[Biturbos4] Wheels - advice and experience

Thu Mar 17 19:39:04 EST 2005

I have two places.

One is "Auto Collision Experts" in Elizabeth NJ, right new Newark 
Airport. About $70 a wheel.
Inconvenient, but recommended.
(908) 352-5991 (12/04)

The other, on which the jury is out, is USA Wheels, in Fiarwield NJ. 
About $100.
UInclear that they did a great job. Also unclear that they did a bad 
job, just witholding judgement based on some odd circumstances with my 
last repair.
(973) 227-7977

Grant
On Mar 14, 2005, at 10:21 AM, northrup wrote:

> I drive that same road, and those ruts are HUGE!
>
> For those wheels, you might try someone like achtuning.com (josh is the
> owner, but anyone should be able to help you).  You may get a better
> deal there as compared to the dealer.
>
> btw, where would one get wheels straightened?  I took some wheels to 
> Wheel
> Collision center in Bath, PA - but they wanted something like $250 to 
> fix
> a minor wobble.  If there is somewhere cheaper, i'd like to know!
>
> wilson
>
> On Mon, 14 Mar 2005, Grant wrote:
>
>> 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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>>>>> Biturbos4 at www.audifans.com
>>>>> http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/biturbos4
>>>>>
>>>>
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>>>
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>>
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