like a 4x4 for a while which i suppose it is in a way being quattro and all.
Well i have found the new style rs4 replicas for just under £300 and [FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]Pirelli p zero rosso for £108 a corner. which is a bit more than if i just got some good year eagle f1 for £234.80 for my standard alloys
I'll have to have a think about it, especially as i just spent £500 on an exhaust last week and i want to get a HID kit aswell. I think this is the slippery slope i have heard some much about
[/FONT]

 

[Damian s]

This is what I did when I bought my a4 1.8t Sport. Changed the standard alloys for a set of RS4 replicas in an 18 inch. It was a little high after that even with the so call sports suspension, so i popped into GSF and bought a set of their 40mm lowering springs (cost about £65) and bolted them on, easy enough job and looked much better on the front. Was still a little high on the back so I took an angle grinder to the first coil on each rear spring. Not really a recommended way of lowering but it sits much better and ride quality hasn't seemed to have suffered......I do a 70 mile round trip to work each day. Saved me spending a fortune on a full lowering kit when I wasn't too flush!

 

[Donald_MacIver]

This is what I did when I bought my a4 1.8t Sport. Changed the standard alloys for a set of RS4 replicas in an 18 inch. It was a little high after that even with the so call sports suspension, so i popped into GSF and bought a set of their 40mm lowering springs (cost about £65) and bolted them on, easy enough job and looked much better on the front. Was still a little high on the back so I took an angle grinder to the first coil on each rear spring. Not really a recommended way of lowering but it sits much better and ride quality hasn't seemed to have suffered......I do a 70 mile round trip to work each day. Saved me spending a fortune on a full lowering kit when I wasn't too flush!

I have the exact same springs as you on my car, and it sits nice and low on the front, but is too high at the back. How safe is it to chop a coil off the spring

 

[dsmclark40v]

What i might do is buy some winter tyres for now and then have them as a winter set, is this worth doing? And then i will get my car lowered. whats the best make of lowering springs to go for?

 

[Donald_MacIver]

H and R springs are very highly rated, and so are Eibach springs.

 

[JayB5UK]

What i might do is buy some winter tyres for now and then have them as a winter set, is this worth doing? And then i will get my car lowered. whats the best make of lowering springs to go for?

I did this last year, got a set of 4 for £160, depends where you live but I found it a bit overkill for down in the South East, but it did save my a$$ on 1 day when I had to do a 100 mile round trip and it had actually snowed quite hard!
They are sposed to be much better for below 7 deg Celsius and I found I could go along the back lanes on frosty mornings and brake and turn at up to 40mph without leaviung a skid on the road or in my Jeans!
If winter actually arrives this year I think they will be going back on for a few months til I can sort out some 18's also.

 

[dsmclark40v]

Well the ones i have found are about £360 for a set of Goodyear eagle ultra grip gw-3 which according to tyretest.com are better in the dry than Eagle F1 gs d3. Where did you get a set for £160?

 

[JayB5UK]

i went for them cause they were cheap - Nankang SV-1 from www.mytyres.co.uk obviously I had to get them fitted, but I wouldn't look at them for dry grip, don't get me wrong they are ok, but they have such deep tread that it feels like sidewall flex! I had them on between October sometime til about April (which was longer than I will this time round) ideally would have takent them off in early March or so - and the dry driving I did wore the fronts down by about 3mm more than the rears. So this time i'll take them off earlier once it starts to warm up and will put the deeper ones on the front. Reckon they would wear better on a quattro though, plus you could get away with some silly backlane driving in a Q on these too! If that's your bag. Mine's only FWD and it was quite amazing how much they gripped in frosty / icy conditions.
I almost felt guilty doing 70 on the motorway while some clueless bloke behind tried to follow me and nearly lost it into the hard shoulder in the snow. LOL

 

[dsmclark40v]

Yeah the round abouts are odd shapes. But i have driven round them faster in my old range rover. I drive that road everyday aswell, but i have never had any problems untill now. and especially not ice (I'll have to watch out for that one) I was going to get a mate of mine to do the tyres as he owes me a favor and so i was going to get him to do the tracking for me aswell. Well i think then i am definatly going to go for the F1's then

 

[Broken Byzan]

As an aside, i would also change the reae axle bushes, thats what i needed to do to stop my car stepping out. And that was at only 70 k miles

 

[dsmclark40v]

As an aside, i would also change the reae axle bushes, thats what i needed to do to stop my car stepping out. And that was at only 70 k miles

Should I have them check or should i just change them anyway?
Its one thing after anouther

 

[Broken Byzan]

At least check them as they are aroung £25 per side for the bushes alone. Took me about 3 hrs to fit the pair,2 hrs for one side and and hour for the other once i had it sussed

 

[JayB5UK]

I had my rear axle bushes done too which helped, but I have also lost the back end on a roundabout in the wet and that was back in the early "summer" but there were a pair of crap pirelli's on there at the time which I think were very hard. They stepped out on a downhill corner one morning too, which woke me up on the way to work!
I still think the back is a bit willing to travel say when going over drain covers in the wet on bends.