Buying RS4...almost there

[crash]

So, I have found a RS4 that I am willing to part my hard earned cash for.

Have had a look at the vehicle and apart from a couple of minor dings, everything is in great condition.

I have a few questions / concerns that I am hoping someone can help me with:

1. Brakes - During the test drive I did a couple of emergency stops (40mph). The ABS kicked in very early and brakes did not seem to be as effective as my current car (Honda S2000). Admittedly, the front tyres were down to 3mm, it was wet / raining and the car is about 400kg heavier than mine so it may be naive to expect similar levels of performance. However, I wouldn't want to replace the brakes as I have heard it is an expensive job. Can anyone comment on this? What level of braking performance is expected in those sorts of conditions?

2. HPI check - I am getting an HPI check done on the car. From reviewing the history of the car it has been exported to the Isle of Man and was registered under a different plate. Do I need to get an HPI check done on both registrations?

3. AA inspection / Specialist inspection - I am also considering getting an inspection done on the car. Having looked at the details on the AA site, I am not particularly impressed with what they do. I am not even sure they will check for brake levels - does anyone know? Do people generally go with a standard inspection or would a specialist inspection e.g. Kim Collins be advised.

Thanks for your help.

cheers,
John

[TWH]

I bought mine from a stealer so can't really comment on the HPI or the inspection side of it, but I would have thought that it's best to go to a specialist just to give it the once over - can't hurt considering the amount you're shelling out already.

As far as the brakes go, the standard brakes aren't meant to be up to much. Mine came with AP fronts already, and they do undoubtedly do their job. The thing I find is they don't seem as powerfull as you'd think, but then you realise that you just killed off 60 mph in no time. And yes, the car is considerably heavier so you can't expect too much from it - it can only brake within the limits of friction from the tyres! The car is very good at hiding it's speed which I find is part of the problem!!! I've never yet had the ABS kick in though, but after some hard braking I can hear the pump sorting out the system when I release the pedal !!!

[simple1]

Do an HPI both on the chassis number and the reg........... if the car was imported from Isle Of Mann, its history will be hidden, same as if it was imported from Ireland.

[viffer]

I got Kim to take a look at mine before the warranty ran out. Two big advantages of using him (or indeed any specialist) over the AA are:
1) He drives them all the time so has a meaningful benchmark for the roadtest.
2) qst has the diagnostic equipment so can check for fault codes. Also I believe some specialist kit for turbo air leak testing. And if you're feeling both wealthy and paranoid you could opt for a dyno run to confirm that the full 380 horsies are still present and correct.

Re the brakes surely the early ABS intervention means you had plenty of retardation from the brakes but not much mechanical grip from the tyres. So unless you suspect an ABS fault (intervention too early) or shot dampers (impeding ability of tyres to grip road), you've just confirmed what you knew already: wet roads don't give you much grip...
That said it's 1500GBP for a set of disks and pads, so you might want to ask an expert not some joffer like me on a message board .

Cheers, Richard.

[simple1]

On a wet greasy road, te ABS will start to activate quite early, especially if the tyres are on the way out, with the old Dunlops, mine was activating alot, as was the traction control light, once a new set of pilot II were installed, there was no issue..............would rather know that the ABS is working, rather than looking at a perminently lit ABS warning light and £severalK to repair it..............

[crash]

Do an HPI both on the chassis number and the reg........... if the car was imported from Isle Of Mann, its history will be hidden, same as if it was imported from Ireland.

Is there no way to check the history of a car that has been registered in the Isle of Man?

Also, is it possible to get details of all the previous owners, not just the current owner from the DVLA or some other source?

Thanks for the advice on brakes - makes a lot of sense to me.

cheers,
John

[simple1]

From my sketchy knowledge of things Manx, there is a vehicle licencing office in Douglas, who I am sure could provide or forward a letter to the last recorded keeper...........great place to have an RS though with some of the roads having no speed limit. the history of service must be with Audi UK as I dont think there is an Audi dealer on the Iof M.

[ozworth]

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