Wheels Off - Eventually.....

[perarduapropatria]

Took the rear wheels off this evening to fit some mudflaps and paint the hubs and calipers silver - they looked tatty. I toyed with black or red, but I didn't want to look Max Power.

25 minutes it took to remove the OSR wheel. It was like the thing was welded onto the hub. Finally after getting a lump hammer and getting ugly with the back of the rim, it finally shifted. The wheels must've been off recently because the tyres are brand spankers. Maybe it's been sat for a while?

Or maybe the previous owner hadn't heard of copper slip.

Looking forward to getting the fronts off and doing those mudflaps / calipers / hubs - and for an RCD510 to arrive. There's something quite satisfying about getting a new car and having a few things in the pipeline to tinker with.

First big job is optical sensors front and rear - I've had Paul at Professional Retrofits in Coventry do a fair bit to our cars in the past - cruise on a MK4 Golf / OPS upgrade and fitting front sensors to our A6 Avant - and he's brilliant. That's a job for him.

[RUM4MO]

Front sensors, yes I wish we had a good retro fitter of VAG stuff up here in Scotland, I'd quite happily get them fitted to my S4, far cheaper than getting a new bumper! Wife was a bit annoyed that her SEL comes with these "noisy" things!

How old was your A6 when you got it, my S4 was under two years old, had had all its discs replaced (shudder)4 months/1500miles before I bought it, but when I swopped wheels 5 months later for winter, it took a serious amount of work to get them off. I partially blame the fact that Audi seem to have a flat plain face on their alloy wheels and a small embellisher covering the centre hole, the water gets in when the car is washed, and stays there. On daughter's late 2009 Ibiza SC, the alloys inner face has radial grooves on them so they will spin the water out, that car has never given any trouble taking the wheels off, which is quite important nowadays as VAG servicing looks at brakes etc but never takes the wheels off - that work only comes at extra cost. I've been using anti seize grease so long, 40 years, that the normal stuff that was available was "Copaslip" which was sold by motor factors by the tin said "for use on furnace bolts"! Unfortunately, I still use too much and end up with either streaks of grease on the outside of the wheels or areas that turn black (with brake dust) on the inner rim, still better that than a problem when you need to get the wheel off.

[Redline]

I swapped wheels front to back a few months ago to even out the tyre wear.

Pretty sure they've never been off the car in 2.5 years - took forever to free them!

Suffice to say I'll be taking the wheels off my new one fairly soon after I get it put some copper slip or similar on the hubs.

[perarduapropatria]

Front sensors, yes I wish we had a good retro fitter of VAG stuff up here in Scotland, I'd quite happily get them fitted to my S4, far cheaper than getting a new bumper! Wife was a bit annoyed that her SEL comes with these "noisy" things!

How old was your A6 when you got it, my S4 was under two years old, had had all its discs replaced (shudder)4 months/1500miles before I bought it, but when I swopped wheels 5 months later for winter, it took a serious amount of work to get them off. I partially blame the fact that Audi seem to have a flat plain face on their alloy wheels and a small embellisher covering the centre hole, the water gets in when the car is washed, and stays there. On daughter's late 2009 Ibiza SC, the alloys inner face has radial grooves on them so they will spin the water out, that car has never given any trouble taking the wheels off, which is quite important nowadays as VAG servicing looks at brakes etc but never takes the wheels off - that work only comes at extra cost. I've been using anti seize grease so long, 40 years, that the normal stuff that was available was "Copaslip" which was sold by motor factors by the tin said "for use on furnace bolts"! Unfortunately, I still use too much and end up with either streaks of grease on the outside of the wheels or areas that turn black (with brake dust) on the inner rim, still better that than a problem when you need to get the wheel off.

The A6 is in for a service at the moment - I need to fetch it tomorrow. We bought it in 2013 and it's a 2010 (59) plate.

The wheels for that are a pig to get off, but only because they're 19". When I first took them off I had to go through the lump hammer treatment, but since then they've been fine - liberal doses of copper slip have obviously worked.

Audi don't half chance their arm when it comes to servicing. It needed a new timing belt (it probably didn't because it's sub 50k) and it seemed sensible to get it serviced at the same time. My points to them were this:

1. They don't change the air filter unless it's a major service. Air filters are changed every 20,000 miles.
Rubbish. I saw the state of it, because I marked it to see if they changed it or not, and it was honking.

2. An interior light bulb has failed. Price to replace? £17. Plus labour. Plus VaT
I'll do it myself, thanks.

3. Bite point is a little high on the car (??!) according to the mechanics. The same mechanics who tried to sell me new wipers (£50 each plus fitting) because they were "smearing". I told them I'd clean the wipers. New clutch? A snip at £699 all-in. I think I'll wait......

4. Price for a new cover for the 12v socket in the boot that the Mrs caught with the pushchair? Just a plastic cover? Same as in the Polo? £42 plus VaT.

I swapped wheels front to back a few months ago to even out the tyre wear.

I dislike doing that as I like to make sure the rears have more tread than the front. It's harder to control a rear-wheel skid in a FWD car, and this is the Mrs' run-around.