200/V8 UFO Brakes

[Douglas Glanz <dglanz@yahoo.com>]

Hi Greg:

I have a similar dilemma on the UFOs.  I have a '90 V8Q with 129K, and
it still has the UFOs on it.  From what I can see from the records,
which are very complete, the current rotors were installed at
30K...still no shimmy!!  The previous owner (and I) put almost all
highway miles on this car.

Well, here is the meat of my reponse.  I too have thought about
converting my car, but have problems dumping that much money into a
car that I bought for $9000.  I have done some research into parts. 
The rotors are around $290 (and going down) from Shokan
(1-800-ALL-AUDI).  And the pads are down to $89 for REMZAs from
BLAUfergnugen in Manitowoc, WI.  Their number is 920-758-3232.  So,
when a brake job costs $700 if you do it yourself, it's hard to
justify $2500 to modify the car.  By the way, BLAUfergnugen is a great
source for all other quattro parts.  Their web page is at
http://www.audiquattroparts.com.

Good luck with your car!

Douglas P. Glanz

'90 V8 quattro, 129K
'87 Alfa Milano, 67K
'83 Alfa Spider Veloce, 108K

Date: Sun, 1 Mar 1998 11:52:53 -0500 
From: Greg Amy <grega@pobox.com>
Subject: '91 200 UFOs, et al

I've recently purchased a 1991 200q sedan, and I really like this car. A
lot. However, lust as with others on this list, I want to improve upon
it.

Given unlimited funds, time, and motivation, I'd like to dampen out the
body
leans with a better suspension and improve on the UFO brakes. However, I
find myself in an ugly "Catch-22".

My current UFO setup is not working too bad: I get a little shimmy
occasionally, but if I heat them up good and let them cool slowly, they
straighten out for a while. After that, if I treat them nice and easy
and
don't pretend to be Nigel Mansell they last that way. Not a problem. The
previous owner replaced the brake rotors not more than 20K miles ago.

However, my dash-mounted brake wear warning came on yesterday and woke
me up
to the fact that I can't keep my head in the sand for too much longer.
How
far should I go to repairing these brakes?

Most of the aftermarket brakes packages start at $2000, with
approximately
$500 in used parts needed to convert the front end. I'm finding that in
order to replace the UFOs with a better braking package, I have to
replace
the front strut housings and the front driveshafts.

OK, so while I have the front suspension apart, why not go ahead and
replace
the springs and strut inserts to cure The Leans? My preference would be
the
Eibach/Bilstein combo about which many have raved. Ok, let's see. About
$350
for the springs, and about $450 for the shocks.

And, of course, as long as I'm spending money on the brakes I should
buy the
bigger ones. Oops. As much as I DO like the factory BBS wheels on this
car,
15" just isn't gonna cut it for the bigger brakes. 17" is just too big
for
New England streets, so let's go with a set of 16" wheels. Oh, and of
course
a new set of tires to go with it. I'd REALLY like to put a set of BBS
RCs on
it, but I'd have to go more budget. A roundabout guess of $1500 for a
decent
set of 16" wheels and tires?

Add it all up and it looks like I just spent almost $5000 for a brake
warning lamp! That's a lot of beer... No, I'll have to do this more
budget-minded.

My first option is to see simply what kind of replacement brake pads I
could
put in this car. The factory ones are certainly a viable option, but
previous owner's receipts show the pad set at about $200 for the front
from
the dealer. Ouch. Even more scary is the prices on the front rotors:
$300
EACH! Could this be true? Any other sources for reasonably-priced UFO
replacement brake parts?

My second option is to take up an offer from another friend and buy all
the
front brake parts he took off from his 1996 S6 at 15K miles. For $1000
he'll
sell me the front brakes complete including a new unused set of Pagid
pads,
all four springs, and all four shocks/inserts. I'll have to acquire the
two
front driveshafts and two lower strut housings, I'm guessing $500 more?
For
$1500 I'll have 1996 S6 brakes and suspension. Another good plus on this
option is that I can do part of the way to the $5K upgrades without
having
to shell it out all at once. Unfortunately, I've heard that the braking
performance would be less than what I have now. Anyone else care to
offer
any insights as to pros/cons on this option and the plus/minuses of the
performance of the brakes and suspension on my '91 200q?

And the third, and most expensive option, is to go with the complete
changeover package as described at the beginning of this note. Well,
frankly
that's just too much money right now. $5K will buy me a 1987 5kcst, or
a lot
of upgrades on "My Other Toy The Airplane." This option is pretty much
out
of the question.

Here's where I stand, and I'd like to get any relevant thoughts and
experiences from other Q-listers.

Greg Amy
Milford, CT




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