AudinLA
11-22-2013, 11:20 AM
Hi all. I'm hoping someone out there has the magic answers because I can't be the ONLY guy dealing with this.
So I recently bought Blue, sight unseen, from NYC and had it shipped to my home in LA, CA. I already knew about the inner front tire wear issue due to the installed STASIS Touring suspension (Springs and sway bar). The thought of replacing $400 tires every six months didn't seem like a good option to me so I spoke to the good people at Ecode Tuning and had them fit the SPC sport adjustable upper control arms. I then went to a local tire place, Allen Tires, (which Ecode recommended as having done many of their alignments before), to immediately get the alignment done.
I showed and they put the car on the rack and I was immediately glad to be there because the initial numbers showed that I was running more then -2 camber front and rear. They made their adjustments and below is the sheet. They said it was the best they could do.
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a52/josephgatt/Blue%20S4%20-%20Alignment%20-%20SPC/S4Align1-AllenTire-1.jpeg (http://s9.photobucket.com/user/josephgatt/media/Blue%20S4%20-%20Alignment%20-%20SPC/S4Align1-AllenTire-1.jpeg.html)
I left a happy guy thinking all was well. But then I hit a bump driving back to LA and all the christmas tree lights started going nuts on my dash. Traction Cont, Park Brake, TPS, ABS, Navigation froze, ADS, everything. I called a left a message for Ecode Tuning and took another day to drive back down to Audi Pacific to figure out what the hell was going on since we had a road trip planned that evening! They showed me the problem. After adjusting the upper control arms out to point where they could get the camber to -1 (roughly), the arms were so long that the moment I hit a serious bump in the road, they totally cut through the part of the wiring loom which passes through the wheel well leading to all of the wheel sensors! Audi said it would mean repairing and re-routing those wires on both sides of the car. This would cost about $500-1200 and a loaner for a few days. I was pissed to say the least. I was under the impression I was paying out to solve a problem and then created another. Am I really the only person to experience this? I had read many many threads on many forums about people getting the SPC arms fitted and not one person mentioned this issue. [facepalm]
Luckily, Ecode called just as I was about to give the go ahead to Audi to do the work. They said to immediately bring them the car and they'd get it done. So I did and they did. Ian did an awesome job of repairing those wires and re-routing the loom safely under the mud guards, well away from any moving parts... and it took him less than two hours! I showed David (manager at Ecode) what Allen tire had done and he said they totally screwed up the caster as it should be at about +4-5 and they hadn't properly aligned the toe and camber. This was an issue because I couldn't afford to take another full day driving all the way back down to Torrence again to get this work redone by a bunch of idiots who screwed it up in the first place. They wouldn't make a free adjustment and they wouldn't refund. I hope they're happy with the pictures they got from me posing with the staff and customers (I'm an actor) while I was being screwed out of $100. [headbang]
So, I went to Just Tires in Beverly Hills near where I live. Theo pontificated about how he's an expert on these matters and that they have the best and newest alignment machine etc etc. Anyway, I was privileged to be charged $200! A premium because I had a "modified" car and the work would be much more difficult than a regular car (even though all the adjustment points where all the same). So, he gets the car onto the ramp and sets up the machine. The first thing I noticed was that the initial measurements were nothing close to what the final results were from Allen Tires! See for yourself! Almost every measurement was WAY off! Anyway, Theo set about his work... all the while telling me HE knew best when I'd ask him to make the settings the way the pro's at Ecode had recommended. While he's measuring caster by using his fingers in the wheels arches he's telling me that Ecode don't know anything!! Below is what Just Tires did. [wrench]
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a52/josephgatt/Blue%20S4%20-%20Alignment%20-%20SPC/S4Align2-JustTires-1.jpeg (http://s9.photobucket.com/user/josephgatt/media/Blue%20S4%20-%20Alignment%20-%20SPC/S4Align2-JustTires-1.jpeg.html)
I emailed this to Ecode and they said that the caster should be at about +4-5 at least, and that the camber and toe still wasn't even on both sides. So, after many attempts at trying to get the car back into Just Tires to redo/readjust their bad alignment, and after Theo took the car out and almost destroyed my front splitter, they at least agreed to refund me my $200 saying they could adjust it the way I wanted and that what I'm asking for is "impossible"!!
So I'm asking for help.
Is there anyone out there in the LA / SoCal Area who has a lowered B8 S4 with SPC cont arms who's had any of the above issues or has successfully had their car aligned?
Thanks. [confused]
So I recently bought Blue, sight unseen, from NYC and had it shipped to my home in LA, CA. I already knew about the inner front tire wear issue due to the installed STASIS Touring suspension (Springs and sway bar). The thought of replacing $400 tires every six months didn't seem like a good option to me so I spoke to the good people at Ecode Tuning and had them fit the SPC sport adjustable upper control arms. I then went to a local tire place, Allen Tires, (which Ecode recommended as having done many of their alignments before), to immediately get the alignment done.
I showed and they put the car on the rack and I was immediately glad to be there because the initial numbers showed that I was running more then -2 camber front and rear. They made their adjustments and below is the sheet. They said it was the best they could do.
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a52/josephgatt/Blue%20S4%20-%20Alignment%20-%20SPC/S4Align1-AllenTire-1.jpeg (http://s9.photobucket.com/user/josephgatt/media/Blue%20S4%20-%20Alignment%20-%20SPC/S4Align1-AllenTire-1.jpeg.html)
I left a happy guy thinking all was well. But then I hit a bump driving back to LA and all the christmas tree lights started going nuts on my dash. Traction Cont, Park Brake, TPS, ABS, Navigation froze, ADS, everything. I called a left a message for Ecode Tuning and took another day to drive back down to Audi Pacific to figure out what the hell was going on since we had a road trip planned that evening! They showed me the problem. After adjusting the upper control arms out to point where they could get the camber to -1 (roughly), the arms were so long that the moment I hit a serious bump in the road, they totally cut through the part of the wiring loom which passes through the wheel well leading to all of the wheel sensors! Audi said it would mean repairing and re-routing those wires on both sides of the car. This would cost about $500-1200 and a loaner for a few days. I was pissed to say the least. I was under the impression I was paying out to solve a problem and then created another. Am I really the only person to experience this? I had read many many threads on many forums about people getting the SPC arms fitted and not one person mentioned this issue. [facepalm]
Luckily, Ecode called just as I was about to give the go ahead to Audi to do the work. They said to immediately bring them the car and they'd get it done. So I did and they did. Ian did an awesome job of repairing those wires and re-routing the loom safely under the mud guards, well away from any moving parts... and it took him less than two hours! I showed David (manager at Ecode) what Allen tire had done and he said they totally screwed up the caster as it should be at about +4-5 and they hadn't properly aligned the toe and camber. This was an issue because I couldn't afford to take another full day driving all the way back down to Torrence again to get this work redone by a bunch of idiots who screwed it up in the first place. They wouldn't make a free adjustment and they wouldn't refund. I hope they're happy with the pictures they got from me posing with the staff and customers (I'm an actor) while I was being screwed out of $100. [headbang]
So, I went to Just Tires in Beverly Hills near where I live. Theo pontificated about how he's an expert on these matters and that they have the best and newest alignment machine etc etc. Anyway, I was privileged to be charged $200! A premium because I had a "modified" car and the work would be much more difficult than a regular car (even though all the adjustment points where all the same). So, he gets the car onto the ramp and sets up the machine. The first thing I noticed was that the initial measurements were nothing close to what the final results were from Allen Tires! See for yourself! Almost every measurement was WAY off! Anyway, Theo set about his work... all the while telling me HE knew best when I'd ask him to make the settings the way the pro's at Ecode had recommended. While he's measuring caster by using his fingers in the wheels arches he's telling me that Ecode don't know anything!! Below is what Just Tires did. [wrench]
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a52/josephgatt/Blue%20S4%20-%20Alignment%20-%20SPC/S4Align2-JustTires-1.jpeg (http://s9.photobucket.com/user/josephgatt/media/Blue%20S4%20-%20Alignment%20-%20SPC/S4Align2-JustTires-1.jpeg.html)
I emailed this to Ecode and they said that the caster should be at about +4-5 at least, and that the camber and toe still wasn't even on both sides. So, after many attempts at trying to get the car back into Just Tires to redo/readjust their bad alignment, and after Theo took the car out and almost destroyed my front splitter, they at least agreed to refund me my $200 saying they could adjust it the way I wanted and that what I'm asking for is "impossible"!!
So I'm asking for help.
Is there anyone out there in the LA / SoCal Area who has a lowered B8 S4 with SPC cont arms who's had any of the above issues or has successfully had their car aligned?
Thanks. [confused]