[V8] Inspections and failures: I feel your pain!

[Roger Woodbury]

I just had the brakes done on my V8. ALL the friggin' brakes, including UFO
rotors and pads.  There was no difficulty getting UFO's, at least at this
point.  The UFO rotors were $280 each, but through the dealer they would
have been "Roll the V8 off a Cliff and start walking" dollars.

 

I did  LOT of research into alternatives, and found some.  There is a place
in California that is/was developing/developed a replacement kit for UFO's.
About $1600 for the pieces as I recall, and a direct fitment.  Not a real
good option, I didn't think at the time.  

 

Doing the brakes on the 200 Avant will be expensive no matter how you go
about it.  It was an expensive project for my V8. 

 

The only thing that I have been told by the local dealer that is not
available, is rebuilding kits for the UFO calipers..available through Audi
USA anyway.  

 

The exhaust for your 200 Avant won't be easy no matter what you do.  Unless
you have some local chap who can fabricate something, a complete system from
the Dealer will be VERY expensive, and even a Stebro (if they haven't failed
yet, or worse still a disgruntled buyer hasn't bombed the plant out of anger
and frustration), the system will  blow past a grand at least.  Mine was
less than a grand because the guy quoted me $990 in a weak moment on the
telephone.  I suspect looking up the description of the car was too much
work at that particular point.  He tried to jack up the price later, and
ended up getting my mechanic in his face on the phone, which shook him up so
much he shipped an exhaust system (complete) for an Audi 90.  I have NO idea
why they even had one of those.  Anyway three weeks later my  Stebro
arrived, and it got jammed into place and worked great for as long as I had
the Avant.

 

Painful experience these inspections and the constant search for the ever
more elusive bits and pieces that keep these cars going.

 

Roger