Recent content by Chris Paine

My mechanic has just told me the same thing as it goes! After having a look on Autodoc, I'm really curious as to what spec springs to buy for the rear? What length etc.

Thanks for the help everyone. I'd already had a look on autodoc and yeah they're a lot cheaper than euros who are only half a mile away from me. Re the MOT tester, he's actually the same guy I use as my mechanic. All fully qualified and very experienced. I'll get him to have another look over...

OK so I took my B8 S4 Avant into the dealers for an oil change service today. It flew through its MOT just before lockdown and has hardly been used since. The vehicle health check/inspection they gave me says a broken rear spring (I saw evidence of this so totally true). Worn bushes on the...

Nice car. Got a powerflow exhaust on mine and it's not that bad aside from around 2k revs but it doesn't often sit at that so not a huge problem.

Thanks for the kind offer. I have ordered one off ebay which I'm not sure will fit but will try that first. Gives me something to do over the weekend.

Thanks for the help everyone. I messaged the ebay person about those but had no reply as yet. The twist n fix ones are a lot of dough (£30) for a couple of 3d printed bits of plastic!

So I picked up my S4 avant just over a week ago and the previous owner, or the one before him, had fitted a replacement grille and moved the no. plate to the right hand side, now stuck on as a vinyl. The grille is a definite upgrade and I really like the improvement, except I'd prefer the no...

Picked this up just over a week ago and loving it so far. S4 with MRC Stage 2 plus CTS intake and powerflow stainless cat-back system. Sounds and goes very well indeed. Just need to work out how to get the number plate back in the middle of the replacement grille as it being on the right hand...

No in the end I bought another car, shown in the avatar. Very glad I did too as this was so much better than the other one.

The giving it a miss option is growing on me sadly. Price is a fiver under £10k. It's got 121k on the clock, 5 previous owners. Drives well and looks to be in reasonable condition, with the exception of that noise from the engine. It's stage 2 tuned by MRC - 3 years ago. I'm wondering if it's...

The car in question is an '09 model so I was aware that they're more prone to issues. Hence my growing caution. Can you take out a warranty to cover for such things? I image it would be pretty spendy if you could.

Forgot to ask earlier, what's the rough cost of an upper tensioner replacement? It may be that I have to factor this into the final agreed price on the car. I know it's a major job but I forgot to get a rough figure from my local indy specialist earlier.

Many thanks for your help, it's genuinely much appreciated. The current owner of the car seems a very respectable guy so I doubt he's trying to stitch me up here. However I want to be very sure I'm not walking into big bills very soon into ownership. Annoyingly the whole gearbox was taken out...

Just showed the video to a mechanic friend of mine and he says "no way is that an exhaust heat shield". He reckons maybe a worn follower. Also I found in my pictures on my phone that I DID take a photo of the last service receipt and it was 5w30 oil used. Anyone got any further thoughts? Thanks

Thanks for the swift reply. The current owner is away on holiday at the moment but the car was serviced recently, like a couple of months ago. I don't have access to the invoice copy he has so can't recall what grade oil was used. I'm pretty sure it was just a standard oil service though...