ACHTUN!NG | Shop Life

[Dion@Achtuning]

I have a thread similar to this on another forum and it's worked out well so I thought I'd include it here... Every now and then I'll just post up random pics or posts about what we've done... Just to give everyone an idea of what it is we do around here. (Not much! )

For those that do not know us, welcome and I hope we have a chance to meet you in person someday. Achtuning is owned by Hartmann Wheels and we specialize in VW and Audi performance upgrades, supplying nationwide distributors and retail customers like you with quality parts by APR, H&R, StopTech, and of course Hartmann Wheels. We are located in Redmond, Washington just south of the Willows Golf Course and very close to the Microsoft Campus. If you plan to stop by for a visit, we are open between 10am and 6pm Monday through Friday.



Basically what we do on a daily basis includes the obvious forum advertising, processing phone & online orders, APR chip-tuning, shipping out product, performance installation, and mounting new wheels and tires to our customer cars.

Have a question you want to post and have us to answer here on the forum? Any future plans or modifications you plan to have Achtuning perform on your car and want to share? Post up!! Get to know us here and we welcome everyone's participation!

[Dion@Achtuning]

Benchmark Motoring's recent 987 Cayman project... We provided them some H&R Sport Springs to lower the car and APR chip-tuning to bump up the power.

[Dion@Achtuning]

We are pleased to announce our recent sponsorship of the Audi Club NorthWest (ACNW) by assisting in providing loaner helmets for the ACNW’s various driving events throughout the year. The helmets were christened at the recent Matt Ammon Memorial Driving School held at Bremerton Motorsports Park. One of our guys here attended the school and, honestly can’t stop talking about it. These helmets will make their next appearance at WaterWerks in August as the ACNW is managing this year’s autocross event. If you are not a member, definitely check it out.

[Dion@Achtuning]

Not quite Audi-related but...

A couple of pics of this e36 BMW belonging to Todd@Achtuning. These are black powder-coated CSL reps...





Wheels are 18x8 et42 and wrapped with Falken RT-615 tires. Todd will be tearin' up the track at Pacific Raceways this season and next along with the Puget Sound region BMW Club.

[Dion@Achtuning]

RS4 content on VW!!

Keith drove up from the Portland area to pick up his $1000 set of RS4 wheels (no longer available) and tires from us. Since Keith's GTI is an '08 model, we had to remove the TPM sensors from his stock set-up to transfer to the new wheels.





Over-all a nice upgrade from his stock 17s.

[Dion@Achtuning]

Container of about a thousand wheels arrived...



Many of the wheels we had on backorder like the B7 HRS4-252 and G5s finally arrived on this shipment.

We also received our first order of the all new Achtuning edition HS5-209-GA:M wheel. Before we get a chance to add these to our website, I snapped some shots of the wheel sitting on our showroom floor.











Very pleasantly surprised with how the HS5-209-GA:M wheels turned out!

[Dion@Achtuning]

I had a chance to take Bill's (owner of Achtuning) allroad out for a proper photoshoot since the car arrived clean and we hadn't done a shoot with the 20" Q7 wheels on it.

The Hartmann QS-10 is a replica of one of the Audi Q7 wheels and is available in bolt patterns to fit both Audis and Porsches. Pictured below is the 20x9, 5x112 version with a 40mm offset mated with 25mm front and rear H&R spacers. Tire size is 275/30-20 but Bill intends to go down to a 255/30 since it rubs slightly on sharp turns. On to the pictures...







We also mounted a set of the Hartmann HR8-GS:M wheels onto Jose's Mk5 GLI the same day. The Hartmann HR8-GS:M wheels are 19x8.5" with a 48mm offset and wrapped with Bridgestone Potenza RE750 tires in a 235/35-19. Jose has plans to lower the car on H&R Race springs and upgrade the ECU with APR Performance Software.







Then Graydon drove down from Vancouver, B.C. to have a set of Hartmann HRS4-252-SS "RS4" style wheels for his B6 A4 1.8T. These are the 19x8.5" version with a 38mm offset, a perfect offset for the B5 through B7 Audi A4s - also wrapped with Bridgestone tires.

[Dion@Achtuning]

We had a D3 A8 sitting around the shop so we threw a set of the new Hartmann HS5-209-GA:M wheel on to see what it would look like...







Customer came back, saw the wheels on the car and said, "I'll take 'em!"

[Dion@Achtuning]

Achtuning welcomes home an old friend...

It wasn’t very long after we completed Bob’s B5 RS4 conversion project that the car was driven down Hwy 101 from Washington to California where it would reside for almost a year. Just last week Bob brought the car back up to Washington (coming back up the same way he went down) to give us an opportunity to show it off at the WaterWërks event here in the Seattle area.



Bob’s B5 S4 received the full RS4 conversion treatment when it was here at Achtuning. The APR Stage III kit for the B5 S4 is an unbeatable combination of factory RS4 components and APR programming bumping stock horsepower to an APR claimed 447hp and 467ft-lbs of torque! Further, this is a daily driven car that Bob reports drives perfectly each day without a single issue.



Modifications include but not limited to…

Engine:
* APR Stage III kit
* APR RS4 Intercooler and Hose kit
* RS4 Oil Cooler Kit
* RS4 Engine Mounts
* RS4 Carbon Fiber Engine Covers

Exhaust:
* Milltek Downpipes and High Flow Cats
* Milltek SuperDual Twin Pipe Cat-back Exhaust

Drivetrain:
* RS4 Flywheel
* RS4 Clutch Kit
* STaSIS TorSen Center Differential
* STaSIS LSD - Rear Differential

Brakes & Suspension:
* STaSIS Motor Sport Coil Over Suspension Kit
* STaSIS Monobloc 6 - 355 Big Brake System
* STaSIS Rear Brake Kit

Wheels & Tires:
* Volk CE28N Forged Wheels - 19X9.5 et36 - Anthracite
* Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3 - 275/30-19

Interior:
* Status Carbon Fiber/Silver Alcantara Laguna Seats
* Silver Alcantara door cards and rear seat inserts
* RS4 Door Sills

Exterior:
* RS4 Complete Body Kit
* Valeo Xenon HID Euro Housings
* Stealth Bulbs







It’s great to see the car back. If you want to come check it out in person, be sure to stop by the Achtuning booth at the WaterWërks 2008 event.

[Dion@Achtuning]

Dave Meister stopped by to grab some raffle items we were giving away for the 2008 WaterWërks event so I snapped a couple of pictures since he recently installed our 328x28mm StopTech Big Brake Kit for the VW Mk4s.



StopTech's Mk4 BBK includes 2 piece floating directional 328mm x 28mm slotted rotors with 7075 T6 billet aluminum hats, 4 piston ST-40 calipers, stainless steel front brake lines and AXXIS Ultimate front brake pads.

Stoptech Big Brake Kits give your vehicle that Supercar look and feel, and exceed stock performance in two areas. First, larger rotors increase heat capacity. Second, stiffer calipers and stainless steel lines reduce system compliance.

The key, however, is to increase heat capacity and reduce compliance without upsetting the stock front to rear brake torque ratio. If the brake upgrade you select adds too much front torque (as many do), you reduce your car's ability to utilize the tractive capacity of all of the tires to the maximum practical extent (even on ABS equipped cars) and you therefore create performance sacrifices. In addition, too many pistons or pistons that are too large will make the brake pedal much more difficult to modulate, which limits a driver's control of brake input on the race track. This StopTech kit is a perfect balanced brake upgrade for the Mk4.

[Dion@Achtuning]

We were visited by three (well 4 including the famed "Brown Kid") Pacific Northwest (vortex) members yesterday... They were here to pick up new sets of 19s for their Audis.

First, we have Mike and his beautiful wife Charlotte's C5 A6 2.7T... Lowered on KW suspension, this car hugs the 19" Hartmann G5 wheels so tightly, the tie rods are about to pop!







I hear Mike plans to bring the fronts down even more!! :eek:

Then we've got Gaki. Originally planning to go with a set of clearanced TSW wheels, he talked himself into our Hartmann line with the HR8-GS:M wheels in 19x8.5 and a 38mm offset. Lowered on STāSIS Streetsport Coil-Overs, the stance on this B7 A4 with the R8 style wheels is just stunning. Good choice, Anthony!







All 19" Hartmann Wheel purchases are currently eligible to receive a set of 235/35-19 Dunlop Sport Maxx tires mounted and balanced for free and at a cost of $600 for the set - a $200 savings from leading tire distributors like Tire Rack!!

[Dion@Achtuning]

Believe it or not, due to popular demand:



Sizes available: small, medium, large, X-large, and kid's XL.

[Anthony]

Dion, great thread!!!

And I might have to get my gf one of those shirts. We too are actually doing a little something special n' pink in October, similar to last year.

[Dion@Achtuning]

Barrier Motors (thanks Nico!) brought by the latest B8 chassis Audi A4 for us to check out - thought we'd share some pictures here with you.





The design of the front-end is very much like the already released B8 chassis Audi A5 and S5, with slight differences to distinguish this model. The front fascia still includes Audi's open-grille design and now larger cooling ducts in the lower section of the bumper, giving it a rather aggressive front-end. The B8 A4 is also 4 inches longer compared to the previous B7 model, and you'll notice some different body line along the side of the new B8 A4.



And of course the headlight re-design now includes the very familiar white LEDs that really separate the Audi from the rest of the vehicles on the road.







We needed the car here so we can get a brake template made for the car. Brake templates allow us to determine which of the Hartmann Wheels we have that will fit the car. Brake-wise, there won't be any clearance issues however the all new B8 chassis cars have a 66.6 center bore (similar to Mercedes Benz) so our entire product line-up will need to change to accomodate this new hub size. We will have Hartmann Wheel solutions coming soon, as well as a new B8 Audi A4 section in our online catalog.

The engine bay is certainly different as well... The oil filter relocated up top was one of the first changes easily noticeable and obviously makes for a much easier oil filter swap. APR is almost ready to release ECU programming for the new 2.0L TFSI motor and we can't wait to see what kind of power gains we can expect to see for it!





We noticed the battery has been relocated to the trunk, and further below the spare tire (which is not full-sized) and we were happy to see the famed "widow-maker" jack is no longer being supplied.



... And the 125/70-19 spare tire... Yikes!!



Stay tuned to our online catalog for new B8 A4 products coming soon!!

[khyber]

Dion, great thread!!!

And I might have to get my gf one of those shirts. We too are actually doing a little something special n' pink in October, similar to last year.

+1, I definitely enjoyed this thread and can't wait to see more.

[dchan189]

Thanks for all the updates. Great Thread.

[Dion@Achtuning]

I can't find my car!!





Another container of wheels arrived today. We've brought in several close-out wheels that we'll be throwing up on our website in the next few days. Winter unfortunately isn't too far away either so now is the time to think about your winter wheel set-ups!

[Dion@Achtuning]

Pictures revived!!

Working on updating our current image gallery but should have new entries posted within the next day or two. Thanks for looking. :)

[RomanA6]

hahah then a few comments: the wheels on that Allroad look WAAAAYYY too big

that yellow Widebody S4 is sexy!

what kind of wheels do you guys carry? and seats? looking for Recaro's and 5x130 Porsche bolt pattern wheels

[Dion@Achtuning]

what kind of wheels do you guys carry? and seats? looking for Recaro's and 5x130 Porsche bolt pattern wheels

I'm proud to say our Hartmann Wheel line is the best on the market with regard to quality. We feature Audi, VW, BMW, Porsche, and Mercedes style wheels made in foundries in both Germany and Italy. Check out either the www.achtuning.com or www.hartmannwheel.com website to view our wheel selections. We are also a distributor for Work Wheels.

I do have Porsche-design wheels in a 5x130 bolt pattern in stock. Quantities are getting very limited as all Porsche, BMW, and Mercedes style wheels are 30% off listed prices on www.hartmannwheels.com. Feel free to contact me directly to check availability and pricing.

If Recaros are what you're after, we happen to be just down the road from one of the country's largest stocking distributors of Recaro. I'm sure we can help you source those as well... Contact us directly with any inquiries you might have.

[vtracer20]

damn....

[Dion@Achtuning]

All STaSIS Streetsport applications at Achtuning are $100 off MSRP. Arthur stopped in today and dropped off his 3.2 FSI Audi B7 A4 with us to take advantage of the savings and get a set installed on his car.





STaSIS Streetsport Coil-Overs are by far the best bang-for-buck coil-over kit on the market! Contact us right away to get in on your savings.

[Dion@Achtuning]

Walked into the office this morning to find that we're apparently offering a killer deal for A5/S5 owners...

We're offering our Hartmann HS5-209-GA:M wheels in packages with either STaSIS Ohlins SL coilovers, H&R coilovers or H&R springs at a combined discounted price as well as free shipping*!

Please call to order as this deal is not available online! 1-877-722-4886.

Package 1 | 19" 209s with H&R springs, only $1,299!

Package 2 | 19" 209s with H&R Coilovers, only $2,199!

Package 3 | 19" 209s with STaSIS Ohlins SL Coilovers, only $3,099!

Package 4 | 20" 209s with H&R springs, only $1,599!

Package 5 | 20" 209s with H&R Coilovers, only $2,499!

Package 6 | 20" 209s with STaSIS Ohlins SL Coilovers, only $3,499!

As an added bonus we're also offering a STaSIS A5 or S5 exhaust system with any of the STaSIS Ohlins SL packages for a price that is too low to advertise =)











*Free shipping applies to DHL ground shipments inside the continental USA. Wheels do not include tires. Either the H&R 29059-1 or 29061-1 springs may be selected. A5 exhaust requires S5 rear valence.

[Dion@Achtuning]

Keeping with tradition, we of course had another busy Friday today. Almost every US-represented German make showed up for one thing or another...

First we have Definitive Motors bringing by a Mercedes SLK280. The Hartmann 280B Wheel is a replica of a wheel found on an SLK55 and was a great "upgrade" for this car at only $240 a wheel!!







Definitive also brought us this e92 BMW 328i that also suffered from a "weak" stance with the stock 16" wheels. The Hartmann "Spark" is a steal at only $150 each, a no-brainer for anyone looking for a very inexpensive way to spice up the look of their BMW and get into an 18" wheel. The offset is a bit high on this particular application so H&R spacers are on order to push the wheels out a touch.





Christian brought us his 2008 Audi A3 tFSI. This black-on-black beauty received STaSIS Streetsport Coil-Overs midly dropping the car and giving it the stance most of enthusiasts are after. Wheels are apparently next on the list although the stock wheels still look good on this application...



APR chipping is almost a daily occurrence at Achtuning...



An Audi C5 A6 4.2L currently sits on the lift as it is getting the StopTech Stage 2 brake upgrade. When in need of new rotors and pads, StopTech's stage kits offer a complete package with better stopping power.

Is the weekend here yet?? =P

[Dion@Achtuning]

Don't miss out on our Package specials!
http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...09#post2867109

Our first victim... (teaser shot)



This was merely a test-fit of the 19" wheels. Hoping to have the car back within a week or so for suspension installation and 20s!!

[Dion@Achtuning]

Work VS-XX wheels are hot no matter the application, and this B7 S4 Avant in white is no exception! Bob had picked these up from us this last June and it wasn't until now that we were able to take some decent pictures of the set-up.



This B7 S4 Avant sits on the STaSIS Ohlin SL Coil-Over Kit and grumbles slightly with the STaSIS Signature Series Cat-Back Exhaust it has installed. There's not much more I'd want to change about this car...

Bob lives in Washington half the year and in Arizona the other half so he wanted to swing by and show us his latest addition to this gorgeous avant before taking it away to warmer temperatures...



Using one of our connections, we had Bob's grille piece sent out to get hand-wrapped in carbon fiber per his request. Once we got it back, we had Accutint in Bellevue cover it with 3M protective film so the piece would not chip from rocks on its journey south. It wasn't until now that we were able to see the final product on the car and we couldn't be happier with the results!

[Dion@Achtuning]

Last Friday I mentioned we got another sneak-peak at the B8 A5. This silver S-Line was brought to us by a potential customer who was kind enough to let us take a brake template from his car so we can get a good idea of the types of wheels we'll have available for this car.



Of course we had to take as many pictures as we could to "soak-in" the beauty that is the B8 A5...





The 66.6mm center bore and high offset specs on the B8 A5s make it difficult for the majority of our current line-up to fit so we're working on bringing in some new wheels...



We then took the new Hartmann S5-209 Wheel in 19x8.5 (et25) and threw on a set for comparison. The factory wheel is the same size but 7mm further in so you can see how a 7mm difference in offset gives the car just that slight "edge" and makes for a bit of an aggressive look.







The car will be back to have H&R coil-overs installed soon so you can expect updated pictures then. The wheel selection hasn't been confirmed just yet as we hope to have a few more new styles in soon to offer the A5/S5 customers.

[cellg8]

just wanna give you guys lots of credit for keep posting on this thread... thumbs up for dedication and great pics/stories!

[Dion@Achtuning]

Oh good! Wasn't sure if anyone was reading these... =P

[eddiecut]

I think its sweet.

[Dion@Achtuning]

A "Hello" from Bill while he's attending the Frankfurt Auto Show in Germany. (Yes, we hate him.) He sends us pictures of some of the things that have caught his eye and we're happy to share them with you.

(Click on thumbnails for larger image)



Some pretty cool stuff! Very happy to see a couple of different VW Scirocco color options. The Audi Q5 and A3 Cabrio are good-lookers and that DTM B8 Audi A4 is just ridiculous!

As we see more pictures get added to Bill's gallery, we'll be happy to share them here with you.

[Anthony]

I'm really liking that new Scirocco!

[Mattgfx]

This thread is sick , nice stuff you going have

[Dion@Achtuning]

A few more pictures from "Bill's Excellent Adventure" in Germany, including a visit to Oettinger Headquarters...

[Dion@Achtuning]

This segment of Bill’s trip through Germany while he was there attending the 2008 Automechanika Event in Frankfurt includes a visit to Audi’s headquarters in Neckarslum, Germany. This is the same place you will go if you are taking advantage of Audi’s European Delivery Program.

[Dion@Achtuning]

It was unfortunate that they were unable to check out the factory Audi R8 tour which had been “closed” temporarily while some “top secret” changes were being made to the R8 line-up. (Hmmm….) However they did get a private escort through the R8 pre-delivery area where there were about 40 different variations of the Audi R8, all with a different color combination or interior trim. Cameras unfortunately were not allowed…

Bill added that the A6 and All-Roads are now the new face-lifted design that just came out this last week. One of the very first RS6 sedans had just rolled off the assembly line and was being prepped for delivery. The Q7 S-line was a very cool look and appeared to be about 2″ lower. The most popular car being prepped by far was Audi’s B8 A5, an obvious “Hot Seller”. And finally, the Gold TT pictured is their latest which features the Audi S3 motor.

[Dion@Achtuning]

H&R spacers allow you to change the stance of your vehicle by pushing the wheel away from your hub based on the size spacer. Longer wheel bolts are then used to accommodate for the extra "space" and bolt the wheel to the hub with the spacer in between. H&R spacers are many times installed only to make an aesthetic difference and change vehicle stance but there are some instances where H&R spacers are needed for specific wheels and their offsets to clear suspension components. Take Brandon's black mk4 1.8T GTI for example...



In order to run these specific 18x8.5, 35mm offset wheels at the height his car sits with his FK coil-overs, 10mm hubcentric H&R spacers were required to push the inside of the wheel and tire away from the suspension components. This allowed Brandon to keep the extreme lowered stance he was after.



Consequently the outer clearance between tire and fender is minimized accordingly so care has to be used on tight cornering or hard bumps to keep the 225/40 tire from hitting the fender. Brandon has plans to roll his front fenders to give the tires additional clearance. And since the fronts were pushed out, the rear wheels naturally had to get pushed out as well to match the front stance and H&R's 15mm spacers were selected. This aggressive stance completely transforms the look of the GTI and goes to show how much a car's looks can change with such a small and simple modification.











Achtuning stocks a wide variety of H&R Wheel Spacers, ranging from 5mm on up to 30mm for VW and Audi applications. We also stock 4x100, 5x100, and 5x112 H&R Wheel Adapters that enable you to run 5x130 Porsche wheels or even some 5x120 BMW wheels for you 5x100 guys. Contact us directly if you have any fitment questions!

[Dion@Achtuning]

The Audi "Turbine" wheel on Steven's D3 A8 was never a favorite of his. Fortunately we had the Hartmann QS-10 wheel as an alternative. The Hartmann QS-10 is a style taken from one of the Audi Q7 wheels and mimics the split-spoke design of the B7 RS4 wheel, but with 3 additional spokes. The stance on this A8 never changed since the Hartmann QS-10 is available in the same 20x9 size the "Turbine" wheel is, which made the decision that much easier for Steven.



Tires were supplied and we had TPM sensors that had to be removed from the original set-up and transferred over to the new wheels. This swap is fairly simple however in this particular case, new TPM sensor valve stems had to be supplied since the old ones had been seized - thankfully we stock the necessary hardware to make things work. Before long, sensors were swapped over and this D3 A8 was sitting pretty with the new wheels... an even more elegant look then what the "Turbines" offer!

[will175]

^^I like the second set alot better.

[Dion@Achtuning]

This Mk5 Jetta from Campbell Nelson VW was brought to us today. The new owner of the vehicle arranged to have his Hartmann Wheel purchase worked into the deal with his sales representative and the car was brought to us prior to vehicle pick-up.

The weapon of choice for this Mk5 is the Hartmann S8-454 Wheel, a style commonly found on D3 S8s and B7 S4s. Opting for an 18" wheel, all-season Falken 912 tires in 225/40-18 were mounted and balanced prior to installation.



The 47mm offset was selected in the 18x8 Hartmann S8-454s which is a VW Mk5-friendly stance, allowing for plenty of brake clearance and staying well within the fender. Campbell Nelson is also sending the customer back to us later to have us install Neuspeed Sport Springs which will bring both front and rear arches about 1.5" down from where it sits now.





Updated pictures with the new lowered stance to come soon!!