Completely new DRC re-fit question

[murph7355]

I would suggest that the age and value of the B7 RS4 now it wouldn't be cost effective. Why spent £1000's to possibly have the same trouble in the future ,this can be solved by a coilover kit for £800 .

I think Ive seen on here somewhere shocks alone are £1600 so with everything else ,hoses ,valves ,pump?? Lines + labour you must be looking at 4k plus !!

Because DRC's a fantastic system (replacement costs aside!) - the car rides and handles brilliantly with it.

It's also the standard fitment on the car - personally I wouldn't buy a car with coil overs. Others are less bothered, but over time there will be a gap in values between a DRC equipped car and one with coil overs IMO (all other things being equal). Doubtful it would cover the cost of maintenance of the DRC, depending on what you need to do to it during ownership. But that's not really the point.

[TimDogg]

I'm not convince dropping £4k on DRC is the best thing to do on a £16k car in all honesty, it's a shame as she only has 55k miles on her, I just really don't fancy having to do it again in another 10 years.

It might be time to step up to the next gen B8, that had DRC as an option IIRC - does that mean that the alternative suspension was solid? Also, someone said that it could have gearbox snags quite early on. Note sure that I want to get rid of the B7 though, it's a rough looking beastie, paint is not brilliant and it's very 'mad max' - I just love that about my particular B7

[samuk]

Just seem my invoices..£2500 the last owner paid for the DRC pipe work from Audi on the car i bought.

if anyone wants to know what it is let me know and i'l get a pic up of the invoice..

[murph7355]

I'm not convince dropping £4k on DRC is the best thing to do on a £16k car in all honesty, it's a shame as she only has 55k miles on her, I just really don't fancy having to do it again in another 10 years.

It might be time to step up to the next gen B8, that had DRC as an option IIRC - does that mean that the alternative suspension was solid? Also, someone said that it could have gearbox snags quite early on. Note sure that I want to get rid of the B7 though, it's a rough looking beastie, paint is not brilliant and it's very 'mad max' - I just love that about my particular B7

At that value, and with you noting the car's a bit rough anyway, just replace the parts when they need replacing. If it's driving fine then why mess?

I had a damper fail on mine. Just replaced the broken parts (which included 2 broken springs) and away I go again for far less than 4k.

A B8's a whole level of additional cost, not least at least another 17k to buy the thing. I thought they all came with DRC (certainly the ones I've been idly speculating on have ) and you could easily get expensive issues on one of those (nigh on 10k for a gearbox for example).

These aren't 16k cars when it comes to maintenance and running costs. They are 60k performance cars. That always needs to be fully considered when buying into one - DRC, aux rads, oil coolers, interior trim etc etc etc. It all adds up, but there's very little to touch them in terms of what they give back IMO.

[MIDZ]

I wouldn't go replacing the costly valves ( 2off) unless audi or specialist could prove to me they were done for.
They look like gas over oil accumulators and each diagonal oil circuit is charged to @ 15 bar...so I would want proof that the oil is bypassing into the gas side of the valve/accumulator before replacing, because lets be honest they could tell you the valve is humped and you would never know otherwise. The system is not rocket science, just very few garages have the simple tooling to connect up and charge the system (probably because it's expensive and not used that often to justify price). Snap-On sell the kit

[MIDZ]

Snap-On DRC Filling Kit

https://audi.snapon.com/SpecialToolsDet ... d=19240008

[Shoppinit]

There have been a couple of threads, possibly in the C5 forum, of people building their own DRC refill kits. The DRC system is laughably simple in its operating principal. All the more enraging that it's so unreliable.

If I were to reinstall DRC (and I'm starting to consider it) then I would probably go down this route.

[MIDZ]

I agree..one trip to Hydrasun for correct fittings to connect into valve(s), and an Enerpac pump with guage and you wouldn't be far off the mark

[cherub72]

I've just had all my pipes and shocks done.The flexi pipes are £110 each, the real killer is the solid pipes, not the £200 each x 4 pipes but the massive amount of labour involved, around 11 man hours as the fuel tank and rear axle all need to come out to do it.