[V8] Audi 5k parts needed

[George Selby]

Here's my long distance pickup story:

Looked at a BMW 325iC on eBay, was 2nd highest bidder.  A week later, 
car is back up for auction.  I email the guy, ask why the first sale 
fell through, and he said bidder never contacted him.  So I bid, and 
get the cheaper than the first time.  So I email the guy and ask him 
if he can pick me up at a hotel the next weekend.  He says sure.  Car 
is N of Baltimore, I can fly to Baltimore, take light rail as far 
north as I can go, there's a hotel at the end of the line he picks me 
up the next morning, I drive car home.   I call and reserve flight, 
make hotel reservations, and e-mail him back along with my phone 
number to finalize details.  I never hear from him until the day he's 
supposed to pick me up, and he asks if I'm in Baltimore.

I reply heck no, I never heard from you again, so I assumed the deal 
was off.  However he says the deal is on, so I tell him I can drive 
up right then in my 300E, meet at the same hotel the next morning, 
I'll drive the BMW home, fly back and pick up my MB (I really wanted 
the car, I had a 318iC automatic, the new car was a 325iC Sport, 
manual, new black paint on tan interior.)  So a day later than 
originally planned, I'm there, he shows up on time and everything is 
groovy.  Turns out he's selling the car for his cousin, and didn't 
return my e-mail because he was in the hospital for cancer 
treatment.  So things are sounding better (for me.)  We get to 
cousin's house and car looks just as advertised, runs as 
promised.  Cousin is selling car due to legal troubles, and can't 
leave the state.  He offers to sell me an extra set of wheel and 
tires (18", I really didn't want anything bigger than a 16" for this 
car, 18's just don't look right to me) but I decline.  I pay and 
leave.  I put the top down, start cruising home to eastern NC.  I 
make it past DC, just at dusk cruising along I-95 at 80 mph and BOOM, 
one of the back tires explodes.  I pull off the road, a couple of 
people stop to make sure I'm ok, and I go about changing the 
tire.  Then I discover the wheels have locks, and I don't have the 
key.  I call AAA, they send a guy and I figure everything is OK.  He 
says normally this wouldn't be a problem, but today I don't have the 
wheel lock remover in my truck, and can't go back and get it.  By now 
it's 7:30 on a Saturday night, and all the tire shops in the area are 
closing.  We make it to one that's closing down, but will be open the 
next morning.  I ask if they have tires in the correct size, and they 
reply they do, so I get a hotel, and await the call in the morning.

Wake up next morning to a call my car is ready, 2 new tires on, all 
wheel locks removed.  I get there and they put tires on, but they 
aren't the right size, but I want to get home so I take it.  I get 
another hundred miles down the road to Petersburg and the car starts 
shaking really badly.  I pull over and discover one of the front 
tires has a huge bulge, could have blown any time.  So I stop and put 
the spare on.  Now I'm driving 55, don't want to chance going 70.  I 
get about 30 miles from home, and the car starts shaking bad 
again.  Pull over, another tire bulging.  I'm out of spares, it's 
rural NC with no tire shops open on Sunday, so I let a bunch of air 
out of the tire to reduce the bulge, and drive home slowly.  About a 
mile from home it starts shaking bad again - the spare is now 
bulging, but I make it home OK.   Whew, who would have thought 4 
tires would go bad on one trip?

Anyway I e-mail the cousin and ask how long the tires have been 
sitting - he replies about 5 years.  Doh!  Would have been cheaper to 
buy the extra set of tires and wheels he offered me at the house than 
it ended up being with the hotel, and 2 tires I had to buy that I 
ended up not being able to use, not even as a spare (wouldn't fit in 
the space in the trunk.)

My return trip to pick up the MB was uneventful.

George Selby