[V8] Wheels...dammit!

[Roger M. Woodbury]

Well, the wheels on my wife's 100CS Avant Quattro are breaking down.
Apparently the OEM wheels don't fare terribly well in driving environments
where road salt and ice melt combines with salty sea air, and the wheels
aside from looking horrible, are now starting to disintegrate.

The symptoms appeared a year ago when one tire kept going soft.  The
mechanic dismounted the tire, and found that the wheel was leaking through
the center of the rim itself.  Some handy-dandy epoxy patch stuff and voila!
Back on the road again.

But now, a year later the wheel is leaking, and by the looks of all of them,
it is really time to do one of three things.  In no particular order here is
the list as I have it figured now:

	1.  Buy four new wheels.  Since the car will need tires in the fall
anyway, the logical choice seems to be a wheel tire package from Tire Rack.
Price is surprisingly good, buying German-made wheels and Continental tires,
the package delivered here is under $800.

	2.  Buy four steel wheels and winter tires, assuming that the
problematic wheel doesn't really start to leak.  I don't want to hear the
shrieks of my wife when she runs out in the morning to find a flat tire on a
wheel that we KNEW was starting to break down....As a side not, we have
NEVER used, nor felt the need for winter tires on a Quattro, and I do NOT
want to have to manage two sets of wheels and tires for any vehicle ever
again:  been there, done THAT, and ain't really interested in doing it
again.

	3.  Buy a set of four OEM wheels that are used.  They seem to be
available, but the price is about the same as the Borbet wheels from Tire
Rack.  The tires on the car now, once dismounted, should not be remounted so
I am looking at buying tires anyway.

	4.  Buy ONE used wheel to match the others.  Well, not really an
option.  The car has less than 110,000 miles, runs like a top, and my wife
LOVES it.  There is no reason that I can think of why this car won't be
around for another 100,000 miles, so one wheel might be cheap, but
eventually we will want the car to continue to look good, so the other three
will have to be replaced as well.

	5.  Buy a NEW, OEM wheel.  Uh, I don't even want to think what Audi
would charge for one of these.  The wheels on the car are the 1994 version,
five spoke Audi wheels.  They are probably three hundred bucks a piece at
the sign of the four rings....

	6.  I have also thought about putting the car up on stands and
sending the OEM wheels out to be rebuilt.  I have no idea what it would cost
to do that, but I might do it eventually, anyway.  But tying the car up now
is not an option.

Thoughts?  Anyone replaced wheels?  

Oh, yes.  Box Stock is mandatory.

Roger