18" B8 S4 wheels on my B7 A4 - with ST Coilovers

[fordyoz]

Hey guys - I did my first wheel change and had my coilovers installed this weekend. Thanks to Carson (CDesign) for a great price on my ST Coilovers, Eddy (BaLLZDeePNYC) for hooking me up with his 18" B8 S4 wheels, and Ese (akaEsCo01) for fitting me in last minute and doing a great job on the install.

After doing some research about fitting B8 wheels on a B7, I was worried that I might run into some fitment issues but the wheels fit fine as is. The B8 wheels clear my brakes fine, and there is little to no vibration. Right now there are no spacers on, and no hub centric rings (I have 8mm fronts and 15 mm rears + hub rings coming in the mail).

The coilovers feel great so far - the ride doesnt feel too much different than stock in my opinion. Here are a few before and afters...I will update the pics again after I put the spacers on.

http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z424/fordyoz1/100_0449.jpg
http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z424/fordyoz1/100_0443.jpg
after

http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z424/fordyoz1/100_0501.jpg
http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z424/fordyoz1/100_0502.jpg

I put the spacers and hub rings on today. Here is the final product. Im going to wash it and take some less rushed photos this weekend.

http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z424/fordyoz1/afterspcaer3.jpg
http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z424/fordyoz1/aftereverything3.jpg

[Quattro SFC]

Looks good! Now debadge! =P

[b18flip]

looks good, any pics from the side?

[TMurt]

looks good, any pics from the side?

X2, or a more frontal shot

[Der Konig]

muuuuuch better! more pics!

[ENV²]

Looks great AJ! LOL funny how everyone else wants a side shot too! It was a pleasure meeting you and the deal couldnt have been more fluid. Im happy I sold to you. Seems like you will truly appreciate te wheels. Just so you know those Pirellis can be a little noisy on certain roads, nothing the radio cant handle lol. Let me know as soon as you get the spacers and hub rings then debadge clean her up and hit some glamour shots lol!

Also get some tinted side markers front and back or clear ones since your car is black asap! (not sure if they make these since I dont know too much about the B6/B7)

[GarrettReid]

It looks a lot better then I was expecting. I don't mean that in a bad way. Those wheels really don't go with any of the lines of the B7, or the B8 for that matter.

[akaEsCo01]

Looking good. You couldn't have picked a better first mod, props for doing it right. See you around bro

[fordyoz]

Thanks for the input guys. I'm not really a fan of de-badging, but Im going to look into some side markers. Hopefully I am putting on the spacers and hub rings today, then I will get some better pictures to post up. Great to meet you, Eddy and Ese.

[TMurt]

Thanks for the input guys. I'm not really a fan of de-badging, but Im going to look into some side markers. Hopefully I am putting on the spacers and hub rings today, then I will get some better pictures to post up. Great to meet you, Eddy and Ese.

ESC has the smoked and clear sidemarkers on sale for $3. I have a pic of mine with the clear ones if you want to see them

[fordyoz]

thanks. sure, id like to see them

[TMurt]

Here's a couple different shots, I could only find one other black b7 with the clear ones when I searched. They can be a PITA to swap out though

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-ev5u0JR7ikk/Te6ug72UQbI/AAAAAAAAAOU/fMEdIpui_1c/s512/Washed%252520004.JPG

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-4ktgzh-IFyo/Te6tuSd912I/AAAAAAAAAN0/VAzJNcpKI1c/s640/Washed%252520006.JPG

[Coderedpl]

If you're going to do sidemarkers, I vote for either color-matched, or smoked. I personally don't like how the clear ones look on the black cars.

[Koby]

looks good, post side pics

[ENV²]

im with codered on this one. go smoked or black vinyled front and rear markers

[TMurt]

If you're going to do sidemarkers, I vote for either color-matched, or smoked. I personally don't like how the clear ones look on the black cars.

To be honest, I don't know how I feel about them either. I saw they were being sold for $3 so there wasn't a lot to lose. I might dish out another $10 for the smoked ones if I decide I don't like the clear ones enough

[fordyoz]

Yea thanks for telling me about the ECS sale. For $3 each, I picked up a set of clears and smoked. Ill try both to see which ones I like better. Thanks for the pictures, too.

[ENV²]

Keep me posted the suspense of the WIN build is awesome.

[fordyoz]

Just put on the rings and spacers - a couple new pictures for you guys.
I think I need to raise the back a tiny bit, and lower the front a tiny bit.
And I think I need bigger spacers...

[fordyoz]

Added smoked side markers to the front. had access to a better camera and took some better shots this week. So here are some new pictures!

http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z424/fordyoz1/DSC02075.jpg
http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z424/fordyoz1/DSC02074.jpg
http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z424/fordyoz1/DSC02051.jpg

[maidest]

just curious about how you feel about the STs now after driving with them for a while. Also what is your height FTG in front and rear if you don't mind, and is there any room to go lower?

[RJMars]

If you're going to do sidemarkers, I vote for either color-matched, or smoked. I personally don't like how the clear ones look on the black cars.

My advice is to just black vinyl them (BMW Shadowline,) that is if you do not care about losing the functionality. But it's the easiest and cheapest option out there.

[fordyoz]

just curious about how you feel about the STs now after driving with them for a while. Also what is your height FTG in front and rear if you don't mind, and is there any room to go lower?

This is the only set of coilovers Ive ever driven on, so I dont really have anything to compare it do besides stock (and honestly I forget what stock feels like), but - they feel fine and I am happy with them. Ill have to measure my FTG someday. There is room to go lower, I just dont know how much. If I went lower in the back I would rub. I barely have any wiggle room in the back with 15mm spacers. The front was rubbing at that height with 8mm spacers so I took them off for the time being.


My advice is to just black vinyl them (BMW Shadowline,) that is if you do not care about losing the functionality. But it's the easiest and cheapest option out there.
Thanks for the input. I hadn't even thought about wrapping the sidemarkers with shadowline. And it just so happens that I have some leftover from wrapping my window trim. Looks like the front and rear side markers are getting wrapped with vinyl next weekend haha.

[RJMars]

Thanks for the input. I hadn't even thought about wrapping the sidemarkers with shadowline. And it just so happens that I have some leftover from wrapping my window trim. Looks like the front and rear side markers are getting wrapped with vinyl next weekend haha.

Yea I am not sure if I have seen anyone else do it besides me. The day I shadowlined my trim (2 years ago, should probably re-do it fresh) I had some leftover and was originally thinking of colormatching, but I figured this was so easy and looks good.

And don't hate me for my wheelgap, I already do. I am now considering ST CO's after this and another recent thread.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/281290_629440015639_63800033_33673085_5280897_n.jp g

[fordyoz]

RJMars - wrapped my front and back side markers with some leftover shadowline. Looks good. Also plasti-dipped the chrome around my grill.

http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z424/fordyoz1/DSC03191.jpg

[CleverA4Name]

Car looks great, not a fan of the wheels though [>_>]

[Inked]

I like the wheels, you really dont see them on any a4s, at least around here.

+1 for doing something different!!

[RJMars]

RJMars - wrapped my front and back side markers with some leftover shadowline. Looks good. Also plasti-dipped the chrome around my grill.

http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/z424/fordyoz1/DSC03191.jpg

Looks great!