Another Hotchkis ARB convert

[chunky79]

I have been intouch with a couple of people over the pond and it look's like they will be £400 including shipping to here. Question for you gents who import stuff, do you have to pay any tax or vat when they enter this country?

[Shoppinit]

Yes. Duty and VAT. On everything including the shipping.

[chunky79]

Ah bum. Still waiting on another quote.

[Shoppinit]

I had worked it out at about £400ish with delivery duty and VAT.

I'm more intrigued by footlong's statement that he reckons the H&R are the same as the Hotchkiss...

[chunky79]

Just had another quote come back and will be around £400 inc vat but not sure what the duty costs are. Will have to wait and see what grizz is charging. Looks like I could be bringing some back for Vegas after all.
The comments from mrc about the h&r were interesting too.

[Mr V10]

The B7 S4 guys trade up from a 22mm roll bar to a 24mm roll bar, a 2mm difference, thry rave about it - This is the same 2mm difference as H&R and Hotchkis. However, the 24mm RS 4 bar they upgrade to is around about or less than £100 vs this at £500. Maybe what MRC were saying is it wasn't worth the cost to change?

[Mr Footlong]

Amar, if the H&R is no tougher that the OE bar then I don't see why MRC would recommend and supply them. I can understand going from an OE 22 bar to a Hotchkiss but show me that the OE is identical to the "uprated" H&R one first.

MRC said that they CANNOT tell any difference worth anything between H&R & Hotchkiss. Don't shoot the messenger, as I said, I was ame for a laugh and they told me specifically not to bother.

[amanda1]

Errrr mr footlong ........ I might have bridgestones (slagged for them) kw's (slagged for them) but I know what I like and what works on my car and that's hosskiss and my kw's/ bridgestones.I drove Amars car before he put hosskiss on to replace the h&rs he had. He gave me the keys and told me to take it for a drive .......low mileage or not I was happy to give him the keys back as it was crap. He wasnt overly impressed that i wasnt impressed,The hosskiss transform the car IMHO and well worth the money ........I will throw you the keys Nick and you can tell me what you think after you have driven her I am that certain about the hosskiss

[Mr Footlong]

I don't recall Amar having h & r previously but I could be showing my age. Before I know it my balls will be hanging out the side of my shorts......

[Mr V10]

Footlong, you've misunderstood me. I didn't say the H&R wasn't tougher, or if I did, I didn't mean to.
What I meant to say was, there is a 2mm difference between the Hotchkis and H&R anti roll bars. There is, of course, a big difference between OEM bars and the H&R ones. I was just saying, that although 2mm doesn't sound like much, the B7 S4 guys upgrade to an ARB that is 2mm fatter and they feel a difference, I'm not saying MRC are wrong, just adding my thoughts.
Amanda - I don't ever remember you saying you hated it, only that it was slow :S
The car was standard bar H&R coilovers with 36k miles on it at the time, the only thing hateful about it was the Bridgesones it had on, also, you had standard ARBs on at the time. Can you be more specific as to what you 'hated' about it?

[amanda1]

Haha that god awe full tdi steering wheel which thankfully you have changed and the fact she behaved like a boat

[Mr Footlong]

Right that makes more sense Amar about your car. H&R 22mm solid vs 24mm tubular. Too much of a tossup for me to worry about.

[adsgreen]

My view is that Arb's are a personal preference and it's very possible that one driver would rave about them and some others wouldnt. the main difference I've personally found comes down to how hard the car is pushed. If you skirt around 90 even 95 % then tougher Arb's work well. tougher arb will make the car feel good but ultimately slide more and have less grip - so if you push past 95% it can feel awful of the bar is to stiff.
Even then depends on your 'style' on corner entry.

[Shoppinit]

Even then depends on your 'style' on corner entry.

Big black lines in, big black lines out.

Amar, are you saying you have gone from the H&R to the Hotchkiss? If so then you are the only one that's been down that road, so we need a full review!

[chunky79]

Ah. Amanda is on Hosskiss arbs, Footlong on H&r arbs and Amar Hotchkis arbs.
Amars car is but minus the steering wheel now!
How did you like amars tyres amanda? You say it felt like a boat? Is that cause the tyres were mega grippy and were trying to topple the boat over?
Amanda and Amar, are you both on the same coilovers?