My Audi A4 Avant

[sameerrao]

Congrats on the new ride! looks like you got a great deal for $7k. And it should be good in the snowy climes as well.

[666fast]

Very nice to see the Audi familiy are growing...

The car looks good, but as you said the rims doesnt quite suit the car, at least not with the ride height it got now...if you are lowering it, try and get a set from Eiback they got comfy sets that doesnt slam it and high quallity stuff...

You only say Audi 2,8 so Im guessing the quattro part of it is given on that one... 


Hope you get many great miles in it, and become a follower of this great brand like some of us lost causes are....

Yes, it's quattro. No point in buying an Audi without it IMO.

I have been an Audi fan for some time, great cars I think. But I also know what a royal pain the ass they can be. It wasn't an easy decision, but I couldn't pass this one up. I looked at many cars and none were in this good of shape.
Only time will tell when i comes to reliability and such. Hopefully I don't have any problems.

Thanks guys!

[666fast]

Some not so nice updates (read: me being a whiny bitch)


I did the front brakes (pads/rotors) a few weeks ago, everything went nice and smooth. Today it was time to do the rears, it has not gone smoothly.

First thing, I pull off the center cap and start wondering why it feels so weird. As I start pulling harder and harder, I see the problem. The center cap has been glued on. Normally, that might not seem like a big deal, but when you notice that it's been glued on because the ring it snaps onto on the wheel is broken off, you get a bit angry. Seriously, how the hell does someone break that off?
I had planned to have the wheels refinished and then sell them, I don't know what I'll do with them now.

Second annoyance, I bought the little caliper piston tool. Exactly like this one:


Don't ever buy one of these, it's a piece of shit. So I had to run out and buy a proper tool set. One like this:


The set worked wonderfully. It was only $20 at Harbor Freight whereas the little cube was $10.

Third annoyance, the sway bar drop link dealy. It's just a plastic arm that connects the sway bar to the control arm. Some idiot put it on backwards.

Fourth annoyance, whilst taking off the wheel on the passenger side, the lugnuts seem very very tight. Hey shop guys, putting them on as tight as possible is NOT a good thing.

Fifth annoyance (can you tell I had a great day?), carrier hex bolt is stripped. Fucking yay! Drive into work at an unreasonable speed and bought new Fastenal bolts. Grade 8 as well, so they shouldn't ever break or strip.

By this time I want to meet the last person to work on this car, just so I can say hello with a friendly tack hammer to the head.

Time to finish up now, so I put everything back together, oh what do you know, one lugnut is stripped and will not go in. Take it to the grinder and grind off the first two threads and stick it in. It works. Then, upon torquing down another one, I twist it. Sonofabitch. By now everything is closed so I can't go buy any. So now I have one wheel with a twisted lugnut AND one that I had to grind the threads off of. Not entirely proud of that.
On Monday I'll be replacing every lug on the car with a good, quality set.

Right now, I'm just hoping that I won't have problems getting the twisted one out and that I haven't done any damage to the hub threads.

Next up:
I have ordered a VAGCOM tool, but it was back ordered, so I'm not too sure when I'll receive it. I'll be using it to reset the Adaptation codes.
Sometime this week I'm putting in new plugs and air filter along with an oil change.
I'll be ordering some new wheels at some point as well.


Cars are great, until you have to fix them, then they suck and I hate them.

[brembo]

LOL...sounds like you had a bad day working on your car...

I find myself in the same situation sometimes and its a bitch to have to do twice the worl because some stupid cunt have been doing stuff they dont know how to do before you....

On the break tool kit I have a very simular one to the second one you bought and it have been ok, but alittle weak..luckily they are dirt cheap so its just to buy an new one when it goes south...

Hope you get over this bad day on the car and get some nice ones when things just works and you can do some regualr maintance one it...thats nice days...

[Schwalbe]

Congrats buddy for your new Audi. 

My previous Audi was an black 2001 Audi A4 B5 1.8T, but it was by fault because I wanted the Avant model, but the B5 Avant model was sadly not sold in Canada at that time...so your lucky to have one. 

[666fast]

LOL...sounds like you had a bad day working on your car...

Yea, it was a real blast. Changing the pads and rotors shouldn't push 6 hours worth of work! 

It'll all be solved soon enough, new wheels and tires will be ordered soon. And a dude at work is interested in the wheels. So in the end all might end up well enough. 

[666fast]

the B5 Avant model was sadly not sold in Canada at that time...so your lucky to have one. 

After today, I'm gonna have to disagree.

The car was shifting rough a while ago so I took it to a tech dude I trust, he did a bunch of stuff and I got a smoking deal on the work. Well, its started up again. Shifting from 3rd to 4th results in the engine winding up.

Took it back in, and he's not sure why it's being dumb. The only way to know is to take the transmission out. Considering the amount of work it involves, I won't get much of a deal on it and it'll cost me quite a bit.
Anywhere from $2500 to $4k depending on what needs to be done.

That leaves me with two options.
1. Spend over half of what the car is actually worth fixing it.
2. Take it on the chin and get rid of it.

Its costing me too much money. Not just  in repairs either. Insurance is a little high, and the mileage isn't good, at all. lol
It also needs premium fuel, which isn't that big of a deal, it's about a $2 difference each time I fill up. It's currently at $4.09 a gallon (I know its cheap compared to Europe, but that a hell of a lot here). And it's just going to go up further.

So, I've decided to get rid of it. I hate to do it as I really do like the car, but you live and you learn.

So there you have it, my first Audi didn't go so well. I haven't ruled out owning another in the future, but if I do, it'll be CPO or under warranty.


Next car, not sure yet, but I'm looking at late 2000 or so Lesbaru Legacy's.

[danidmas]

Sucks when a car is not what you expected... happened to me with the Alfa 147 - it was love at first sight... everything had to be wonderful... but after the first troubles... all I wanted to do is get rid of it

[666fast]

... all I wanted to do is get rid of it

Which is right where I am and it kind of sucks. Sometimes I really do hate cars.

[Bizi Jones]

Cars are great, until you have to fix them, then they suck and I hate them.

heh, sounds like a South Park quote in my head...sucks about the car...seemed like a steal at the time

[DMF]

I hear ya man.. my E30 is finally starting to NEED some maintenance done to it.. and gas prices are just getting insane. I'm really looking to get a 2008 Kawasaki 250R. Not sure if I should or will have to sell the BMW too.

[666fast]

I hear ya man.. my E30 is finally starting to NEED some maintenance done to it.. and gas prices are just getting insane. I'm really looking to get a 2008 Kawasaki 250R. Not sure if I should or will have to sell the BMW too.

Where are you located? You'll save a ton of money in gas if you can ride it most of the year.