Putting 20" RS4 rims on my S5?

Hi JimmyZ.

This has been discussed a little previously:
http://www.a5oc.com/forums/showthre...l?t=3686&highlight=drive+select+lower+the+car

(Search is your friend )

But the general consensus is that you cannot lower a car with springs and have drive select (apparently it is calibrated to work with the stock ride height, and lowering will either cause it not to work at all or break it).

Thanks, my bad. I didn't even bother to search as I didn't expect this to be a discussed issue as drive select just came out. However, will the car look bad without lowering? Does anyone know if one orders RS4 rims in Europe to replace the standard ones, if Audi changes anything with the suspension? If not, can someone post a stock pictures of a euro S5 with the optional RS4 rims? In the meantime I will use the search and the thread you linked me to, in order to see if these questions have also been answered before.

Thanks again for your help, I won't make assumptions like that anymore.

Thanks man. It actually doesn't look bad at all, but as you said, a 1 inch drop would enhance the look. So I am guessing that Audi doesn't do anything to the suspension if you order RS4 rims with the car? And also, does anyone know if drive select changes the height of the car? I just wish those rims were optional in the US, as well as hill hold assist and the automatic rear sunblind. I heard that Audi wanted an optioned out car to cost under 60k when it was first released, but now that they are into the second year, why didn't they add all the missing options, and also why they got rid of the automatic closing side mirrors, oh well. I was also thinking about putting those nice RS4 replica rims on my car, and put winter tires on those, but apparently they don't fit the S5 or the A5, and there is no word nor an indication that they will be making them anytime soon... Oh well.

Thanks again for your pic and help

You can definitely get away without lowering (it looks more aggressive when it is though) when you have 18" wheels, but as soon as you are on 19" or 20" it really makes the wheel gap look bigger.

I had 19" wheels for a while and it looked okay at the stock height...after I lowered it though...I said "man! that looks so much better.

It will also look a bit lower if you have wheels that are slightly inset (e.g. with a less aggressive offset), but as soon as you push the wheels to the corners, it make the gap more apparent.

ccompton said:

You can definitely get away without lowering (it looks more aggressive when it is though) when you have 18" wheels, but as soon as you are on 19" or 20" it really makes the wheel gap look bigger.

I had 19" wheels for a while and it looked okay at the stock height...after I lowered it though...I said "man! that looks so much better.

It will also look a bit lower if you have wheels that are slightly inset (e.g. with a less aggressive offset), but as soon as you push the wheels to the corners, it make the gap more apparent.

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So I am guessing putting a spacer on my 19s, or the 20s I may get would be a bad idea?

Jimmyz said:

So I am guessing putting a spacer on my 19s, or the 20s I may get would be a bad idea?

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Not necessarily, it will just make the gap slightly more pronounced (IMO).. personally, like the way wheels look when pushed out to the corners.. I don't have access to drive select, so I can't confirm this...but maybe there is a VAG-COM or MMI setting to disable it or compensate for lowered suspension (I am going on a limb with that hypothesis)...I doubt it though

Surely there is some way to calibrate the drive select to use a lower spring...and hey...it my cause no issues at all..but don't try it because I said that .

Worst case scenario (if you were to try and lower it), you'd get some error about your suspension (and you put the stock springs back) or even worst-worst case scenario...it could break your drive select (and you _could_ put your old springs back and have it serviced under warranty...if your ethics are not too strong...)...

For the record..I am not condoning that anyone try to pull a fast-one on a service department...just sayin'.

Good luck with your decision.

ccompton brings up some good points here. Anyone lowering or changing wheels with ADS is basically going to be a guinea pig at this point as there is very limited information about performing this mod. I haven’t read anything that officially supports or objects to the idea just theories. Although I am not volunteering, I will be optimistically watching out for those brave enough to experiment with it . Most of the roads near me are less than 5 years old and in great shape so aggressive wheels are not a problem. I went for ADS mainly for the tighter steering ratio adjustments and suspension flexibility it supposedly affords.

busipaln said:

Here you go mate. Heres my ride. In my opinion, a 1" drop would finish the car. I just haven't got round to it.

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Nice, but it would looked better if the wheels where in titanium color IMHO.

Jarod.

Yes, but Audi doesn't offer titanium color for these A5 wheels.

Yep C99 is right, The Bi-colour wheals are not available... To tell you the truth... dont wash the car for a week, and the wheels automatically look titanium colour

I must say now i prefer the wheels i have. Stand out a mile!

Jimmyz said:

I am thinking about putting snows on my 19s, and getting some RS4 rims for my summer tires. What I am wondering is if I will need to lower my car if I put 20s on it, and if so, can I lower my car even if I have Audi Drive Select, and would it effect my suspension settings (not like if the lowering makes all three modes a little rougher, but rather if the lowering will prevent the drive select from working such that I notice no difference between all 3 settings).

Thanks!

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Where would you get the 20" RS4's here in the US? If you have a source, I'd definitely be interested in knowing! =P

-Ray