Picked up my new s3 8p yesterday from dealers but few issues..

[Rs3Dude]

Hi guys, so I picked up my S3 8P from the dealers yesterday it's an absolute tool but it has some 'teething issues'. Here she is: http://www.mpowercars.co.uk/vehicle/audi-s3-black-edition-sportback-s-tronic-2010/

Prior to sale communication has been good.. However..

It seems like the wheels doesn't have secure locking nuts so anyone could turn up and take the wheels off with minimal hassle. There's no locking nut key in the boot, phoned dealers to chase them up on this yesterday evening, didn't get back to me, there wasn't many about on site and it's a family run business so, I'll give them the benefit of doubt but I expect a response by today the latest without me phoning. If they've misplaced it then they'll have to sort that out from their own pockets.. Surely?

Miliage online it was advertised at 29000 miles, when I picked it up and drove it back home I noticed it showed as having 30700 miles on the clock, surely this isn't acceptable? I guess it will be hard reclaiming any money back from them about this issue. seeing as they have already got their money..

Now I've got it, I have 3 months warranty but there warranty is in house so any issues I'd have to bring the car all the way back up to them. I'm going to bring the car to a specialist garage for a health check is there anything I should tell them to look out for/check? I was thinking critical components such as haldex system, engine and so on..

The tracking, going over 80 mph on the motorway the steering was vibrating so it seems tracking is a bit off as it was ever so slightly pulling to the left, when I let go of the steering wheel.. I'll get the tracking looked at, can I expect them to cover the cost of this and surely it would be unreasonable for them to expect me to bring back the car to carry out such work?

The RNSE nav system, I've connected my phone to the system, you can make out going calls using my phone, however using the steering wheel controls to make outgoing calls it doesn't work and I can't play music off my phone from the likes of YouTube so it seems like I'd need to buy an external Bluetooth setup (ad2p) to get things working as it should? Glove compartment has the ami cable but it's for the old iPhone setup and won't fit phones like the iPhone 6.

Apart from this, everything is fine.

Many thanks.

 

[LEE69]

It seems like the wheels doesn't have secure locking nuts so anyone could turn up and take the wheels off with minimal hassle. There's no locking nut key in the boot, phoned dealers to chase them up on this yesterday evening, didn't get back to me, there wasn't many about on site and it's a family run business so, I'll give them the benefit of doubt but I expect a response by today the latest without me phoning. If they've misplaced it then they'll have to sort that out from their own pockets.. Surely?

If it hasn't got lockers it won't have a key to unlock them will it?
Just buy a set for it, unless it was advertised has having locking wheel nuts.

 

[Moxy89]

You pay out right for it

 

[Rs3Dude]

They could of missed placed it and not have put it in the car?

Does these look like locking wheel nuts or no? If not how would I go about purchasing some as they are aftermarket wheels and to be totally honest im not really clued up.

Yes Moxy I purchased the car on finance, 50/50

 

[Moxy89]

How long was the car up for sale also they will put 29000 even if it 29899. Not something to over worry about bud, think of test drive, mot testing etc

 

[downtothebone]

How long was the car up for sale also they will put 29000 even if it 29899. Not something to over worry about bud, think of test drive, mot testing etc

Really? According to the OP the car has had an 'extra' 1700 miles from advert to collection - that's a long test drive.

 

[downtothebone]

Big brake kits can sometimes cause an imbalance across the axle. Are there spacers as well?

 

[Moxy89]

Really? According to the OP the car has had an 'extra' 1700 miles from advert to collection - that's a long test drive.

What I meant was most garages round the figure down to the nearest thousand, it could have been 29990 and yes 800 miles is still a lot however if it been for sale for 6 months l, after a few test drives and workers potentially taking it home then miles can add up! But I would be asking the question but unless you have the exact miles when you purchased the car it will be hard to complain

 

[Kurt]

From looking at your pic you don't have locking nuts

 

[Rs3Dude]

Big brake kits can sometimes cause an imbalance across the axle. Are there spacers as well?

Yes I believe there are spacers on the car all round.

I didn't ask for an exact Miliage all I know was that it was advertised on their page as 29000 miles and there was a previous owner who owned the car for a week or so and seen an m3/4 there and traded it back in for that - whether that's true or not, is another story..

Many thanks for the responses so in regards to locking nuts, what kind of locking nuts do I need to purchase, as I assume not every single one on the market will be compatible with the type of wheels I've got.

Cheers.

 

[SootySport]

Just buy Audi OE or McGuard locking nut set, A3/S3 version, most Audi's will have the same threads, check with the retailer for fit. Make sure you record the serial no. of the nuts and WRITE it down in the service book and somewhere in the car.
The vibrating and tracking problem maybe the wheels or tyres if the tyres are well worn or cheap brand tyres, also a rim could be buckled/damaged Swapping the front wheels for the rears may help rule this out, otherwise a good tyre dealer can check and adjust alignment/balancing.

 

[Bainie]

Check the spacers are hub-centric as well , could cause vibration if they are not ? To be honest sounds a bit dodgy to me, someone had the car a week and went back with it , that would ring a few alarm bells for me. Looks like a stunner though !

 

[Dannymoto]

Check the spacers are hub-centric as well , could cause vibration if they are not ? To be honest sounds a bit dodgy to me, someone had the car a week and went back with it , that would ring a few alarm bells for me. Looks like a stunner though !

+1
Would definitely check if hub-centric or not. Although I've had them before and no issues with vibration.

Another thing I would suggest doing is checking the car with the MOT History checker and making sure everything adds up as it should.

 

[c_w]

Even with hubcentric you can still get vibration especially at the front. If it's on spacers it will have longer wheelbolts, hence why it doesn't have a locking wheelnut as longer locking nuts aren't that cheap and more of a faff for the owner than anything IMO.

I can't see why the dealer should buy a set of lockers for it. It has the right amount of wheelbolts holding the wheels on

You can buy standard length wheelbolts off ebay quite cheap, so I'd ditch the spacers and run on standard bolts (don't be tempted to use the longer bolts as they can interfere with the abs ring/bind your hub). Then you can assess if the wheels are .

But because it is vibrating at 80mph and you only just bought it, you could ask the dealer to look at this and do some of the leg work [who might be worth suggesting to ask to remove the spacers and put them in the boot and source shorter bolts].

 

[Bainie]

It failed its mot on modified front stub axle , and has had a couple of tyre walls in advisories as well , maybe needs a proper laser align done too ?

 

[Rs3Dude]

Thanks again for the replies.

In fact I remember the dealer fitting the wheels on themselves recently as they said the other wheels on the car looked a bit naff so put those on instead. So Im guessing so this is the issue with the vibration at 80, I'll get it tracked.

The miles appears correct, I believe they had it in their ownership for a few months, last mot was May last year at 28200 so I'm guessing the ad on their website relates to a sale post of the car they had before and since then, the miles have gone up for various reasons..

In regards the spacers I'll leave them on for now as they bring the wheels out more, giving it a better look.

Tyres must have been recently changes in regards to that mot failure, fresh pilot super sports all round.

I'll get a laser align done and fit some secure longer locking nuts.. For 21k, that should have been included!! Too much hassle dealing with finding out the wheels have been robbed that's a grand out of my pocket so that's on a list to do ASAP.

Thanks for all the help once again.

 

[downtothebone]

I'd bet the spacers are on to get the wheels over the VWR brake kit which is kinda ... err ... big. In which case you can't ditch the bolts or the spacers unless you get different wheels with better clearance.

 

[luke_m87]

Michelin Super Sport tyres shouldn't be giving any problems unless worn unevenly, I would find out if those wheels are genuine Audi wheels if not then they may be imbalanced. On a motorway you will always find a car tends to follow the camber of the road surface or get caught in tram lines so unless it was really pulling to the left hard and does still when not on a motorway I wouldn't think the tracking would be interfering that much.
The advert says Awesome GTI know the car well could you give them a call to see if they can give you an idea of what the car has had done work wise.
I think as mentioned unless it was missing wheel nuts, it's down to you to get some on there. Make sure you get some that are the correct length if you have spacers on the car.
29000 miles to 30700 is a big jump, but if this was advertised brought and re-advertised they may not have updated the mileage...to be honest the second someone told me that I would be returning the car and walk away.
I brought the other half a car recently and am having the same in house warranty issue, unfortunately it's a case of either returning the car or agreeing before purchasing that if there is an issue they will cover costs for repairs. This is still within reason, when you buy a second hand car with a 3 month warranty read the small print it only covers like £200 of costs usually unless you upgrade it.
A good garage should be able to check the car over, but even then if theres not an obvious problem it may not be picked up. So long as the car has a good history and has been well maintained then I'm sure everything will be fine. Get the garage to get it 4 wheel aligned and check the wheels are all balanced up to have peace of mind.

 

[Rs3Dude]

I'd bet the spacers are on to get the wheels over the VWR brake kit which is kinda ... err ... big. In which case you can't ditch the bolts or the spacers unless you get different wheels with better clearance.

Ahhh don't say that!! No way will I leave those nuts on, don't want to risk it getting
knicked.. Worse case senario if I can't get a set that will fit, can I get some made up?

Swapping wheels at this moment of time is a big no no, other financial commitments in place and I paid a lot for it so don't want to be splashing out on it unless needed (maintained regardless of cost of course!)

 

[Bainie]

You can get longer locking nuts thats no problem . Is it not an AA warranty , if so you should be able to go to any Vat registered garage, most warranties offer this, I have autocare warranty on mine, and my mini had another which both allowed this .

 

[-Ju-]

Did the previous owner not get back to you then?
Regards the wheel bolts, just be aware if the wheels are reps, you will need tapered bolts and not oem radius ones!

 

[Rs3Dude]

Michelin Super Sport tyres shouldn't be giving any problems unless worn unevenly, I would find out if those wheels are genuine Audi wheels if not then they may be imbalanced. On a motorway you will always find a car tends to follow the camber of the road surface or get caught in tram lines so unless it was really pulling to the left hard and does still when not on a motorway I wouldn't think the tracking would be interfering that much.
The advert says Awesome GTI know the car well could you give them a call to see if they can give you an idea of what the car has had done work wise.
I think as mentioned unless it was missing wheel nuts, it's down to you to get some on there. Make sure you get some that are the correct length if you have spacers on the car.
29000 miles to 30700 is a big jump, but if this was advertised brought and re-advertised they may not have updated the mileage...to be honest the second someone told me that I would be returning the car and walk away.
I brought the other half a car recently and am having the same in house warranty issue, unfortunately it's a case of either returning the car or agreeing before purchasing that if there is an issue they will cover costs for repairs. This is still within reason, when you buy a second hand car with a 3 month warranty read the small print it only covers like £200 of costs usually unless you upgrade it.
A good garage should be able to check the car over, but even then if theres not an obvious problem it may not be picked up. So long as the car has a good history and has been well maintained then I'm sure everything will be fine. Get the garage to get it 4 wheel aligned and check the wheels are all balanced up to have peace of mind.

Thanks a lot for the response. Maybe it was true the previous owner (who didn't didnt even had it for long) did fell in love with a m3/m4 they had for sale and decided to trade it back in. They said he was a lawyer down in London and earned a 6 figure salary.. Again whether that is true or not.. I don't know the full story but would you even look at another car having just bought one? How does that work logically??? I will give them a call in regards to this.. I agree with you on the point to a certain extent in regards to if knowing someone had bought a car and then sold it, you'd walk away but perhaps he didn't fall in love with it when he actually had the car in his ownership? Maybe as a lawyer he felt it didn't fit his profile/car did nothing for him..

Luckily I paid some deposit on a credit card, I will go to a specialist I know and get a full health check done. I believe the car is fine but you just never know and with the above situation with the owner it's best to be on the safe side..

I did phone awesome gti before I purchased it and they said they don't go by Reg numbers when getting history off a car that's been serviced by them (wtf) they go by name.. I'm popping by Manchester next week so I'll stop off and speak to someone face to face who surely knows the deal with it.

I didn't sign any small print with them that I can remember, just the v5 docs. I'll be stinking up the place if I find out there's work that needs doing and they won't do it or will cover a certain amount anyway.

Yeah I will do. Getting it checked over for alignment tomorrow. Thanks again.

 

[Rs3Dude]

You can get longer locking nuts thats no problem . Is it not an AA warranty , if so you should be able to go to any Vat registered garage, most warranties offer this, I have autocare warranty on mine, and my mini had another which both allowed this .

Cool. No it's deffo in house warranty as it says that on their site and they have a workshop in there that they use to carry out repairs.

Did the previous owner not get back to you then?
Regards the wheel bolts, just be aware if the wheels are reps, you will need tapered bolts and not oem radius ones!

Nah I sent him multiple texts and he didn't get back to me LOL. Maybe he doesn't know how to text?!

Cheers mate, sorry yes I forgot the wheels are rs4 replicas so I'll look into getting tapered bolts. Just a quick question, any ideas where I can purchase some from and are they secure? Thanks

 

[Bainie]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/M14X1-5-4...294906?hash=item2807e75cba:g:alwAAOxygj5SjmYO


They advertise AA Warranty on there site though , so should be able to go elsewhere ...

 

[-Ju-]

Aren't most replicas et45, if so do you know what size the spacers are as you can't get away with much less than et45 rims on an A3.
As for bolts, I got some from eBay.

 

[Rs3Dude]

They advertise AA Warranty on there site though , so should be able to go elsewhere ...

On the site:

When you buy a vehicle from M power cars the car will come with our statuary 3 month / 3000 mile comprehensive warranty under written by Sutherland cars.

Our warranties cover extremely comprehensive and are extendable for up to 3 years (*age and mileage depending )

The Sutherland Cars warranty is in-house, back to base, with our own technicians, out of our own pocket. No third party underwriting.

All vehicles must be delivered back to our workshop at the cost of the customer ( unless the car has become un-driveable with two weeks of sale

Guess the AA warranty logo on the site it just something that shows that they offer it, just like the visa/MasterCard logos. It was something I mentioned to them anyway, I would have to bring the car back to them for any warranty work.

Aren't most replicas et45, if so do you know what size the spacers are as you can't get away with much less than et45 rims on an A3.
As for bolts, I got some from eBay.

Et45, spacers, most things technical when it comes cars.. I just I don't understand the language!

All I know is that the wheels aren't going to be changed anytime soon and once i get the tampered bolts I can put my mind at ease, AND sleep at night without fear of waking up to find the wheels have been knicked!!

They based in Birmingham but business based something else, I've fired off an email asking if I can collect as Birmingham is where I am!

 

[S3Alex]

Steering geometry is a well known issue with a lot of Quattros across several different types.

My old A3 3.2 was way out shortly after I got it,and chewed the inside off a set of tyres,my A4 3.0TDi wasn't much better,and the current S3 needs setting up at least once a year.

 

[-Ju-]

On the site:



Guess the AA warranty logo on the site it just something that shows that they offer it, just like the visa/MasterCard logos. It was something I mentioned to them anyway, I would have to bring the car back to them for any warranty work.



Et45, spacers, most things technical when it comes cars.. I just I don't understand the language!

OK so genuine A3 rims are ET54, the lower the ET, the nearer the arch the wheel will sit. Adding spacers to that will in effect lower the ET even further. You don't really want to go much lower than ET45 to be safe
Maybe not a problem if on standard suspension, but lowered or fully laden you can have catching issues.

 

[Rs3Dude]

OK so genuine A3 rims are ET54, the lower the ET, the nearer the arch the wheel will sit. Adding spacers to that will in effect lower the ET even further. You don't really want to go much lower than ET45 to be safe
Maybe not a problem if on standard suspension, but lowered or fully laden you can have catching issues.

They maybe et45, I wouldn't have a scooby do. I need to get the car on the ramp tbh, they couldn't give me a straight answer on the suspension side of things, in terms of modifications if any. All I know of is the H&R f+r sway bars.

Hopefully it's no lower than ET45 as you say for safety issues, I wouldn't lower it anyway as it looks good as it is. In regards to fully laden, I can't think of a time when I'll be carrying a heavy load anyway, never done so before, I may have car full of passengers but that's a rarity in itself too.

 

[Bainie]

The bolts in the link are 45mm , you might need slightly shorter depending on the size of the spacers .

 

[millsy4002]

I have 10mm front and 12mm back spacers and getting 2 of each length locking wheels bolts is a pain so cheapest thing is cover them up with caps

I know this won't stop them getting nicked but honestly does that still happen nowadays

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[s5joe]

If your unhappy with the car ring the finance company up and they will talk to the garage and get to sorted for you as the wheel bolts should be there as there is 5 for a reson and as for the vibration get a quote first and than approach the garage and the finance company

 

[SootySport]

I'm constantly loosing the locking socket key for my wheels, ends up me paying £40 to have them removed at a dealer. Next time it happens I won't be using locking wheelbolts.

 

[Egbert]

The RNSE nav system, I've connected my phone to the system, you can make out going calls using my phone, however using the steering wheel controls to make outgoing calls it doesn't work and I can't play music off my phone from the likes of YouTube so it seems like I'd need to buy an external Bluetooth setup (ad2p) to get things working as it should? Glove compartment has the ami cable but it's for the old iPhone setup and won't fit phones like the iPhone 6.

I've just purchased a Viseeo Tune2Air WMA3000 for my Audi after I retrofitted an AMI. My phone now has two bluetooth connections one to the Audi Bluetooth for calls and phone book sync. The other to the ViseeO for audio streaming. Steering wheel functions work and info displayed on RNSE. Found the best price on Amazon Prime with next day delivery.

 

[Rs3Dude]

Many thanks for the responses once again, I've been away for the past week on urgent business so haven't had the chance to get a few things sorted..

Anyway I've went to check the tyres pressure and the psi reading upon checking was at 43 psi??? Is that at the right pressure?! Pointless referring to the Audi handbook seeing as it's on 19inch non genuine Audi spec wheels. The tyres seems to be slightly stretched on the rs4 rep 19 inch wheels, would that indicate why the wheels psi is that high?! Surely at that level, tyre wear would be uneven?! I would of thought the correct level would be at 32-33 but I didn't want to bring it to that level without knowing for certain if that's the right level..

There is nothing MAJORLY wrong with the car but God, just the little teething issues such as tracking, possible worn drop links and the locking nuts but I'm starting to think maybe I shouldn't of gone ahead with the damn car in the first place!!

I've booked the car in for a full inspection at a specialist on Monday, whole car will be checked, suspension, engine, the full works to make sure everything is running as it should.

 

[Moxy89]

No second hand car is perfect pal! It looks a well modded example so I wouldn't worry to much bud

 

[Rs3Dude]

No second hand car is perfect pal! It looks a well modded example so I wouldn't worry to much bud

I know buddy! It's just I haven't managed to really enjoy it yet because of time and these small issues. Had I bought the car from a main Audi dealer it would of been so much easier in regards to sorting out these little issues as I wouldn't have to go to a ****** specialist paying for the check over, out of my pocket and consulting with the trading company who I bought the car from in regards to carrying out the warranty work.

What keeps me happy though is that it's a head turner, people love it!!

 

[Moxy89]

Totally agree bud, but then the car would of been a few grand more from a main Audi dealer! I haven't had any issues with mine yet but I know my dealer warranty isn't worth the paper it's on

 

[-Ju-]

The tyre pressures are about right, if you look on the sticker on the door it'll confirm it, I was surprised myself.
As for the wheels, I'm sorry bud but I think they spoil what is a lovely car. They are clearly not right imo. Standard width is 7.5" with 225 tyres, I have BBS 19's which are 8" with 225's. I'm not sure what your offset is but it looks a little low and the width of the rims is wrong for the tyres. They do look to stick out from the car.
You dId pay top doller from a non main dealer, but then a main dealer shouldn't sell a modified car anyway.
As for main dealer warranty, can't praise it enough over the 4 Audi cars I've bought. My current car had a new gearbox costing over £6k. It had a very slight whirring noise from 2nd to 3rd so they changed the whole gearbox

 

[Moxy89]

Yeah agree Audi warranty is epic! However a normal garage do what ever they can not to pay out!! Was yours Dsg failure or manual ? One thing that scares me with these cars is the boxes