New Member, Not a new Audi owner

[DasWolfen at aol.com]

In a message dated 6/13/02 9:11:20 AM Pacific Daylight Time, malth at umich.edu
writes:

> Hey I applaud you, it's great that you have such a fat wallet and choose
>  to maintain your Audi that way, but I choose not to.  I define a
>  "downgrade" as a waste of money, not by a theoretical brake torque
>  advantage.  The same size G60 pad and rotor were factory-backed &
>  installed in the V8, the S4/S6 (though that might have a slightly
>  different sized rotor), so I didn't consider the swap such a horrible
>  deed.

 I agree its your right to maintain your car the way you wish. If G60's
perform acceptably for you then by all means keep them. That being said, I
suspect you use your Audi in a very mild manner compared to many of us who
dislike G60's. My personal Audi is a UFO equipped V8 that gets abused on a
regular basis, to the point that I've replaced the front pads 3 times in the
last year. I can assure you that if the UFO brake torque advantage was only
theoretical new pads wouldnt be the only parts getting replaced.

 My experience with both systems in V8 usage is that no matter what rotor/pad
combo used with G60's they simply cannot withstand the use a UFO can without
fading to an alarming degree. (of course in a lighter car modified G60's can
be acceptable for spirited use) My UFO's have warped many times, and every
time two good hard runs from 80 to 20 had them running true again. (So much
for replacing rotors due to warpage.)

 As for any waste of money occurring........this is a car list not Money
magazine. By your definition my ownership of a V8 is a downgrade since I dont
need Quattro here in SE VA, and I could easily get more performance for less
money with something else. I like my V8, I love the fact that I very rarely
see another on the road and when I do I know the owner, I love the clean
lines, and I love the performance/luxury combination, and most of all I like
the astonishingly sensible way Audi designed the car. (headlamp wiring and
steering rack excepted!)

I guess its time to do a few more "downgrades" to an A4q for one of my "fat
wallet" customers.

Keith
90 V8 #527 (suffering from numerous performance downgrades)