Technical Features
Project A4 Avant 1.8T - Wheels Round II
By by: George Achorn
Jun 25, 2004, 05:18

When last we saw Project A4 Avant, we’d fitted some 18-inch RS6 winter wheels to the car. These wheels were OEM and made for the RS6’s massive brakes, the aggressive ET20 offset considerably different from the A4’s stock ET45. Though pushed out and looking mean, the wheels rubbed constantly and so were quickly removed from the car. Our second crack at wheels brought us upon a new offering from Audi Accessories and manufactured by BBS.

Known as the “Calita”, this new 2-piece wheel makes use of a 15-spoke design. While wheels with a high number of spokes like this can be considerably more work to clean, they tend to look great and these show an Audi family resemblance to the OZ wheels that run on the R8 and even harken back to the original Ronal wheels fitted to the Ur-Quattro for both road and rally applications.

Our Calitas came standard with polished aluminum valve stems and matching BBS logo valve caps. We’ve not been fans of chrome stems in the past, but these are classy and really seem to fit the upscale, sporting feel of an Audi. The matte silver finish looks very similar to the metal work on the dashboard of the Audi TT; understated and attractive.

Mounted to the car, the wheels seem a bit smaller. This is obviously optical. Not only do they sit closer to the car than the recently removed RS6 wheels, they also have more of a concave lip, which adds to the illusion. Either way, we think they look great on the car.

Some items we forgot to mention during our switch from our stock 17-inch wheels to either of our 18-inch setups are caps and locks. Either of our upgrade wheels require a mix of caps to complete the look, and locks are a nice addition when the semi-deterrent lug-cover wheel design of our stock wheels are no longer employed. We outline these below.

Center Caps – Audi now has two different versions of their standard sized center cap for wheels that have exposed lugs. These small plastic caps should fit any factory wheel that doesn’t use the larger lug-cover design, and also fit many aftermarket rims such as those by BBS and others.



We purchased a non-chrome rimmed cap for our RS6 wheels (part # 4B06011707ZJ). This is the standard Audi cap. Basically a gray plastic with chrome Audi rings, it’s standard fare on many cars, though can be a bit pricey for such a small part.

When Audi Accessories shipped us the new wheels, our contact there also shipped a newer chrome-trimmed cap design (part# 4B0601170A 7ZJ) that we’d spotted on some European models at the Frankfurt Auto Show last fall. They’re handsome and a little bit different than the previous ones, so we switched over to these for the new rims.

Lug-Nut Locks – Investing money in wheels makes you think twice about a lot of things. You’ll probably hit the brakes and grit your teeth as you approach a pot-hole, or park extra carefully when fitting into a parallel parking spot. Theivery can be another problem when you’ve got some sought after rolling-hardware and as such, lug-locks can be a good investment.

We’ve had good experience with Audi’s stock lug-locks, and were frankly surprised that our A4 came stock without them. We stopped in at Rockville Audi in Maryland to pick up a set to put on the car, along with a key. Also not cheap, they’re certainly more affordable than purchasing new wheels and the security makes us sleep better at night (The whole wheel bolt set part number is 8D0698137BSBV).

Lug Caps – If you’ve been around the block on VAG cars, and insist on every little bit being just right, then you too may have invested in these plastic covers (part# 321601173AZ37) that slide over the lug nut. Audi versions are a matching-gray to the gray Audi center caps, whereas Volkswagen versions are black.

To do it right, you’ll want to also invest in the removal tool and lock cover caps if you’ve done the lug locks. When you invest in the wheel bolt (locks) set above, both the removal tool and covers should be included.

Tires – We had no gripes with our Dunlop SP Sport 9000 tires that were fitted on the RS6 wheels. Handling was impressive, as was wet-weather performance. We removed them from the car before any of the rubbing could damage the sidewalls, so we simply transplanted them over to the new wheels for summer fitment.



More on our tire choice can be found [b][url=http://www.fourtitude.com/news/publish/Features/article_456.shtml]--->HERE[/url][/b].

More info:
Audi Collection
Rockville Audi

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