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Thumbs up for Sinclair Audi ( Bridgend ) - Just did all my belts and water pump for FREE !!

Just need to sort out my wheels - Soft or Hard ?? Got soft buckeled at the moment .. Which are better ??

Generally people tend to stick to soft...and keep the lifetime replacement policy in force. The hards can still bend apparently, but you get no free replacement!

chrisn wrote:Thumbs up for Sinclair Audi ( Bridgend ) - Just did all my belts and water pump for FREE !!

You serious? Why?

I purchased the car with 43K miles with FASH , found out about 2 months later that the Cam belt hadnt been changed so I called them up and they offered to change cam belt for free - I said I would pay for water pump and other belts but Sinclair Audi footed the bill. !!! Well happy

DaveP - So there is no real gain to get Hard wheels , I should just stick to soft ones and keep lifetime replacement !!

Cheers Guys

Yep...thats what I'm doing...booked in tomorrow to get the wheels looked at - noticed when I swapped wheels front to back (for tyre wear reasons) that I probably have a bent wheel or two !

So I take it you didn't feel this?

I wasn't sure about the feeling of bent wheels - asked stealer to check when in service the other day and 3 were bent (now replaced and spangly!!). However, there are still some vibrations at 70+ (not that I would!) which I had always assumed to be the fact that the car is pretty stiff set-up wise and transmits pretty much everthing back through the chassis.

I didn't feel them when they were on the rear...changed the wheels front to back and now can feel some vibrations through the wheel (feels like the wheel balancing is out)

I'm hoping that it'll be confirmed as bent wheels tomorrow...as I've had the balancing sorted before (audi seemed to have forgotten to balance the wheels when they put new tyres on when I bought the car !)

I have hard wheels and nowhere does it say they won't replace them. In fact I have a peice of paper that says bent wheels will be replaced. That should stand up in court.

Newbie question - HOW do they 'bend'? Does it involve humpback bridges???

Also re old cambelt, did you whip the cover off and clearly see the belt was a few years old and hadnt been changed. Was the book stamped nevertheless?

D

Diesel do your research.... The RS4 has been around for 4 years now plenty of info. Check out the Download section and RS4 videos for the full Audi story, or just use the search facility.

Phil it is part of my research - I have alrerady read all those scanned Audi HQ docs in the downloads section but nowhere does it say WHY they bend. Can you let me know if it's pretty random or is it due to hard use?

Thanks for any help - I'll risk downloading the video from work if that is the key

No hump back bridges, no big pot holes, no rough treatment.............they bend, at the slightest fault in the road, a set I bent hit a rubber strip holding wires for temp traffic lights, and the wheels had only been fitted an hour before..........27 wheels in 7 months was my record, I believe Dermott had more............ never bent one since I had the harder wheels fitted

I agree with Simple1, I went through over 10 soft wheels also had a blow out that Audi couldn't explain (no nails in what was left of the tyre). As I use the car all the time it was a pain constantly going back the main dealer. I changed to hard wheels 30K miles ago and havn't had a problem (touch wood).

Sam

Sam, was your blow-out on the inner side wall ?

If so I can explain that for you - it happened to me too !

Basically when you got your flat spot it damaged the sidewall of the tyre.
Over a short time this would have formed a bulge in the inner sidewall.
In my case this rubbed on part of the front strut until it went bang.

Having the tyre replaced was when I was shown the flat in the wheel.
It was nearly as good as the pic Thomson posted recently of one of his wheels.


Two soft wheels replaced last Friday free of charge.
My dealer inspected the wheels to ensure there were no major kerbing marks or other signs of misuse first though.

As for the hard wheels, the letter from Audi clearly states only 2 years warranty will be given on the hard wheels, whereas soft wheels have a warranty for the life of the car.

Oh, and the new wheels I had fitted seem to vibrate, so I too think Audi didn't bother to balance them after swapping the tyres over