[Biturbos4] Wheels - advice and experience

[Grant]

Quincy,

Thanks for the advice.  BTW, I am familiar with the wheels you suggest 
- they're just hard to come by (except at Audi's extortionist pricing 
new).

My roads?  My commute.  New Jersey 287 north right now has *ruts* 
between the lanes for miles.  And several of my back-roads to work have 
pretty bad potholes, some which come up "around the bend".  I think I'm 
pretty careful, but it seems you can't be careful enough!  Its darned 
frustrating.

Maybe I should sell my S5s and winter tires (once all straightened) to 
someone who has better luck than me ....any takers?)

Grant
On Mar 13, 2005, at 10:52 PM, Quincy Chiang wrote:

> Grant,
>
> I've never heard of anyone bending the stock Avus wheels, given they 
> are approx. 28+ lb each, and are known to be damn strong!  Then you 
> went on and bent a few 16" wheels with even squishier tires?  I know 
> many people have 16" AT Italia S5 wheels as winters and have had no 
> problems with them.  Man you must drive on some really really bad 
> roads!!
>
> For OE wheel options, you can go with any 16" wheels offered on the A6 
> with 2.7t because that car has the same front brakes as ours.  There 
> should be 2 types, a 5-spoke design and a 6 split-spoke design, both 
> are 16x7.  Do a search on Audiworld to see what they look like if you 
> don't know.
>
> There's also another OE wheel that clears our front brakes.  It's not 
> offered as a standard wheel but it's sold by dealers as a specific 
> winter rim for cars with the HP2 brakes.  These are 16x6.5, extra 
> narrow for mounting 205 or even 195 section width winter tires for 
> good winter traction.  I have them and here's what they look like on 
> my car:
>
> http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/41218/100-0022_img_small.jpg
>
> I know they're not they prettiest things, but they are quite heavey 
> duty and I seriously doubt they can be bent given the extra squishy 
> sidewall due to the narrow wheel width.  The previous owner got these 
> as part of his deal when he bought the car instead of getting a 
> discount, so I'm not sure what they cost.
>
> HTH and good luck with whatever new rims you get!
>
> Quincy
>
> PS: Wilson, interesting info.  Although I thought only the RS4 in 
> Britain had problems with bent rims, didn't know the regular S4's had 
> problems too, at least I've never heard of it until now.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: northrup <northrup at crazybug.com>
> Date: Sunday, March 13, 2005 7:35 am
> Subject: Re: [Biturbos4] Wheels - advice and experience
>
>> Grant:
>>
>> I recall reading something about the S4's with aluminum uprights
>> in
>> regard to wheels.  Note that i do not recall the source of the
>> information, so it should be taken only as a possibility, and not
>> fact.
>> In any event, IIRC, it went something like this:
>>
>> Audi used aluminum uprights on the S4, but then there were some
>> broken
>> suspension issues.  To resolve this, softer (lighter?) wheels were
>> used
>> in  conjunction with the aluminum uprights.   This resulted in
>> many bent
>> wheels.   After this Audi essentially threw in the towel.
>> Aluminum
>> uprights were discontinued in favor of a stronger (heavier) setup.
>>
>> Stronger (heavier?) wheels were added.  The result: more unsprung
>> weight,
>> but less damage.
>>
>> So, all that means if you are shopping for another set of wheels,
>> you may
>> wish to consider the 2001+ variety.   Then again, if your car has
>> aluminum
>> upgrights, you may wish to continue with softer wheels!
>>
>> Nothing is ever simple in the performance arena. :)
>>
>> wilson
>>
>> On Sat, 12 Mar 2005, Grant wrote:
>>
>>> I'm looking for the group's collective experience with wheels.
>>> I bought 4 snows and 16"  (16 x 7 x 35 ET) AT Italia S5 wheels
>> from the
>>> tire rack, and have bent several of them - while bending only 1
>>> original avus wheel.  These things seem to be very weak/soft.
>> I'm
>>> about to throw in the towell and replace them, if I can figure
>> out what
>>> is better in the long run.
>>>
>>> I'm curious what experience people have had with other
>> aftermarket or
>>> 16" OE (used, presumably) wheels, especially RONALs (which made
>> several
>>> of the OE wheels).
>>>
>>> Good/bad.
>>>
>>> Thanks, much.
>>>
>>> Grant
>>>
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>>>
>>
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>
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