What have you done to your Audi A4 B7 today?

Just Rob. said:
Well been out for the annual MOT and it passed again and with no advisories so that's good :yahoo:, glad it's over with for another year really as I never like the thought of a fail and the possible cost of work required.
A quick look at the milages indicate I did 8075 miles in 12 months which is about right for me these days.
Time for a mug of tea and biscuits me thinks.:icon thumright:

quick pic on the way home, needs a wash again :haha:
View attachment 180975
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I think that definitely deserves a beer to celebrate! I’ve got my MOT next week too... it’s always nerve racking


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My MOT coming up soon too, the place I use only does MOT and free retest so there is no conflict of interest. Nice to know you aren't getting screwed over, every test centre should be the same IMO.
 
nothing specific to the old bus but did lash out on some new tool storage.
I have been on the lookout for sometime for some extra storage.
https://www.kincrome.co.uk/20-drw-stainless-combo-41

K7308.jpg



I was in my local Homebase today and noticed a nice stainless trolley chest, reduced to £474 from nearly a grand, anyway it was looking lonely and was the last one , covered in dust.
I was very tempted but resisted , got home and thought I'll ring them and haggle a bit more, and they dropped it to £400, well I was upfor that.
Went down later this afternoon to do a deal, they said that had lost the keys to it so would drop to £370, being a bit wise I new the locks were easy to remove and replace so took it away for £370.

On closer inspection at home I shone a light through a power input hole on the back only to see the keys inside …..now that was a result, a quick minute with a grabby tool and they were in my hands and the unit unlocked.

Oh what a good day today.:icon thumright::yes:
 
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A few days ago I replaced the vacuum unit (inlet manifold actuator thingy) as my car had the flashing glow light issue and has been lumpy on idle and at around 2k rpm for a while. Seemed to fix all the issues!

Car still doesn't fully boost until 2.5k rpm which is a little annoying I mainly do motorway driving now and have ordered a new car which should arrive in Sept so can't justify the investment in fixing that
 
Fitted a new Bosch S5 battery and thermostat. Cars been off the road for a few months. Started it up and oil flew out from the oil cooler so ordered a new one. Also ordered new spark plugs and an RS4 fuel pressure regulator. Hoping to strip the front end this weekend and finally get the uprated intercoolers on, weather permitting that is!
 
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I have had a rather traumatizing day fitting the eibach sportline lowering springs to my bus.

The dreaded pinch bolt situation cost me a new O/S steering knuckle from TPS, which was disgustingly priced.

The O/S was attempted first, then figured out how to do the N/S without touching the pinch bolt, hence why i only had to replace the one knuckle.

Anyway all fitted and sitting rather nice in my opinion, and lower than i thought it would. I only fitted the fronts as im happy with how the rear sits for now.

I may upgrade to bilstein b8 shocks too when the wallet situation dies down!
Before:
IMG 20190504 22720

IMG 20190504 6466


After:
IMG 20190504 44569

IMG 20190504 664


I also noticed on the journey home the ride feels much more supple up front and less harsh, maybe even a little less pitching through tight turns. That said it could just be a mind game thingy.

Just needs a bath and new set of front boots ready for summer.

Alex
 
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A bit late now Alex but this is a very good guide , I used it the first time I did my suspension allround , and have done it twice since the same way and its a piece of cake and doesn't touch that pinch bolt.
Anway your have done it now but maybe handy for the next time.



rob
 
Just Rob. said:
Did you change the dampers aswell Alex?
Click to expand...
No just the front springs, shocks may come later. The ride does feel better though in my opinion
Just Rob. said:
A bit late now Alex but this is a very good guide , I used it the first time I did my suspension allround , and have done it twice since the same way and its a piece of cake and doesn't touch that pinch bolt.
Anway your have done it now but maybe handy for the next time.



rob
Click to expand...


Did the n/s without touching the pinch bolt quite easily, well with a bit of fiddling that is.

You live and learn i suppose, we did find a crack in the knuckle which we dont know if it was down to us knocking and banging or wear and tear
 
Had an eventful afternoon. Stripped the front end, removed old intercoolers and associated pipework and replaced with uprated Evolution Racewerks SMIC's and 034 hoses. The actual intercoolers are beasts compared to OEM but I'm not happy with the fitment. The bracketry etc is shocking. They're on for now but I will be revisiting them soon to make them more secure.

Few pics:

Front

Drivers

Intercoolers

Passenger front

Hose
 

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If you look closely at the first pic you may notice a small bottle of brandy next to my socket set in the black case. It was needed!!!
 
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They look almost twice as deep as the oem ones.
Looks like you enjoyed yourself..:whistle2::icon thumright:
 
Finally got round to replacing the chrome badges with some new gloss black ones and fitted the splitter and loving the way it looks!
b93ee88d51149a859b07926d2c24cbcd.jpg
fad59f0d6a9c18cca441bf63f723794e.jpg


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Stuart Bennett said:
Finally got round to replacing the chrome badges with some new gloss black ones and fitted the splitter and loving the way it looks!
b93ee88d51149a859b07926d2c24cbcd.jpg
fad59f0d6a9c18cca441bf63f723794e.jpg


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Click to expand...
Looks great bud, i dont think you can beat the Cupra lip on the s line bumper.

Good effort
 
New NGK Iridium spark plugs and Benchmark coil packs today. Old ones look a bit worse for wear:

Coil Packs Old

New coil packs are blue. That's why I chose them. Get a bit of colour in the engine bay:

Coil Packs
 
Changed shocks,springs and arms over the weekend on my avant.Bilstein b8,s H&R -45mm Springs,and all arms and track rod ends replaced with mayle hd.hard work I have to say,but hoping its going to be worth the effort?need to get an alignment now,maybe some spacers(any recommendations would be good,eg size,with oem rs4 style 18inch alloys)
Photo 2 1740x1300
20150101 040555 1846x2461
Photo
 
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Alpinachris said:
Changed shocks,springs and arms over the weekend on my avant.Bilstein b8,s H&R -45mm Springs,and all arms and track rod ends replaced with mayle hd.hard work I have to say,but hoping its going to be worth the effort?need to get an alignment now,maybe some spacers(any recommendations would be good,eg size,with oem rs4 style 18inch alloys)View attachment 181851View attachment 181852View attachment 181853
Click to expand...

Good effort, and looks proper too! How much was the suspension arm kit? I wouldn't mind replacing all of mine but was unsure on aftermarket quality of some kits. As for spacers im thinking of fitting 10mm front and 15mm rear, im not sure how people go on interms of the locking wheel nut?(obviously needs to be longer) ive not dealt with wheel spacers much myself.
 
Alpinachris said:
Changed shocks,springs and arms over the weekend on my avant.Bilstein b8,s H&R -45mm Springs,and all arms and track rod ends replaced with mayle hd.hard work I have to say,but hoping its going to be worth the effort?need to get an alignment now,maybe some spacers(any recommendations would be good,eg size,with oem rs4 style 18inch alloys)View attachment 181851View attachment 181852View attachment 181853
Click to expand...


you'll notice the improvement over the oem setup straight away chap, far superior setup Chris.
 
Alex Holmes said:
Good effort, and looks proper too! How much was the suspension arm kit? I wouldn't mind replacing all of mine but was unsure on aftermarket quality of some kits. As for spacers im thinking of fitting 10mm front and 15mm rear, im not sure how people go on interms of the locking wheel nut?(obviously needs to be longer) ive not dealt with wheel spacers much myself.
Click to expand...
The kit was expensive just under £350,but the he kit has everything you need,including full set of bolts,nuts,plus a 4year gaurantee,so should last? Plus it's a hard job to change them,so hopefully I won't have to do it again?Good point on the locking bolts,can you get longer lockers,also I'm not sure about different size spacers front to back,because it's a quattro,
I Think I read something about staggered wheels being a no no?
 
What width rims are you running at the moment then Chris?
On a ET35 or 43
 
If they are oem then probably 8j on et43 or 45 depending on part fittments
 
Alpinachris said:
The kit was expensive just under £350,but the he kit has everything you need,including full set of bolts,nuts,plus a 4year gaurantee,so should last? Plus it's a hard job to change them,so hopefully I won't have to do it again?Good point on the locking bolts,can you get longer lockers,also I'm not sure about different size spacers front to back,because it's a quattro,
I Think I read something about staggered wheels being a no no?
Click to expand...

Im new to all this lowering and spacing! I know you can buy longer 17mm wheel bolts the match oem, in fact some spacer kits come with them. Im sure you could get some aftermarket locking wheel bolts from ebay.
 
Ensuring one uses radius shoulder bolts for oem alloys and tapered for aftermarket.
plenty around in various sizes.
Spacers are a very personal choice really , depends on what one is looking to get from them , a function of clearance of components or simply visual .
 
Just Rob. said:
If they are oem then probably 8j on et43 or 45 depending on part fittments
Click to expand...
I can't take wheels of at the minute,but I checked my DTM Ronals,they are 8inch ,et43.so im assuming the RS4,s are the same,both sets are
special edition standard alloys?
 
Just Rob. said:
Ensuring one uses radius shoulder bolts for oem alloys and tapered for aftermarket.
plenty around in various sizes.
Spacers are a very personal choice really , depends on what one is looking to get from them , a function of clearance of components or simply visual .
Click to expand...
Noted on the bolts.purely visual for me.wheels seem to hide in the arch a little?
 
yes they will be 8j et43 then.
To be safe on those rims without looking like a tractor, you'd be looking at around 10mm allround approx.
Some 10mm hubcentric spacer don't fit flush on the hub faces front and back so be aware of this, otherwise go 8mm , 12mm may rub on lowered suspension .

Et43 with a 10mm will give you an offset of ET33 which is fine , any more and you may well have issues.
 
My 19 Leman's are ET43 on 8.5j so 6mm wider both sides than yours, effectively making them 6mm closer to suspension etc and also poke out 6mm more than yours , making the offset from a poke standpoint closer to ET37.
having had ET33 with the previous rims and they did sometimes rub under load I wouldn't personally go more than ET35 now.
 
Just Rob. said:
yes they will be 8j et43 then.
To be safe on those rims without looking like a tractor, you'd be looking at around 10mm allround approx.
Some 10mm hubcentric spacer don't fit flush on the hub faces front and back so be aware of this, otherwise go 8mm , 12mm may rub on lowered suspension .

Et43 with a 10mm will give you an offset of ET33 which is fine , any more and you may well have issues.
Click to expand...
So are you saying 10mm all-round,if they fit,but 8mm front,12mm rear if they don't?can I not tell untill I try them,could get expensive,doubt I could send them back if they don't fit.Are the hubs different on some b7,s
 
I have only ever used equal spacing F & R on my avant.
Some owners suggest 2wd variants have different hub assemblies to quattro's hence the problem with spacers not sitting flush , not had first hand experience of the 2wd's but I had to remove the outer few mm of my hub bosses on my quattro to get 10mm to fit flush, not a problem as such but more of an irritation at the time.
Best plan I found in the past when messing around with offsets and spacing was to buy some varied thickness washers that fitted over the wheel bolt thread and then adjusted the gap by using varied thickness of the washers until the wheel sat where I wanted it, then got the spacers accordingly.
Washers were only pennies compared to the cost of good quality hub centric spacers, and you will need longer bolts.
 
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The lip in question, one just needs to remove a few mm , nothing more otherwise you will remove the centring lip , which is the bit you need to keep.
I picked up three long bolts at the same time, cut of the head and made a slot in the top to wind them in and out.
slid on varied washers until the alloy sat where required, if you don't use some type of shaft fixed into the hub you will struggle to use the washers , all comes down to making the job as easy as effective as possible.
Upload 2019 5 6 20 58 18
 
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Well,there was me thinking I could just take wheels off,put spacers on,put wheels back on,admire,then drive,fit and forget.Thinking I might just leave as it is just now?do appreciate the info,lots to consider
 
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