Upgrading 16" alloys to 18" advice

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Michael O'Connor

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I found some great condition Ronal 5-spoke OEM alloys, 18", 7.5J for a really good price, from an A3 similar age to mine. I think the offset is ET43. I think they're known as 'fat fives'... They're the 5 spoke ones that came on lots of 2007 A3s anyway

Now I'd prefer to go 17" as my car was I guess 'specced' for 16s, however you can't get these in 17", and I love the look of them on A3s. They still look pretty normal and very OEM, suit that model of A3 great I think. Every time I see one with these alloys I can't take my eyes off it. If they don't work great on the car I would sell them on. I have a couple questions if anyone could help...

- What sort of width/ profile tyres would/ could I go for? I'd like a something with a fairly low profile, my current alloys have pretty high profile tyres on them and while they provide a good ride (not much to compare it with though), I'm not so keen on really high profile tires in terms of looks. I want to retain some ride quality, something in the middle. I don't know a lot about this so excuse the noob-ness.

- Aside from getting them balanced, what else would I have to do? Would I need to get my speedometer adjusted? I saw someone say that going up more than about an inch in rim diameter can throw off the accuracy of the speedometer if it's not adjusted?

- How much do insurers usually charge for upgraded OEM alloys? I don't think I'd let this sway me too much, but just to get an idea... I'm with Admiral. I'd probably say the current alloys came very kerbed and these are the only A3 alloys I could find to upgrade to within budget, or something like that. I doubt that would make a difference but I get the impression this sort of thing is pretty dependent on the kind of person you get on the phone that day.

Thanks :)
 
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I went from 16's to 18's on my leon 2yrs ago
Main thing which was needed was lowering as it looked very odd sitting so high with big wheels lol!
Didn't need speedometer adjusted or anything like that.

235/40/18 is the oem tyre for the 18" ronal's as far as im aware

Apart from balancing + tracking, lowering would definitely be no.1 on the list
 
What factory suspension are you on? If it's standard (likely as it came with 16's) then as Omy193 said it's going to look really high and not look good. Also, those 5 spokes are +43 offset which is for A4 so they are going to stick out more. If you lower the car though they should look fine. 18's for A3 take a 225/40R18 tyre.

My A3 is on 17's with sport suspension and I've held back from upgrading to 18's until it's lowered. Maybe going with 17s is the better option if you don't want to lower?
 
Pic of my a3 3.2, had 17's as standard, have put 18" rotors on and is in dire need of lowering now.
You can see the big gap on the front especially:

 
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A3JP said:
What factory suspension are you on? If it's standard (likely as it came with 16's) then as Omy193 said it's going to look really high and not look good. Also, those 5 spokes are +43 offset which is for A4 so they are going to stick out more. If you lower the car though they should look fine. 18's for A3 take a 225/40R18 tyre.

My A3 is on 17's with sport suspension and I've held back from upgrading to 18's until it's lowered. Maybe going with 17s is the better option if you don't want to lower?
Click to expand...
Omy193 said:
I went from 16's to 18's on my leon 2yrs ago
Main thing which was needed was lowering as it looked very odd sitting so high with big wheels lol!
Didn't need speedometer adjusted or anything like that.

235/40/18 is the oem tyre for the 18" ronal's as far as im aware

Apart from balancing + tracking, lowering would definitely be no.1 on the list
Click to expand...

Hey thanks for the reply. I am looking to lower, but have a feeling admiral will rinse me for putting lowering springs on. So I might just get the wheels when I see them on Saturday, if they are in as good nick as the pics make out, then keep them and lower it next year when my premium goes down a bit (hopefully have built up 1 years Ncd by then).

I was wondering if it would look too high with 18s on it haha. So yes, definitely up for lowering just not yet. I was thinking of trying to get some S line springs and using these instead, would this make much of a drop? I heard the s-line springs are -15mm, from looking at my arches I think I'd need more like 25 or 30mm drop :/
 
A3JP said:
What factory suspension are you on? If it's standard (likely as it came with 16's) then as Omy193 said it's going to look really high and not look good. Also, those 5 spokes are +43 offset which is for A4 so they are going to stick out more. If you lower the car though they should look fine. 18's for A3 take a 225/40R18 tyre.

My A3 is on 17's with sport suspension and I've held back from upgrading to 18's until it's lowered. Maybe going with 17s is the better option if you don't want to lower?
Click to expand...

Ha yeah my mistake, the ET43 ones are the A4 wheels and 8J I believe, I think the A3 ones are ET54.

Yes I'm on standard suspension, definitely want to lower it, just maybe not right now as I think the insurers will ramp up my premium
 
Omy193 said:
Pic of my a3 3.2, had 17's as standard, have put 18" rotors on and is in dire need of lowering now.
You can see the big gap on the front especially:

Click to expand...
How come there's such a big gap at the front? They look great but yeah I see what you mean, it looks a bit odd sitting that high up, that's probably what mine would look like too I guess. I'm not completely sold on the standard spec alloys on mine but they look OK when clean, and the higher profile tire at least means the suspension doesn't 'look' that high at the moment. I'm surprised the 3.2 didn't come with lower suspension than that
 
No idea to be honest
Could be something to do with the big 3.2 lump lol

Heres a pic before the conversion, there was a gap then as well but didn't look as obvious as it does now:




Considering which coilovers to go for so will look a lot better once lowered
 
Michael O'Connor said:
Hey thanks for the reply. I am looking to lower, but have a feeling admiral will rinse me for putting lowering springs on. So I might just get the wheels when I see them on Saturday, if they are in as good nick as the pics make out, then keep them and lower it next year when my premium goes down a bit (hopefully have built up 1 years Ncd by then).

I was wondering if it would look too high with 18s on it haha. So yes, definitely up for lowering just not yet. I was thinking of trying to get some S line springs and using these instead, would this make much of a drop? I heard the s-line springs are -15mm, from looking at my arches I think I'd need more like 25 or 30mm drop :/
Click to expand...
I'd just go for 30mm lowering springs
Can get them for under £200 a set

Im looking for atleast a 50mm drop on mine so coilovers are the only way
 
I think sport is 15mm lower than standard and s-Line is 25mm. Lowering springs on stock shocks could be risky though. Better off going for a fixed lowering kit or coilovers. Once I got the funds I'll be going for coilovers. Pic of mine on 17s.
IMG 0131
 
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think it depends on the viewing angle as well? Thought yours looked about the same! Anyway, I like the rs4 wheels and you don't see them much here. 18s are a no go until lowered
IMG 0132
IMG 0130
 
A3JP said:
I think sport is 15mm lower than standard and s-Line is 25mm. Lowering springs on stock shocks could be risky though. Better off going for a fixed lowering kit or coilovers. Once I got the funds I'll be going for coilovers. Pic of mine on 17s.
View attachment 150740
Click to expand...

Lowering springs particularly Eibach are designed to be used with OE dampers and a +1 wheel size even the lower Eibach Sportline with a max of - 40mm lowering on an OE damper depending on starting suspension model , however done on the cheap usually means old dampers that are not leaking but are gone soft combined with the increased unsprung mass of up sizing won't provide a magic carpet ride as the old dampers are under damping both the increased unsprung mass load and slightly increased spring rate .

In most cases if going Eibach from standard or Sport choose OE S-line dampers or Bilstein B8 depending on application or what you require.

Welcome to the Plus sizing = Plus rising phenomenon , quite often the car rises more than the math due to the tyre manufacturers building in extra tyre sidewall profile on ever decreasing low profile tyres .

I went from 205 55 16 to 235 45 17 and it was supposed to be 12mm diameter increase , I placed a 22mm piece of wood and the difference was greater again ! Upsizing both can fill the arch gap in the upper half but below the axle raise the chassis . A desirable and a negative which usually ends up negative which means the center of gravity is raised , this were lowering comes in .

If your worried about insurance on springs by selecting black Eibach Pro and taking the white writing off with cellulose thinners they then could be unmarked OE Suplex replacements because the originals snapped !
 
Gazwould said:
Lowering springs particularly Eibach are designed to be used with OE dampers and a +1 wheel size even the lower Eibach Sportline with a max of - 40mm lowering on an OE damper depending on starting suspension model , however done on the cheap usually means old dampers that are not leaking but are gone soft combined with the increased unsprung mass of up sizing won't provide a magic carpet ride as the old dampers are under damping both the increased unsprung mass load and slightly increased spring rate .

In most cases if going Eibach from standard or Sport choose OE S-line dampers or Bilstein B8 depending on application or what you require.

Welcome to the Plus sizing = Plus rising phenomenon , quite often the car rises more than the math due to the tyre manufacturers building in extra tyre sidewall profile on ever decreasing low profile tyres .

I went from 205 55 16 to 235 45 17 and it was supposed to be 12mm diameter increase , I placed a 22mm piece of wood and the difference was greater again ! Upsizing both can fill the arch gap in the upper half but below the axle raise the chassis . A desirable and a negative which usually ends up negative which means the center of gravity is raised , this were lowering comes in .

If your worried about insurance on springs by selecting black Eibach Pro and taking the white writing off with cellulose thinners they then could be unmarked OE Suplex replacements because the originals snapped !
Click to expand...

Didn't know that about eibach lowering springs and OE shocks. Cheers for the info. Have read so many conflicting opinions it gets confusing! My OE shocks are on about 38k now. Roads here in Japan are super smooth and well-maintained so I imagine they are still in pretty good shape. Just upgrading springs would save me a lot of money!
 
Here is mine lowered 20 with Eibach springs and height looks ok plus it has 225 x40 92y tyres 18"
 

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ch1z64 said:
Here is mine lowered 20 with Eibach springs and height looks ok plus it has 225 x40 92y tyres 18"
Click to expand...

That looks nice man! That's sort of the drop I'm looking for myself. I want it to look fairly OEM, not 'tight' race style looks and not obviously lowered. There's a nice white facelift 8P S-line at work with some gunmetal RS4 style 18" twin spoke/ 7 spoke alloys, which has the perfect amount of drop for me. Or it looks nice from the window upstairs anyway, might be sitting higher when up close. Will try get a picture.

That's on stock shocks right? What's the ride quality like?
 
You shouldn't need to lower the suspension when fitting larger diameter wheels. The diamter of the new wheel/tyre combo needs to match the diameter of the old wheel/tyre combo so that the speedo and other electronics still work correctly.
 
Gazwould said:
Lowering springs particularly Eibach are designed to be used with OE dampers and a +1 wheel size even the lower Eibach Sportline with a max of - 40mm lowering on an OE damper depending on starting suspension model , however done on the cheap usually means old dampers that are not leaking but are gone soft combined with the increased unsprung mass of up sizing won't provide a magic carpet ride as the old dampers are under damping both the increased unsprung mass load and slightly increased spring rate .

In most cases if going Eibach from standard or Sport choose OE S-line dampers or Bilstein B8 depending on application or what you require.

Welcome to the Plus sizing = Plus rising phenomenon , quite often the car rises more than the math due to the tyre manufacturers building in extra tyre sidewall profile on ever decreasing low profile tyres .

I went from 205 55 16 to 235 45 17 and it was supposed to be 12mm diameter increase , I placed a 22mm piece of wood and the difference was greater again ! Upsizing both can fill the arch gap in the upper half but below the axle raise the chassis . A desirable and a negative which usually ends up negative which means the center of gravity is raised , this were lowering comes in .

If your worried about insurance on springs by selecting black Eibach Pro and taking the white writing off with cellulose thinners they then could be unmarked OE Suplex replacements because the originals snapped !
Click to expand...

Thanks for the help! Looks like the black eibach pro -30mm kit is what I'm after.

How do mean suplex replacements? Is that a manufacturer of OE springs/ dampers? And there's no way an insurer would identify them as aftermarket springs once the brand name is removed? Ha, seems like insurance fraud, but also pretty low-risk if the spring had no manufacturer on...

Have googled 8P a3 on the eibach pro kit and came up with this thread. Donny_Dj's A3 is pretty much how I want mine to look! OE dampers, same alloys, same eibach pro kit with the desired drop. The picture is in the middle of the thread:

http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/s-line-suspension.251694/

Thanks for all the help lads!
 
Omy193 said:
RS4 style wheels were a factory fit on the facelift A3 S Line if im correct in saying?

Click to expand...

Yeah I'm pretty sure they were. The guy's one at work is literally the same as that but 3 door and the alloys are gunmetal (or just really grimy :grimacing:, never gotten up close enough to tell haha)
 
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Flowrider99 said:
You shouldn't need to lower the suspension when fitting larger diameter wheels. The diamter of the new wheel/tyre combo needs to match the diameter of the old wheel/tyre combo so that the speedo and other electronics still work correctly.
Click to expand...

Ah right, so technically if the full diameter of my alloys + high profile tyres matches the 18s with low-ish profile tyres, then the speedo would be fine?

I'm just considering lowering as mine has standard suspension and the arch gap is pretty big at the moment. I'm not really that keen on lowering as I'd like to sell the car in about 2 years, but I also don't want it to look tacky/ 'badly modded' or like a hatch on monster truck suspension haha
 
Just be aware that on 18” tyres the ride may well be a lot harsher than on 16” rims due to their very low profile.
I’ve got factory fitted 18” BBS Pescaras with 225/40 18 tyres and the ride is very hard , I recently had a set of 205/55 16 snow tyres fitted during the latest cold snap and it was like driving a different car.
The bigger wheels look fantastic but I have to say the ride is too hard for my liking.
 
Nessy said:
Just be aware that on 18” tyres the ride may well be a lot harsher than on 16” rims due to their very low profile.
I’ve got factory fitted 18” BBS Pescaras with 225/40 18 tyres and the ride is very hard , I recently had a set of 205/55 16 snow tyres fitted during the latest cold snap and it was like driving a different car.
The bigger wheels look fantastic but I have to say the ride is too hard for my liking.
Click to expand...

Hmm OK man, thanks for the advice! I might try and get similar-ish tyres as you get on S-line A3s... From what I've read about Eibach Pro -30mm kits on S-line A3s, the ride quality is actually better than standard. But I guess that is also on S-line dampers, although I've read in quite a few places on here that the dampers/ springs set up on S-lines are not that good and somewhat crashy?

Thanks for all the help guys. So I'm sort of exploring my options here now in terms of which variant of the alloys to get... I could either look into getting the ET54, 7.5J 18s from the A3 I've seen, or the ET43 8J 18s from a few A4s I've seen breaking in yards. I've heard that the A4 ones sit much more flush with the arches on the A3 and are the ones to go for. Can anyone shed some light on this?
 
Michael O'Connor said:
Hmm OK man, thanks for the advice! I might try and get similar-ish tyres as you get on S-line A3s... From what I've read about Eibach Pro -30mm kits on S-line A3s, the ride quality is actually better than standard. But I guess that is also on S-line dampers, although I've read in quite a few places on here that the dampers/ springs set up on S-lines are not that good and somewhat crashy?

Thanks for all the help guys. So I'm sort of exploring my options here now in terms of which variant of the alloys to get... I could either look into getting the ET54, 7.5J 18s from the A3 I've seen, or the ET43 8J 18s from a few A4s I've seen breaking in yards. I've heard that the A4 ones sit much more flush with the arches on the A3 and are the ones to go for. Can anyone shed some light on this?
Click to expand...
Now i can only speak for the S3 and its alloys are ET 54 anf i assume the reason for this is the engine is more compact than the A4 as there is a diffeeence off 10mm between them , so i gather the balance n handling could be changed if A4's alloys are.put on . I have A4 alloys on mine and i don't notice much change but i guess in the technical sense it does
 
Michael O'Connor said:
Hmm OK man, thanks for the advice! I might try and get similar-ish tyres as you get on S-line A3s... From what I've read about Eibach Pro -30mm kits on S-line A3s, the ride quality is actually better than standard. But I guess that is also on S-line dampers, although I've read in quite a few places on here that the dampers/ springs set up on S-lines are not that good and somewhat crashy?

Thanks for all the help guys. So I'm sort of exploring my options here now in terms of which variant of the alloys to get... I could either look into getting the ET54, 7.5J 18s from the A3 I've seen, or the ET43 8J 18s from a few A4s I've seen breaking in yards. I've heard that the A4 ones sit much more flush with the arches on the A3 and are the ones to go for. Can anyone shed some light on this?
Click to expand...

I think if you don't lower and put et43 8J 18s on they might look a bit funny? I've only ever seen pics of et43 on lowered cars, not standard. Would like to see as had considered doing the same but with et43 7.5J 17s from an A4
 
ch1z64 said:
Now i can only speak for the S3 and its alloys are ET 54 anf i assume the reason for this is the engine is more compact than the A4 as there is a diffeeence off 10mm between them , so i gather the balance n handling could be changed if A4's alloys are.put on . I have A4 alloys on mine and i don't notice much change but i guess in the technical sense it does
Click to expand...

Yeah I guess so. Not entirely sure what difference it would make, the A4 variant is 13.2kg, the A3 is 13kg, not much of a difference given the extra half inch in width.
 
A3JP said:
I think if you don't lower and put et43 8J 18s on they might look a bit funny? I've only ever seen pics of et43 on lowered cars, not standard. Would like to see as had considered doing the same but with et43 7.5J 17s from an A4
Click to expand...
I am absolutely planning on lowering it, just will do it when I have more time and can afford to have the car off the road for a day or two, probably in summer when I'm not working. I'm just planning to grab the parts now when I'm at this breakers yard on Saturday, also grabbing a few other bits like a leather centre armrest etc
 
Michael O'Connor said:
Yeah I guess so. Not entirely sure what difference it would make, the A4 variant is 13.2kg, the A3 is 13kg, not much of a difference given the extra half inch in width.
Click to expand...
To be honest with you i wouldn't know either but i guess it would make some sort off difference or Audi would have made the standard A3 alloys et 43 rather than 54 .
 
ch1z64 said:
To be honest with you i wouldn't know either but i guess it would make some sort off difference or Audi would have made the standard A3 alloys et 43 rather than 54 .
Click to expand...

Yeah that's true I guess. I'm just gonna go with the a3 ones, I'd rather they are inside the arches and require spacers later on, than stick out even *slightly* too much and look weird. I saw a picture on here of someone's S line A3 with the A4 alloys and I just thought they looked a bit strange to me, flush but borderline sticking out
 
Thanks for everyone that's replied so far.

I've done a bit of reading on the Eibach Pro Kit on stock standard springs and it seems everyone is pretty happy with the ride and drop. For me it also would achieve the S line look, not obviously lowered but smooth, slightly spotty and still OEM, which is what I'm going for.

Will explore how much it will be with the insurers, probably use the suggested 'springs are on their way out' reason. The springs themselves don't cost a huge amount so I'm hoping they won't add too much to my premium. If it's not too much I'll go with that and get the alloys next year when my premium has dropped a bit of with 1 years NCD (fingers crossed, all good so far).

The A3 sline 5 spokes seem very hard to come by in great condition, so I'm pretty sure I'll have to get some ok-ish ones then get them refurbished. And then obviously tyres and balancing. Could be anywhere from £500-£800 by the end so not the sort of thing I can afford to do all in one go
 
S-Line suspension and stock 18" on a 2009 FL
 

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Quoted £29 plus admin fee for lowering springs up to 50mm by Admiral! Not too bad, gonna get an Eibach Pro Kit next month pay day

I actually think I quite like my alloys as they are even with the high profile tyre, it's just the arch gap I've not been keen on. They'd need spacers to be more flush but I think I'll be ok with the standard alloys until I can get those ronal alloys + refurb and tyres

IMG 0239
 
Michael O'Connor said:
Quoted £29 plus admin fee for lowering springs up to 50mm by Admiral! Not too bad, gonna get an Eibach Pro Kit next month pay day

I actually think I quite like my alloys as they are even with the high profile tyre, it's just the arch gap I've not been keen on. They'd need spacers to be more flush but I think I'll be ok with the standard alloys until I can get those ronal alloys + refurb and tyres

View attachment 151957
Click to expand...

Speak to @DPM
Done me a good price on AP coilovers that have made a world of a difference!
Great customer service and delivered in 2days from Germany!

Before:

12c268622ac3d58e8e6be7a15b9b8b5e.jpg


After:

913c6e881800c0740be814071c90b2b3.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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Cheers man, I might do, will have to see what the insurers will increase the premium by for them first.

I was mainly thinking the Pro Kit as it gets an S-line style ride height, and I also want something relatively cheap but good quality that I can sell on when I sell it in a year or two. Have read some pretty good things about them on here as well.
 
Received the lowering springs on Wednesday. Thank you Damian at DPM! Had them fitted yesterday. Drop is subtle but I'm happy with it. Not sure if they're gonna settle more but I'm glad the giant arch gap is gone at least haha. Might just be a placebo but I'm sure they've settled a little more after I got back from work today...

Would be happy with a little more drop if they settle more, if not I'm satisfied. The ride is so much better too... Seems to just glide through cracks bumps etc, before it was somehow quite hard and crashy but then bouncy on certain roads too. I'm sure the new 18"wheels and 225/ 40 will regress that ride quality a little but yeah, much better.

So from this:
IMG 0239 copy


To this...

IMG 0463 copy


Hopefully the new wheels fill up/ out the arches a little more too. Doesn't look so good in photos, I guess the wheels sitting inside the arches is more noticeable to me now. Can't tell the difference that much but looks much better in person. Tyres ordered so I'm hoping they'll be here by end of next week ready to fit next saturday.

By the way, no one order from Tyre Leader... Great prices but haven't even received an order confirmation since I ordered on Thursday afternoon. Will be contacting the bank if I haven't received them by end of next week,
 
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