Thread: Help with alloys and lowering

Hi there i have a 2.0 tdi sport a3, 2004 2 door and basically want to get rid of the 17" sport rims, I have purchased a set of genuine titanium 7 spoke rs4 alloys, they are 18" by 7.5j et54. What I want to ask is will these fit straight on or do i need plastic clips for back of rim mount and will my factory bolts do the job or will i need new ones. Also once I have these on I think I will need to lower the car and have been advised to drop the car by 35mm with H&R springs on the standard sports shocks is this okay. Thankyou for any help

Lowering it that much should be ok on those shocks. every car is different though so the only way you will really tell is after youve done it.

Not to sure about the alloys fitting straight on but i think they should, anytime ive got OEM wheels they have fitted straight on, oly needed the plastic clips when putting aftermarket wheels onto the car

Dazz

How many miles has your current suspension covered?

Wheels sound like they should be a straight swap.

Damian @ DPM Performance

Right lads the car has just covered a 100,000 miles. Dropping it by 35mm will I still be alright with 3 passengers in the back? the rims are getting put on today got set of 4 new falken 225/40/18 for £320 fitted

The wheels and tyres are fine, they are OEM size/offset/width. They'll go straight on, no probs.

Lowering by 35mm you will probably get some rubbing at the rear with three passengers in the back. Not always, but when going over bumps etc you will. You'll be able to stop this by removing the screw in the rear arch (its located at the top of the arch where the bumper attaches).

The front will be fine with no rubbing at all.

Your shocks wil handle the drop fine, there will be no bottoming out. And if they are in decent condition they will also be fine for the time being, but you might spring a leak in the future.

Are the h&r springs a good choice? Not a hard driver just want a nice looking stance on the 18's will put up pic when done if I can figure how to attach to a post, been quoted around £150 plus for 35mm h&r springs unless you guys no anywhere cheaper. Thanks for the help

H&R are fine. They will be firmer than your standard springs though.
£150ish sounds about right for H&Rs, but drop Damian a PM (member name DPM - posted above) and see if he can do anything better for you.

hey Ads, how are your shocks faring up?

if i remember correctly when you had new springs fitted you thought they may only have a few months left in the shocks.

sorry to hijack a thread, but i was looking at a 30-35mm drop too but I'm on SE suspension. would anyone happen to know if Sport and SE have the same shocks? i know there is a 15mm height difference but assumed it was all down to springs.

Originally Posted by plezz

hey Ads, how are your shocks faring up?

if i remember correctly when you had new springs fitted you thought they may only have a few months left in the shocks.

sorry to hijack a thread, but i was looking at a 30-35mm drop too but I'm on SE suspension. would anyone happen to know if Sport and SE have the same shocks? i know there is a 15mm height difference but assumed it was all down to springs.

Yeah my shocks are doing fine.... apart from a slightly leaky one at the rear!
Spoke to the mechanic who noticed it and although he can't be sure he said it probably wasn't down to the lowering as its only that one and i'd only done a few hundred mile.
Interestingly he went on to say that as long as the shocks aren't bottoming out then they will be fine as they are designed to use the entire piston length, so lowering will not have a negative affect on them or their lifespan.
He's was a VAG master tech of about 20 years so maybe he knows what he's talking about.

SE and Sport shocks are different. The Sport ones are shorter/uprated so you may find that your SE ones bottom out when lowered, or will do if/when the springs compress by quite a bit during driving.
Might be worthwhile picking up some used sport/s-line shocks and having them fitted at the same time as the -30mm springs.

lol dammit! i thought it was the Se and sport that were the same and Sline were different, not sport and s line the same and SE different. was hoping to lower with as few components as possible. cheers Ads.

With 100,000 miles you'll need new dampers as well.

Damian @ DPM Performance

The wheels look sweet just needs the 35mm drop. Thanks to Damian who is sending out a set of h&r springs, should be here on Monday