H&R springs and wheel bolts...

[kismetcapitan]

I'm just full of questions, aren't I :P

1) about how long does it take to swap in a set of H&R springs, while fiddling with and retaining DRC?

2) the stock 18" wheels, are the lug bolts tapered or ball-shaped. I'd go and wrench one off to see for myself, but I don't have a torque wrench yet (just moved back to the States so have to rebuild my toolset from scratch), and while some people just tighten on their wheel nuts or bolts, I'm not like that. Torque to spec by hand, ONLY.

I'm about to order 8mm spacers, so need to know. Thanks to whoever can answer! :addict:

[4everRS]

As far as springs, I can't speak for the front, but the back isnt too bad. Just have remove lower strut bolt, and outer lower control arm. The lower arm will swing down, making just enough room to drop the spring out.

Wheel bolts are tapered. Not ball shape.

[Spidercat]

Are you sure they are not ball-seat? I have aftermarket wheels now, but I'm pretty sure that OEM was ball-seat, not tapered.
Definitely want to double check before ordering...

BTW, I saw that you already ordered the spacers on another thread, but 10 mm will be fine. I have H&R hub-centric w/lip in 8 mm and they fit perfectly, but I could go out 2 mm more without a problem and still look fine w/o rubbing (I have 19 x 8.5 ET 32 now w/265/30/ZR19s & DRC just to give an idea). KWV3 getting installed this week I hope.
Another BTW: stock bolts are 27 or 28 mm, so add spacer width to this number. I have 35 mm bolts w/ the 8 mm spacer.

[JSRS6]

http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa403/jsrs6/708624cc.png

[Spidercat]

Huh.
Still look rounded to my eye in the diagram, though (ball-seat) instead of tapered (aka conical). Maybe Audi's semantics are getting in the way?
You've piqued my interest.

[Spidercat]

Yeah, semantics. They are definitely ball-seat (rounded), not conical (cone-shaped). I always thought conical=tapered. Definitely don't want to select the wrong ones or risk putting undue stress on the bolt hole margins and cracking them.

[kismetcapitan]

FML, I need to order different bolts...but thanks for taking the time to take one out!

[Spidercat]

lol. Had to google fml.
Better now than after you get the car in the air with time set aside, I guess.
Anyway, no prob. These bolts were actually packed away since I had to get longer bolts for the spacers, but that bolt is OEM equipment on the car w/standard 18" RS6 wheel.

[4everRS]

I stand corrected. Ball seat they are. Really embarrasing thing is that I had my front wheels off 2 days ago.

[JSRS6]

Sorry, should have elaborated my picture. They do have a slight curve in the pic.

[kismetcapitan]

so for 10mm spacers and stock wheels, one needs 38mm ball-seat bolts. I requested a change in my order; I hope it got through in time!

[hahnmgh63]

I just looked through my shop to find the OEM bolts as I knew VAG has always used the ball seat bolts but the Technical book did say tapered, but with the washer so I thought maybe they were different now but alas they are still ball seat. All of the OEM bolts are ball seat but most aftermarket wheels use the conical seat like BBS Wheels.....except the BBS RC wheels on my tt were a OEM option on VW GTI's and used a Ball seat since they were an OEM wheel.

[Spidercat]

so for 10mm spacers and stock wheels, one needs 38mm ball-seat bolts. I requested a change in my order; I hope it got through in time!

Correct.
Word to the wise: I would call to change the order. People are lazy.

[kismetcapitan]

right, so I'm shopping for lug bolts now, looking at RAD bolts, M14x1.5.

1) stock bolts are the pricey 2-piece type. Are these *really* necessary? The car is indeed a very, very heavy car that I do throw around.
2) I've got 10mm spacers. How much room is there for extra length? if stock is 27-28mm, should I conservatively get 37mm, or go with 40mm for that extra bit of length?

[kismetcapitan]

and even more technicals - are the stock 18" wheels an R12, R13, or R14 ball seat? Since when did simple bolts get so technical???? I'm not so sure I buy into this 2-piece bolt thing; extreme performance cars have been using simple one-piece bolts or nuts for decades, then all of a sudden VAG and Porsche say 2-piece bolts are critical?

I think I should go 40mm. Better a bit too long than too short.

[kismetcapitan]

ok, ten minutes on Google: apparently, R13 ball seat radius is VW/Audi standard. If I'm wrong about the RS6, someone PLEASE correct me!!

[Spidercat]

right, so I'm shopping for lug bolts now, looking at RAD bolts, M14x1.5.

1) stock bolts are the pricey 2-piece type. Are these *really* necessary? The car is indeed a very, very heavy car that I do throw around.
2) I've got 10mm spacers. How much room is there for extra length? if stock is 27-28mm, should I conservatively get 37mm, or go with 40mm for that extra bit of length?

1) I think you'll be fine without the wobble-bolts (or whatever Audi calls them). I have standard style bolts on mine, just 8 mm longer. That said, I probably would have bought the 2-piece type if they had been available in my length at the time.

2) If I were you, I'd either go with 37/38 mm (whatever is available) OR take your wheel off and measure how deep you can go before it catches on something. I say this because before I put my old RS6 wheels on my wife's A4, I was running spacers. When I put my wheels on her car (no more need for spacer) I accidently used one of the longer bolts. Luckily, I noticed it before driving anywhere (it wouldn't spin freely past a certain point since the bolt was catching on something). It was about 10 or 15 mm longer, so you SHOULD be ok w/ only 2-3 mm over, but just fyi.

[JSRS6]

If you can get the two piece longer bolts, do it. They are a lot more common nowadays. "wobble bolts" are new, sold by ecs, and allow you to mount 5x100 rims on 5x112 hubs, or vice versa.

[kismetcapitan]

RAD told me I have 3mm extra clearance on the rear and more up front. For $105 I just got the wobble bolts; I could have saved $50 with generics but I want to be sure about the metal quality plus having learned that ball seats are differently sized means that unless it's exactly an R13, it'd be as bad as using cone tapers.