Originally Posted by
kj71109
TriTexan could you post where you got those Rs6 wheels and the price? I wanted to keep the OEM 21" wheel, but it just wasn't wide enough for my liking. This RS6 wheel you got seems to be just perfect. If you don't want to post here, could you PM me the details? Thanks!
I don't mind sharing at all! Minor soap box - I personally think we miss out on a lot of progress as a society because we are SO into privacy. People don't want to be watched or tracked. And I get that. But as long as it is not misused and not personal, that kind of information is what gets us better products, services, and more. Sharing information - even semi personal financial information, is a good thing. Take cars - if everyone would share what they paid for a car, we as customers would know exactly what was a fair price. Websites like TruCar exist and make money entirely from gathering up this information and giving us a chart of what others paid so we can get the best deal. If you didn't have that information you could get a totally raw deal on your car purchase. The more we are willing to share, the more benefit we all get. Yes, some stuff is personal and yes, bad people can mis-use our information. But the way to deal with issues like identity theft is to round up and punish the thieves. Trying to hide all your information does protect you a very tiny bit, but it makes everything else that the "good guys" are trying to do more difficult. The "good guys" are everyone from companies you do business with and stores you shop at to government agencies to family and friends. Just look how powerful sharing makes sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. If you don't offer up some amount of personal information, all those connections, old classmates, and all that stuff don't work very well.
OK...sorry for the derailment! If you follow me on other forums you'll quickly learn I am VERBOSE. Love it or hate it that's OK by me. It's who I am and unlikely to change. ;) But I hope my posts provide both insight and value as well as just being good conversation.
Now to business - I got these off eBay. There's a guy selling take-offs in various conditions from brand new to slightly curbed. His username is "alpenfelgenhandel" and I think his name is Sahin. The prices vary based on condition and such. I know I paid a premium at around $3000 but that got me a complete set of high quality OEM wheels that were a PERFECT fit and precisely the color my wife loves. I've seen him sell these for 2500 up to 3500. He sells quite a few Audi wheels and has great feedback. He shipped for free from Germany.
Regarding my specific transaction a few notes.
First - there is apparently some kind of issue between eBay Germany and eBay USA with regard to the item pictures. When I bought these I - for better or worse but in hindsight worse - did not happen to see his other listings. When I did so later on I noticed the exact same picture was on every listing. Personally I think you should post pictures of the ACTUAL ITEM you are selling since it's a used item. He will send you highly detailed pictures of the set or sets you are interested in, but only if you know to ask. In my eBay feedback I suggested that since he knows about this issue he should disclose it in the ad text and tell buyers they need to ask for actual pics as the one in the listing is just a stock photo of one wheel he took in his driveway. Since the description said tiny nicks and scratches in only a few spots, and since I have a really awesome wheel repair and refinishing shop close by that I planned to use to restore these as needed, I was not as worried about the exact, precise location and size of every tiny chip and nick in the finish. I know some guys and gals are 400% anal retentive about their wheels being utter perfection so you need to keep that in mind if you are one of them. Buy one of his "perfect OEM" sets if that's a deal breaker and be prepared to pay accordingly.
Second, I had some shipping angst. Sahin doesn't speak English very well and although he sent tracking numbers for DHL, I was never able to pull up a valid shipment on DHL.com. He assured me via private messages that all was well but he could never explain to me how to track my expensive shipment. If it weren't for ebay and PayPal providing some safety if my transaction went awry I would NOT have been happy with this aspect. I was not in a hurry for these and I shipped them to my office since there is always someone there to sign for things and they keep all of our packages locked up and secure. But I had no idea where it was along the way or when to expect it. The wheels did arrive a few days later than the latest promised shipping date but the seller also notified me that he was late in getting them shipped.
Overall however, the wheels were as I expected and they were straight and perfectly true. The finish was in perfect shape - pristine and glossy except for some tiny nicks and scratches as described. One wheel was absolutely perfect - zero touch up needed. Another was nearly so and I might have gotten away with some compounding and aggressive polishing. The other two had tiny spots that most people would be happy just using touch up paint on.
When I mounted tires, one wheel and tire balanced perfectly without weights. Another required only one .25 Oz weight on the inside and none on the outside (the area behind the wheel face where you are likely to see them more) . The remaining two also needed only very small amounts of weight. It's a testament to the tight tolerances. On the spin balancer I could see these wheels were perfectly straight and true as well.
The seller did a good job with packaging too. The boxes were heavy duty and sealed well and had multiple layers of extra protection and closed cell foam to keep things nice and safe even with overseas shipping, the charges for which the seller covered.
I also bought these as one of a number of different gifts (not all car stuff FWIW!) for my wife's as our 20th wedding anniversary. So the cost wasn't as big of an issue in this particular compared to getting something really special. Since I had some idea that few or no people had done this yet I thought it would be something distinctive for her.
Overall these were an excellent purchase for me and my specific needs and situation. Your needs, budget, goals, etc may be different.
If you DO end up buying wheels from this guy you should be happy. And would you also tell him that eBay user "txtriguy" sent you to him? My review of my purchase experience was honest, candid, and truthful but he got his feelings hurt because I said I couldn't track my purchase and because the picture wasn't of the actual item. But I told him the product was great and I would do business with him again no problem. He also seems to be THE go-to guy for good quality OEM take-off wheels.
I even went to my Audi dealer to try to order a set. They said NO WAY. Audi won't even sell you the wheels here in the USA because it is a Europe only part #. WTH? So that left me no option but to look for other sources. I could have gone custom with some HRE's or Forgelines or another top flight wheel builder. But in this case the wife and I really like the 21's that came on the car but just wanted to turn it up a notch. Being a female the style of these are a bit softer than the harder, more straight lines of the factory setup but they still blend well with the overall
Anyway - I hope that gives everyone a good feel for the path I took and what factors and choices came into play.
Now I'm heading out to run a few errands so we can get packed up...another gift I got her was a week long luxury cruise around the Caribbean. We leave TOMORROW - woo hoo!!
Post up if you have ANY questions at all, I'll do my best to answer them.
-=Eric=-
"TriTexan"
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