Ghetto Ti Package

B6/7 S4/RS4
#1

So, I have an Avus Silver RS4. I love the colour, and for the longest time, my favourite RS4 was EV1L’s Avus Silver 2007, with a few Ti package pieces thrown into the mix.

Anyway, just trying to figure out what direction I’m going to go visually with the car (it’s pretty damn easy to know what direction to go performance wise with a 4.2 Audi!). My thoughts were

  1. window tint - 40% Huper Optik
  2. RS4 OEM Titanium Package Wheels, or if I couldn’t find any, just get OEM Silver wheels powdercoated in gunmetal
  3. blacked out front plate delete filler panel
  4. anything else? Window trim, Ti front grille, blacked out exhaust tips, black rear rings?

So far, I’ve purchased a set of OEM Ti package wheels. Bought them at Wednesday night something like 30 minutes after they were posted on the classifieds. Got a tip from a fellow RS4 owner who knew I was looking for wheels. I was thinking…if there are only 100 sets of Ti wheels in all of North America, it’s pretty much like winning the lottery to find a set that come up for sale. Most stay on the cars, so there’s probably only 10-15 sets that have been sold over the years. Pretty neat.

I also blacked out my front plate delete filler panel. I’ll get the window tint shortly.

As for the window trim, I think I’ll skip it. Being a silver car it’s easy to not bother with it as the window trim (matte aluminium) blends in nicely with the paint. Same with the front grille. It’s also a bunch of work to replcae the front grille, and I really don’t think it’s necessary on Avus. This leaves a couple of questions for the forum

  1. blackout exhaust tips/cans?
  2. blackout rear rings?

And in general what do you think about my other plans?

Here’s what we’re starting with. Bone stock blank canvas (except the filler panel).

http://audirevolution.net/addons/albums/images/889728883.jpg

http://audirevolution.net/addons/albums/images/573611306.jpg

Here’s EV1L’s car:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3354/3329419486_f1c3d1d630_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3354/3328586235_646f00d711_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3600/3328585401_6d4c239537_o.jpg

Here’s what matte black OEM Ti exhaust tips look like

http://o.aolcdn.com/dims-global/dims3/GLOB/resize/960x655/quality/85/http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/05/020_rs4garage.jpg

And here’s what OEM Ti window trim adds to the mix, compared to the other two…hopefully you can see why I’m not going to bother with it.

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2008/05/010_rs4garage.jpg

http://audirevolution.net/addons/albums/images/889728883.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3354/3328586235_646f00d711_o.jpg

#2

Yup pretty easy…PES all the way.

I hate you. How much if you don’t mind me asking? Did you get them off of AR?

You’re on the right track here. The Avus looks good with the matte aluminum window trim and front grille.

If you feel like going through the effort of blacking out your stock exhaust tips/cans go for it. It’s not absolutely needed on Avus. I’d just leave the JHM exhaust alone when you get it.

Skip the blacked out rings. It pops too much against Avus.

As far as the tint, don’t go crazy dark. 40% is probably good. Whatever you do, go even all around. None of this blacked out rears with light fronts.

#3

[quote]I hate you. How much if you don’t mind me asking? Did you get them off of AR?
[/quote]
they were listed for 1400 with a reasonably new set of tires. I offered $1450 just to make sure. I was the first person to email/reply, so that really locked it up. Bought from another forum.

[quote]If you feel like going through the effort of blacking out your stock exhaust tips/cans go for it. It’s not absolutely needed on Avus. I’d just leave the JHM exhaust alone when you get it.

Skip the blacked out rings. It pops too much against Avus.

As far as the tint, don’t go crazy dark. 40% is probably good. Whatever you do, go even all around. None of this blacked out rears with light fronts.
[/quote]
Good input. I may just do that (leave that stuff).

As for tint, yes, 40% huper optik all the way around like on my S4. I thought it was a perfect mix of sun and heat protection, privacy and not dark enough to annoy cops. I’d never bother with the dark back light front. Our tint law here basically says that it’s up to the officer’s discretion if your windows are too dark. So, it’s basically get it dark, but not too dark. Lots of guys get 30% and get no hassles either.

#4

Car looks so good saki, I had to wipe my drool off the computer screen before I could reply. I love the plate blackout and the black grill already on the car. Agreed that you should leave the window trim silver, I love how it looks on my lake metallic silver S4. As for the wheels, you couldn’t do better if you tried with what you just bought, I love em. Blacking out the rings (or just removing all the badges) was and is still under long personal debated consideration. I almost like the silver better. I did see a black RS4 last month with EVERY badge on the car removed. I loved how it looked but de-badging an RS could be viewed as sinful by some. Leave the exhaust pipes the way they are, the silver pipes match the window trim and avus all around.

#5

I actually love how the Avus Silver looks as is. I find the darker wheels, black grill and dark trim are a bit harsh on the silver…simply my opinion.

Nice find on the Ti wheels though 8)

#6

hey, post up your car in a picture thread. ^^^

#7

Saki-

Keeps telling me the files are too big wtf? Why is it so hard for me to post a stinkin pic! Help

#8

I meant start a picture thread for it.

As for the problem posting the pic, there’s a restriction to a maximum of 1999 pixels in width and height, so you may need to resize it with whatever image viewer software you’re using to look at it on your computer. Then you can load it up. Try ‘tools’ and ‘resize’ or something.

#9

Just posted a couple pics and it made me realize I need to take some more!!! The pics I posted are when she was basically bone stock except for those wheels/tires and the tints. Ill get some more pics up soon, but among my favorite minor (aesthetic) mods done to the outside of the car are matching silver eyelids on the headlamps and a carbon fiber rear diffuser where the exhausts exit under the bumper. Every time I walk up to the car I see the carbon under the bumper and smile, it matches perf with the interior… The eyelids do make it a bit more euro and mean looking, ill get some pics up soon.

#10

Saki, just a suggestion, but I didn’t know if ya ever thought about having the trim and mirrors painted like I did. You could do a dark gunmetal to match your Ti wheels where you’d still have some contrast from the silver and it wouldn’t be black. I absolutely LOVE it on my black car, but there may not be enough contrast on the silver.

I agree though, there are certain aspects of the Ti pkg I like, and others I don’t like that much, and it largely depends on the color of the car imo. Whatever the case, your car looks great and those Ti wheels are killer. They’ll always look great on that car.

Just curious, what’s the weight on those Ti wheels (or RS4 wheels in general). Is that going to be a factor/concern for ya?

#11

I weighed my stock wheels. 51.4 lbs each (see below). They had Continental ContiSportContact 3 255.35.19 on that were probably 30-50% tread.

According ti TireRack those tires weigh 26lbs new, so they probably only weigh 24.5-25.0 now. That means the stock wheels are in the 26-27 lb range. Not bad for a 19x9.0 ET29 wheel. Don’t forget…they’re forged. My stock S4 cast wheels were 18x8.0, ET45. 16 mm of offset, 1" of diameter and 1" of width difference…and my RS4 wheels weigh THE SAME as the old S4’s stock wheels.

HRE M40 in that size are only about 3 lbs lighter. Frankly I can’t think of a better looking wheel for the RS4 than the OEM wheels…and when they’re this light, this perfectly sized, and forged/strong, it’s hard to beat them. That’s why I bought a second set.

http://audirevolution.net/addons/albums/images/658957382.jpg

#12

^good info there Saki. I forgot that the oem RS4 wheels are forged, pretty cool.

I’d say it’s time you sell your original set and buy beamercer’s SSR wheels if he ever parts them out for track duty. Or are you planning on using the original wheels for winter tires and Ti wheels for summer tires?

#13

lol if I had bought that VF SC RS4 beemer’s wheels might fit (remember it had the RS Brembos stripped out for B5/C5 HP2s?), but not on an RS4 with 360 mm Brembo fronts.

yeah, the silver wheels will be my winters, and the Ti wheels will be my summers

#14

^oh yea. . . .why you gotta be so knit picky about whether the wheels will clear the brakes or not, tiny details I say!

Well then, enjoy your summer wheels with the comfort of knowing they’ll stay looking pretty as the stockers take the beating during the winter time.

Just out of curiosity, anyone have information on when and which wheels audi made that were forged. I’d imagine that’s a pretty significant cost plus when you’re watching every little part. Just curious which were the first cars they did forged wheels on and if it’s still continued (guessing R8, but anything else like RS5?).

#15

the B5 RS4 wheels were 18x9 I think and reallly aggressive offset…but despite this were only around 21-22 lbs. Forged likely.

R8 I think are. Not sure about RS5, TTRS or RS6.

Expensive for sure, but there’s a reason the B7 Rs4 that I bought had a window sticker of over $100,000 +13% tax (in Canada…but they were around $76-80,000 USD in the states, tax in).

#16

Saki, you’ve mentioned in a few posts on various forums that the B7 RS4 wheels were forged. I don’t remember seeing a forged stamp on the back of my wheels when I cleaned them last. Where are you getting this information that they are forged? Great if they are, but I was pretty sure they were cast.

#17

someone smart told me that. I just believed it. It makes a ton of sense though, as I’ve never seen a set of 19x9 ET29 wheels that weighed anything close to 26 lbs, especially in that design. For example, VMR708 which are a mm for mm replica of the RS4 wheel are only 19x8.5. ET38 wheels (so 1/2" narrower, and 9 mm less offsetting material) and they weigh 28-9lbs. Their 18x8.5 et38 wheels are around 26 lbs.

Would it necessarily say forged on a set of OEM production wheels that some company made 32,000 of?

#18

Maybe not. I don’t see why they wouldnt distinguish between cast and forged though. I also don’t think the amount of wheels that a company makes really determines if a forged stamp is put on the wheels. Speaking of OEM productoin forged wheels, I can think of a few vehicles that have forged wheels with a stamp on them…Jeep SRT8, Subaru STI, Mitsubishi EVO MR, Nissan 350/370Z(with Rays). Granted all of these cars are higher production than the RS4, but again, why should production numbers matter? If companies are willing to spend the coin on forged wheels, put the damn stamp on to prove it. How is anyone to really know for sure without it? You can compare the weights of two very similar wheels, but keep in mind that there are various casting methods used out there. One method could produce a lighter/heavier wheel than another even if the wheel is the same design.

I dunno, all I’m saying is I want proof if a wheel is forged, not just hearsay. But that’s just me.

#19

who gives a fuck if it’s forged, really? It’s very light, and when I was shocked by how light the RS4 wheel is I asked someone who knows a bunch about this car, and they explained that the wheels are forged. As I said above, I believed it, because it made sense with respect to the weight of the wheel vs. just about any other similarly sized wheel I’ve ever seen…let alone one with 14 spokes.

Should you choose to require proof beyond a reasonable doubt, that’s certainly your prerogative. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find out! The wheels look great, come on the car for free, and are very light for their size. I don’t really care one way or another.

#20

well for a given mass the forged wheel is typically stronger, and given Audi’s tendency to build very strong wheels I’d suspect they are forged as well