Newbie saying hi!

[dougle_turbo]

Hi all,

With a bit of luck and a fair wind I should be purchasing a B7 RS4 tomorrow.

Its not my first fast Audi having previously restored an early S2 (about 10 years ago). But it is my first V8 and I can't wait.

The car in question has excellent service history (all Audi) and has 70K on the clock. It was serviced yesterday and has some stealer advisories having carried out a health check. I'd appreciate some feedback on these items i.e do they actually need doing?, and a stab in the dark (ish) on costs. And what you would knock off the asking price. The below is word for word on the report.

Brake fluid change due
Front brakes 80% worn and disks worn
rear wiper starting to wear
both upper link arms starting to wear

NSR shock absorber sweating
Slight leak from power steering pipe
NSF suspension ball joint has slight play
Both rear tyres on 4mm

Over to you kind people!

[Shinobi675]

Nice one mate! FON and where's the pictures....

[dougle_turbo]

[vestax32]

You've got a fairly large bill on your hands to sort that lot. One of the B7 boys will elaborate...

[TobyRS4]

Welcome to the forum, you'll certainly enjoy the Revvy V8 in the B7.

Although with the car in question I would proceed with caution:

Brake fluid and rear wiper, inexpensive

Brakes if you need discs and pads are going to be atleast 1000 and that's not at a specialist or dealer expect a circa 2k bill from dealer if you want the full main dealer pants down experience

Upper arm, ball joints and power steering aren't too bad but probably a grand in for the 3 depending on the severity of what needs replacing and labour hour costs on getting it all apart.

Shock absorber sweating assumedly then means you have DRC if so light sweating isn't immediate danger but you'll be looking to change within the year, cost depends on what else also needs doing and you will need specialist or dealer to repressure the system probably budget a grand for all of that too.

All relatively common if they haven't been done yet but still 4-5k to get up to none advisory standard id say, it could be done cheaper but then did you want a cheap RS4 or did you want a nice one?

[dougle_turbo]

Thanks for the advice Toby,

I'm after a good car, with 70K ish and full Audi history. This one has an impeccable service history along with good paint and a very tidy interior. But it seems that a few issues are converging that make it less attractive, unless the price reflects the work that needs doing.

Looks like I may need to do some negotiating....

[TobyRS4]

Prices are starting to reflect either work done or needing to be done as common faults become more well known and with fewer numbers on the roads people buying the B7 RS4s seem more clued up or at least prepared to ask for assistance when buying.

The faults do look to be stacking up on that car, brakes will always need replacing at some point and DRC's common with age if its all still original, the other faults though do suggest an allowance to work needing to be done building up, whats the asking price?

[dougle_turbo]

He's looking for 18K, I have just spoken to the stealers who did the health check. The engineer said that the only things that needed doing were the brakes, and brake fluid. He thought the wear on the ball joint might need doing in 12 months if I was unlucky. He went on to say that everything else was very minor but he has to report it anyway.

They want £1165 for the front disks and pads, £79 for brake fluid and £342 for the ball joint. Do the Indys such as MRC do the brakes for much less?

Thanks again for the help.

Forgot to say that all 4 wheels could do with a re-furb as well.

[TobyRS4]

An Indy might but Specialists like MRC probably not, not sure on MRC prices for brakes though im sure if you give them a call they will have a flat price quote for something common like discs and pads.

no quote for power steering?

Wheel refurb again is relatively inexpensive and price isn't too bad but depends on spec, does it have Buckets, RNSE, Tech pack etc?

[dougle_turbo]

So I'm now the proud owner of an RS4 Avant, thanks for your advice Toby.

The spec is good I think, buckets, RNSE, Bluetooth, 7 Audi stamps and 68K on the clock. Managed to do a deal well below the price above.

Enjoyed the drive back so much it took me 3 hours.....car was only 20 miles from home!

Now I'll mainly be spending hours reading this forum, and fiddling with the car.....can't wait!

[TobyRS4]

Congrats on the purchase, aslong as you are aware of the issues and understand the costs involved they are a great car to own.

[MikeFish]

Front brakes can be done for a lot less than that price. Discs can be bought for about £500, yellow stuff pads for £200 and £60 to fit.

[dougle_turbo]

Front brakes can be done for a lot less than that price. Discs can be bought for about £500, yellow stuff pads for £200 and £60 to fit.

Thanks Mike, can you point me in the right direction for the disks?

[zainster]

Eurocarparts/CP4LESS (can't remember ) are doing the Bremo front discs cheap. Add the code SUMMERSALE to get further reduction.

Ofcourse these bremos might not suffice for you.

Welcome and nice car btw