B8.5 Glacier allroad w/ KW v3 and some HRE content

[Malk]

Hats off to Erwheezy and lowroad for doing it right when it comes to white allroads. Air and BBS CH-R achieve what I consider a legendary and timeless combo on one of the best looking vehicles on the road. Not to mention tearing apart a new car and piecing together a kit from the B6/7 takes serious cojones. Only at RPI

Moving in a little different direction, I aimed for oem or better ride quality/comfort and reduced body roll/increased turn-in crispness.

Big thanks to Jose and the whole team at Euro Tech Motors on Washington in West LA for taking care of the kw v3 install. When it comes to customer service, they take exceeding expectations to new levels. It's always refreshing to experience someone striving for their personal best in every job they take on, and just by talking to Jose it's immediately clear he takes the utmost pride no matter how minor the issue.

Wheels - Mercedes S550 fitment HRE M45 monoblocks Front 20x9 et 39 + 12mm H&R Spacers Rear 20x10 et 39

--Someone actually chrome plated these instead of just polishing but the price w/tires was too good to pass up so I just dipped them sorry HRE finish department, although maybe we could work out a shoot in exchange for refinishing with tinted clear and engraving the HRE logo Oh hello Lon

--I actually like the texture on the flat 5 spokes and in most light its pretty close to the grey cladding, it was planned as temporary but its growing on me.

--Given the option of staggered or square, I would have chosen 20x11 et 35 all around instead of adding to understeer but now I can run reverse staggered in the name of science and see the difference in skidpad #'s

Tires - Pirelli Pzeros Front: 255/35r20 Rear: 275/35/275

--These would be close to S body Merc factory size tires on these rim widths and don't impact ride quality noticeably, well at least they have less impact then 255/30 on 10.5's I'm not used to having 2 1/2" sidewalls on 20's and although I'm not the biggest fan of how they look, a big grin shows up when they start rolling.

All in all I'm extremely satisfied with the results although lowroad's pics/commercial always gets me, it's a rolling sculpture but I also enjoy spirited driving and comfortable touring too much to give it up for now. If/when I do, I have a set of 25mm dra spacers for the fronts + move the 12mm to the rear + 245/35 front 255/35 rear tires and spin the coils down 3/4". The fender liner screw was removed so the only minor rubbing was at full lock going through switchbacks but the tire friction just melts the inner plastic so if you run your finger where the screw used to be there's a 1mm curve missing.

Since the pictures I had 3M 30% installed on all 7 windows, pics to follow.

These are just some point n shoot pics, the car wasn't washed and I lack skills:

[dropshadow]

Interesting color combo for sure. I love what you guys are doing with allroads, especially the white ones.

[ultra]

looks good, congrats

[naldyb6]

Damn! Awesome work

[crand002]

Looks great, welcome to the lowered Allroad family.

[Simon of Elmet]

Sehr schön!!

[CLEANA3]

Very nice . Looks super tuff

[Erwheezy]

Looks great. How does the KW's ride? May switch things up on my car and do some thing similar to you. Raise her up a bit and run thick meaty tires.

[Malk]

@dropshadow - thanks, glacier turns smokey in the shade, tough to put into words but it is different
@ultra - appreciated, looking forward to mods on the volcano, stg 3?

@naldyb6, @CLEANA3 - appreciate the feedback

@crand002 - thanks, feels good being in the fam

@Sassenach - sheh sheh sehr geschätzt

@Erwheezy - They make it feel composed and planted without making bumps too harsh. These tires have a comfy reputation and being a little meaty adds to the cushion. The coil's ride on stock tires for example was very impressive/smooth but couldn't be sure if it was due to the 245/45's all seasons on 8.5's. You may feel the bumps more but it seems like the struts do a great job communicating them into feedback comfortably and I kept the kw factory settings for damping/rebound, around the middle I'm sure, so they could always be made softer. I'm satisfied with the balance for now though. The springs feel well matched to the struts and weight of the car as the v3 part numbers for b8 s4 and a4 avant overlapped. Only downside I noticed in reviews was eventual sagging rears so I added the 30mm kw spacers in the rear for peace of mind. They are spun all the way down in the rear believe it or not.

How do the H&R's ride on the allroad with the 255/35's on 10's? Are you still thinking about a grill swap?

I saw this C6 RS6 in Japan a while ago with 21" ADV7 DC wheels and KW v3's and he was a fan with 30 series Pzero Neros. I'm sure their RS6 kit is a little more developed but it's nice to know they're relatives.

[Erwheezy]

@Malk the H&R's ride nice, a little bumpier than stock but definitely not bone jarring. I debated which brand coilover to go with and decided against kw because of the sagging rears. I only wish that the h&r's had an option to add spacers because I would like to raise the rears up a bit and put spacers to get a more flush fitment. I may eventually switch to KW's to get the ride height that I would be happy with.

[Malk]

@Erwheezy
The spacer sleeves over the adjustable spring seat and has a lip in the center acting as the new spring seat. Just judging by a few pictures of the b8 H&R and KW kits they are the same design so they would work if the size was right. If a vender for both kw and h&r on the forum would tell you their spring seat sizes in mm it may work. I would bet they do although neither would endorse it.

[ultra]

nope no stg 3 for this one, as far as I know apr has no tune for it so thats off the table
for right now, beauty before speed in this case lol

[Erwheezy]

@malk I have considered ordering the kw sleeve I have even started a post about it, but never got any solid answers. The only thing that may be different is for some reason the adjustable perch is on the bottom for the h&r's and on top for the kw's

[Esoteric]

Sorry to hijack a bit - Ultra, I couldn't find any threads about your car. Is it on order, or is it here? Pics? Are you doing full body colour (custom obviously) or two tone?

Inquiring minds want to know. Volcano should look wicked on this car...

[Malk]

@Erwheezy

After looking at the kits installed, I see what you mean so the H&R springs bottom seat would have to be same size of KW springs top seat. Although it sounds unlikely I have heard of techs installing used springs upside down after the part #'s wore off by accident so it's possible. Even though the adjustment coils are on the bottom, they would still work.

034 I'm sure does H&R installs pretty often (on any B8 chassis ex. a/s5 a/s4) so I'd tell KW your situation and mention the results could mean a lot of spacer sales for KW if they are interchangeable and they may ship them free, but was only $7 IIRC.
Tell them to send 034 the spacers and they can pop one on the H&R's before they get installed. If there's too much slop or it's too small, send them back to KW for a refund. They have a tough anodized coating so you could test them and they'd still look new. So for $14 max it would be an experiment worth doing IMO.

I would bet you the price of shipping both ways they would fit just too see if it works.

H&R:


KW:

KW w/ spacer:

[Erwheezy]

@malk thanks. Yeah I think I'll try that route under 20 bucks to get the ride height I want seems like a low risk gamble.

[ultra]

Sorry to hijack a bit - Ultra, I couldn't find any threads about your car. Is it on order, or is it here? Pics? Are you doing full body colour (custom obviously) or two tone?

Inquiring minds want to know. Volcano should look wicked on this car...

ok one quick pic so it isn''t full hi-jack mode plus I dont have many either , but yes I have had the car since 01/01/13
and I have not done a build thread since there really aren't any mods to speak of yet .



and for some reason photobucket ruined the color in the pic and won't let me edit it either

[lowroad]

Looks great! The dark coloured wheels make it look really utilitarian. The way an Allroad should be!!

[b6bydesign04]

Looks great! Just curious, do you have the part number for the KW V3's by any chance?