Magnet

The original poster has not been on here since he first posted his request for help. I will bow to Joe’s superior knowledge in regard to the car being aluminium bodied, but it should be bourn in mind that aluminium corrosion does result in rust-type paint issues , as it forms a ‘white rust’ type oxide which can lift paint and lead to bubbling. Kind regards, Gareth.

Thanks Luke, Yes of course you can consider different shock absorber and spring set ups, but the logic of it all is that the final effect of ride quality depends upon the amount of flexible rubber you have between you and the road. I understand your wishes, but until you establish that that amount of rubber you currently have is ‘standard’ for the suspension set up, then you are not evaluating whether that set up,is characteristic of the car or not. Simply changing the tyres may improve the ride quality if ( in caps) the profiles and widths are no non standard. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Luke, Thanks additional information. Now you need to consult the handbook which came with the car and check what profile and width tyres are specified as being standard for 17 inch wheels. Your current 45 would seem about right, but worth checking incase 50 is quoted - with a wider tyre. 45 profile would not give you the best of ride comfort, whereas 50 should be better, but.... Kind regards, Gareth.

What wheel and tyre profile do you have Luke? Kind regards, Gareth.

To inform them that you are going to formally reject the car within x days if they haven’t resolved your issue?

Sorry Alan, but I don’t have any experience of the Koni shock absorbers you mention. What you are suffering is the product of sports suspension and large dia. wheels. If you consider the larger the wheels, the ‘skinnier’ the tyre profiles have to be, since the final outside diameter of the wheel and tyre has to remain constant. Moving to, or having chosen, smaller diameter wheels means the tyre profile would have been increased and you would have more rubber between you and the road, so a more absorbing ride. 21 inch wheels must surely be around the maximum diameter wheels available for this car, resulting in a very low tyre profile setup. Summary:- The benefit of Koni shock absorbers with your current skinny tyres ?? Fitting smaller dia. wheels (secondhand?)? Maybe you can roadtest another similar model with this set up. Not sure if any of this helps. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello, Askmid simply tells you whether the car is insured and if (should be in caps.) it is, what the basic DVLA recorded information is. If it isn’t shown as insured on the Askmid system, which is usually the case with most motor trade held vehicles, then vehicle details are not shown. Whatever details Askmid shows will be dependent on the DVLA record, which will depend on how comprehensively the new-car-sales office inputted the vehicle data, so I would treat this a avenue as not being of much use to you Sam. Reliable way? Obtain the VIN and check the build record. Kind regards, Gareth.

He’s in Turkey!

Hello Nita, ’.......the car should be replaced under consumer law’. Are you going to formally commence this process? If so, I’m rather confused by the reference to ‘..May write to Which...’ - rather than to Audi. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Martin, I think recommending a choice of two options for you is an impossible task, and my feeling is you may be looking for reassurance that the option you actually choose coincides with someone who might come along and agree with you. Apologies if I’ve got that wrong. ‘Leaning towards the leather option...’ A personal opinion:- I’ve had cars with leather since I had hair, and one thing is for certain - the seats are generally unbearably hot in the summer, and unbearably cold in the winter - hence heated seats. Run of the mill manufacturers discontinued using leather some 60 years ago for that reason and moved to ‘leatherette’ then on to more comfortable fabric. Of course, leather is still seen as ‘ prestigious’, and I can understand where you are coming from, but beauty has to be lived, with and not just admired. Yes, heated seats, and even cold air can be blown up your posterior via. pinholes in the leather, so it’s less a hassle in choosing, so you have more flexibility to go with what your eyes tells you is desirable. Good luck with whatever you chose Martin. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Dianne, Sorry to hear of your issue. I am somewhat confused since if - as I understand it- the car indeed drives OK? at 50 mph, then the issue should not really be associated with low compression on 2 cylinders. Piston injector? New one on me. If you now have the car in the care of a family friend mechanic, then I would not be agreeing to any strip down until you have actually been given the compression test values for each of the 4 cylinders - assume your family friend can do this for you. Test report? Unfortunately it doesn’t mean much to me, but that’s probably me. If it were mine, I would be asking the mechanic to repeat the compression test and then list the results on the forum. I’m sure someone would then be able to comment. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Anthony, Check with (classic) car trimmers around you. They will definitely be able to replace the rear widow for you. Struggling to find someone? Contact Jack Smith Trimmers - Swansea. Yes, Cheshire to Swansea, but you may find the saving on cost will meet the fuel charges. Try Mazda MX5 site for recommendations for him? Kind regards, Garethlm

Hello Richard, I’m surprised that a 2 year old car is .....’ desperately in need of a new air filter’. Has this car covered a very high mileage, or has been used in excessively dusty conditions? Sound policy to change at 2 year intervals? Yes in my book, but the filter should still be capable of further service. Perhaps I’m getting the wrong end of the stick here, but if you are talking about ‘upgrading’ the manufacturer’s standard air filter, then it’s worth considering that this may invalidate your warranty. I would guess you have the answer to your last question, but are you experiencing low power? If so, why is the air filter so dirty - if it is? Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Mark, Sorry to hear of your plight. Simple things first:- Is the car deemed to be illegal since it is possibly ‘too old’ to recorded on a system which actually monitors its emissions values? Daft question perhaps, but if it’s emission levels at the MOT test are ‘x’ - where x is well within the limits of a much larger scale, then is there room for appeal against its rejection? I really don’t know, but someone must, and it could be well worth making further enquiries before accepting the verdict. Gas conversion? Perhaps not such a daft question, but if you did go down that route, would the car still be rejected because it’s still a 1994...V6.. ? Possibly it would?? Second point re gas conversions:- very expensive and has to be certified. Would that be cost effective against perhaps buying a scooter or a cheap acceptable banger? Perhaps you could keep us informed on how things pan out. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Darren, The forum will surely need at least some detail, and ideally full details and photos before anyone has a chance to help you. Sorry, but don’t understand your thread title - it could just be me- but why not ‘Help required with 1997 S6 valuation’. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Chris, Hopefully you will get some additional responses to supplement that of an aged mind! Your logic sounds good to me. I guess you’ve shopped around for best prices - always worth doing in my book- and I then approach my local trusted tyre supplier who usually matches the best on-line prices. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Chris, I’m afraid I don’t have any experience of using Goodyear tyres, but it’s one of the premium brand tyres which have never seemed to appeal. We have used Michelin (OE on our car) and had what we called reasonable wear rates when the car was covering mostly motorway miles - reasonable being around 15 to 18k from memory. The downside was the noise levels, particularly as the tyres became more worn. We are now trying Continental contact 5 (I think) and I’m estimating 12k will be about it with local mileage and sedate driving. In effect, I would not be too disappointed with your 14k (use and driving style?) using Goodyear, and if this brand satisfies your requirements then you might just find that mileage is not going to increase much if you move to another premium brand. As an aside, I had an interesting chat with the owner of a small local private hire fleet who covers motorway mileage in mainly Mercedes and a couple of Audi s, and he tells me he gets considerably more mileage out of (mainly Contis) due to the cars covering motorway mileages. Nor sure if any of this helps. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello George, This is one of these imponderables I’m afraid. Belt change schedules are always on the basis of ....’x miles or x years - whichever comes first’. So just for example - let’s say that schedule states 100k miles or 5 years, the belt should be scheduled for change at 5 years even though the car had not covered that 100k. There will always be strong opinion and debate about low mileage vehicles and the need to change belts ( and associated components) at the ‘age limit’ scheduled time. Some will say not to bother, some will agree with the recommended change. My view - for what it’s worth - is that low mileage cars generally suffer more than cars which cover the same mileage in a short space of time, since the latter operate at optimum conditions for most of the time, and the low mileage ones are subjected to far more frequent stop starts - which is not good. OK - current stop start systems!! You first need to recheck what the schedule states by contacting other main dealers and independents - but expect varying answers! You then decide to gamble on extra time or not. This is a critical component. It’s as simple as that. If you do decide to ‘get the belt changed’ then there will be decisions to be made regarding exactly what to change and what not to, in terms of the associated assembly. Perhaps you could let us know how you get on. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Dave, Not quite sure why you are replacing the battery if it has simply discharged and had not previously given any symptoms - of course, you may well have had previous issues and knew it was not very serviceable. Also, as long as you ensure you connect the battery charger wires to the correct polarity then it isn’t essential to disconnect the battery before charging. After all, you certainly cannot disconnect the battery if you jump start it, and under those circumstances you are inputting comparatively high currents. If it were mine, I would just charge the battery in situ. If/when you actually change the battery, you would be wise to do so using a ‘code saver’ device which ensures 12v is continuously supplied to the car ( general via. a slave battery) so that radio codes etc.are not lost. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Dave, Welcome to the forum. I have recently renewed the thermostat on our 2006 1.6 due to the car failing to consistently reach 90 - although it would sometimes get there. Touching wood, I have not experienced any issues similar to what you have experienced. Couple of questions:- How long had you been experiencing low coolant temperatures, and how low was the then-normal running temp? How many miles has the car now done since you renewed the thermostat? It is possible that the car is now ‘learning’ it’s newly corrected running temperatures, and if it were mine, I would be treating it to some Redex additive and giving it a good ‘Italian tune’, and see if that improves the general running. If not, then you would need to start to look at other possibilities. You have the bonus of no coolant loss and no engine management light on, so some positives there. Perhaps you could let us know how you get on. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Jose, Wondered if your A8 has similar issues to those of the original poster’s A4. If so, it may be well worth setting this up as a new thread, since the question is being asked of someone who has not returned to the forum for over 3 years. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Luke, Very distressing news. Why not post the registration number on here incase anyone comes across it? ‘... not going to get it back..’ Keep an open and optimistic mind - it sometimes reaps benefits. I wish you good luck and a good result. Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Jose, Appreciate it’s alway extremely beneficial to have feedback on problems posted, but unfortunately the norm is that it seldom happens- regrettably. This has obviously been the case here since the OP has not visited this forum for nigh on 18 months! Kind regards, Gareth.

Hello Weyni, Very interesting and hopefully of help to other who may be unfortunate enough to experience the same misfortune. Always difficult to establish a root cause without seeing the actual car, but judging from the photo, it would appear that there was a specific stress site from which the fracture occurred, and radiated out. I could be wrong, but it is not untypical of similar fractures in windscreens which have suffered ‘stress point’ damage from a stone etc. I would guess that if this had been a more straightforward body- flexing induced fracture, then it would have been more likely to have fractures radiating out from some point on an edge of the glass. Whatever, it has now been sorted, and that is the main think. Kind regards, Gareth. p.s. Just wonder if panoramic roofs come under the same insurance repair/replacement as windscreens, or do you lose your NCB if you claim.

The original poster hasn’t visited this forum for almost a year Jose. Kind regards, Gareth.