Standard s-line wheels and calipers

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maxdrz400

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Had my a4 now for nearly 6years, and it's always had a pair of cheap wheel spacers on the front since before I had it, and I just left them on and never really thought much more of it.

Well I'm in the process of replacing the hubs as the bolt holes are chewed up and thought possibly the spacers were partly to blame and removed them.
To my surprise my wheels dont clear my calipers.

Now I'm assuming audi wouldn't have a car leave the factory with spacers so wondering what's different.

I have standard 5 spoke s line wheels, and 320mm discs and s line calipers. Is this a usual combination? Just all seems a bit strange 0
 
This is not that unusual chap , it does all come down to the wheel offset with your current alloys, if they are oem it will be the offset to blame.
The factory offset on your car is ET43 ,if your having issues with clearance I would suspect your alloys are not A4 B7 fitment and have a slightly different offset .
While you have the wheel off just make a note of the part number and offset and i'll let you know what they were originally fitted to.
 
Just remind me , what variant is your B7.
 
audi upgrades
If you are still running the alloys in this pic then they are probably from another platform not A4 B7.
Sline5
 
The oem fitments for the A4 B7 , for 17" & 18" are
17" 7.5j ET45
18" 8j ET43

the difference in offsets is very little between both sizes.
How much clearance is there as both should fit on without issues based on the oem offset, if its a lot out then they are from another variant platform.
 
very possibly A3 as the 17" & 18" are et54 and ET56, if you have 10mm spacers on the fronts then the 18" et54 are very possibly fitted.
Anyway only oem p/n will confirm .
 
Il get a part number tomorrow and get back to you mate.
It's a s-line non special edition tfsi quattro.
The wheels are those in photo, just stock( so I thought) a4 s line 5 spokes. But like you say they were standard fit on other cars too.
Just seems strange that they are not standard on a car that has the same wheels as standard.
I guess it's just part and parcel of running older cars, it was 7 years old when I bought it, so 7 years of unknown history.
 
The problem is made worse as audi make the same style alloys in the same diameter and widths for a wide range of variants , they all look the same or as close as , its the offset that is different per variant.
The same style alloy on an A3 will be et54 on a A4 B7 it will need to be ET43 so a 10mm spacer or similar is the only way it will fit and clear the caliper.
 
very possibly.
late me know when you get a chance to look at the wheel.

have a good one.

rob
 
Just had a chance to get rye wheel off, looks like et46? Hard to make out as they've been powder coated recently and its covered all the numbers. Cant make out a part no. Either unfortunately.
 

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So I'm going to buy some new spacers as I currently have cheapo generic ones on there and I believe they are to blame for the wheel hubs being knackered.
Not sure whether to get ones with tapered bolts or radius.
My wheels had both types in worryingly.
Anyway il upload some pictures and tell me what you think.
 
Wheel bolts weren't even the same length.....
 

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Just had a quick glance through the thread i had 18” et43 if i remember right on my car with 320mm discs and i never had a wheel spacer or any rubbing issues maybe your offset of 46 is just hitting them.

Sure eibach do a 5mm spacer but i don't think there hub centric as there so small but still worth investing in unless you go for another set of wheels.
 
That's possibly what I had on there then.
Theres hubcebtric spacers and bolts on Ebay for about 40 quid, might go for those in 10 or 15mm, just got to try and figure out if they will fit.
 
maxdrz400 said:
That's possibly what I had on there then.
Theres hubcebtric spacers and bolts on Ebay for about 40 quid, might go for those in 10 or 15mm, just got to try and figure out if they will fit.
Click to expand...
My current wheel are 35et fronts are close with the eibach sportlines so yeah 10-15mm will be ideal, ive used ones similar off ebay hub centric 15mm and never had any issues plus you get all matching bolts lol
 
Yeah always a bonus having the correct bolts!
Do you know if I need radius heads or tapered? I've currently got both and both seem to fit snug in the wheels so hard to tell really.
 
Will be radius bolts mate, tapered are generally only on aftermarket wheels tbh, having the wrong bolts and especially mix match will in some cases cause wheel wobble.
 
OEM wheel bolts need radius shoulder and aftermarket need tapered shoulder, the two are very different and should not be mixed full stop.
 
if they are the only markings on the wheel then I suspect they are aftermarket, oem will have several numbers inc the part number .
 
maxdrz400 said:
Wheel bolts weren't even the same length.....
Click to expand...
Also looking at those two wheel bolts , the radius shoulder (oem) looks to be incorrect for the wheel, look at the very small contact point, it's only holding by that small strip of contact.
In contrast the tapered bolt has an almost full contact surface area, it would indicate they are aftermarket with tapered bolts , the oem bolts are not suitable.
 
Anyone who compromises the safety and therefore the integrity of a vehicle is a tool. Bit like tyre stretch imo. And folk who say "never had an issue or done any harm".....
 
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I like a slight tyre stretch had a 255 on a 10j rear wheel and never had an issue or done any harm..........lol
 
The problem when buying a used car is that you can never be 100% sure what the previous owner did properly or not.
Classic example here as @maxdrz400 bought his B7 some time ago unaware his car didn't get a proper job done by the previous owner and it has now become a bigger problem.
Radius and tapered bolts should not be mixed or used as a set on the wrong alloys , this is the result , they become loose very easily and it leads to problems .
Radius shoulder bolts in a tapered hole , never going to last before it loosens and problems arise.

Hope he get's it sorted ok now.
 
Last edited:
5.5years I've had the car, I never once thought to check it had the correct wheel bolts, you just assume that everyone will do the job correctly as you will.
I've had the wheels off multiple times, and it was only when I had a problem and looked closer that you become aware of other people bodging around.
Just ordered a set of 15mm hubcentric spacers from ebay, with a set of longer wheel bolts, with the correct radius head on them for the grand total of £36 not exactly expensive to do it right!
 
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Any wiser on wheel markings etc.
Which bolts did your order, radius or tapered?
 
Sorry had a busy day fighting with a hub/wheel bearing, and missed a lot of the replies.
Rob there are other Mark's on the wheels, but hard to make out due to the heavy coat of powder coat on them, there is an audi logo, although there is nothing to say that is genuine.
I find it hard to imagine that if for whatever reason you were replacing alloys that you would do it with a set of plain old s line 5 spokes. They are not awful but there are a lot nice wheels out there, if you were going aftermarket.
Good spot on the wheel bolts, I hadn't noticed that myself so will investigate further tomorrow.

The plot thickens slightly, so all these issues with hubs/wheel bolts have arisen since the wheels were refurbed in December last year, also the last time the wheels were touched.
So I have several suggestions of what could have happened.
1 they run the bolts on with an air tool without seating them first and cross threaded them
2 they have over tightened them
3 they have put the shorter radius wheel bolts from the rear wheels onto the front with the spacer, resulting it chewing the thread and the bolts coming loose.
All I know is I have 2 knackered hubs, and some odd wheel bolts which I have never noticed before. Theres nothing to say the bolts are even originally from my car. I'm.not impressed to say the least and have no comebacks as its months later so hard to prove anything.
 
Just Rob. said:
Any wiser on wheel markings etc.
Which bolts did your order, radius or tapered?
Click to expand...
I ordered radius, il mark them with chalk pen, for them, remove them and see what is/isnt removed to decide if they are correct or not
 
maxdrz400 said:
Sorry had a busy day fighting with a hub/wheel bearing, and missed a lot of the replies.
Rob there are other Mark's on the wheels, but hard to make out due to the heavy coat of powder coat on them, there is an audi logo, although there is nothing to say that is genuine.
I find it hard to imagine that if for whatever reason you were replacing alloys that you would do it with a set of plain old s line 5 spokes. They are not awful but there are a lot nice wheels out there, if you were going aftermarket.
Good spot on the wheel bolts, I hadn't noticed that myself so will investigate further tomorrow.

The plot thickens slightly, so all these issues with hubs/wheel bolts have arisen since the wheels were refurbed in December last year, also the last time the wheels were touched.
So I have several suggestions of what could have happened.
1 they run the bolts on with an air tool without seating them first and cross threaded them
2 they have over tightened them
3 they have put the shorter radius wheel bolts from the rear wheels onto the front with the spacer, resulting it chewing the thread and the bolts coming loose.
All I know is I have 2 knackered hubs, and some odd wheel bolts which I have never noticed before. Theres nothing to say the bolts are even originally from my car. I'm.not impressed to say the least and have no comebacks as its months later so hard to prove anything.
Click to expand...
What a nightmare ******* hate stuff like that! Just lazy inconsiderate ******** that don’t care about other peoples stuff or have any pride in there work, I've had many arguments in the past with mechanics and tyre fitters due to there stupidness, even leaving the tyre lube round the tyre **** SAKE just wipe it off you lazy nobhead! its impossible to find a decent person nowadays.

Anyway thats my daily rant over with.
 
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I think you need to establish weather the alloys are oem or aftermarket as that will be key to what the correct bolts are used and ultimately how secure the wheel is attached.

If you look at the bolt, the area where the head reduces in size down to the threaded section will either by rounded (a bit like half a sphere). These are "radiused" bolts. If the area is straight (like an upside down cone), it is a "tapered" bolt.

Looking at the bolt hole in the wheel, you`ll see the area where the bolt "seats". This will either be "radiused" or "tapered" to match the requisite bolt.

Only ever use the correct bolt, because the wrong one, when torqued can cause pressure points, because the bolt is not `seating` properly, and could cause stress fractures around the hole and/or eventually work loose.

if all else fails and you cant decided , lightly lubricate one of the bolt holes , then push a big blob or bluetack in that wheel bolt hole and then remove it.
whatever shape imprint is left in the bluetack will confirm which it is.

Hope that makes sense
 
If the radius bolts are wrong il buy a full set of tapered bolts, that's not an issue. It's more deciding which they are.

I will have to investigate further tomorrow, I will also take some more pictures of the marks on the wheels to show you.

I was wondering though if forcing tapered bolts into a radius hole, and steel being stronger than alloy could change the shape of the hole, just to confuse matters further!
 
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This image clearly suggest they are a tapered hole as the contact area on the bolt shoulder is more consistant with a tapered hole , the radius bolt is showing a much smaller contact area , only a fraction of the surface area of the shoulder , if the hole was a radius hole there would be a far greater surface area contact mark on the bolt, very much like forcing a round ball down a tapered hole, it will have a very small contact point.
OEM alloys are nearly if not allways radius , and aftermarket tapered.

If they are oem alloys then something is clearly amiss with them based on the bolts used.


et48-jpg.197679
 
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