Transplant complete: Move to Seattle successful.
05-23-2001, 09:18 PM
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Transplant complete: Move to Seattle successful.
Well, I'm right back where I started from. College ended for me last week, and today I arrived back at my home in Seattle after adding 1500 miles to my A4.
The car drove flawlessly for 15.5 straight hours yesterday, only being shut down for 3 refuelings. My only problem the entire day was a resurfacing of the infamous "vapor-lock" problem that I've encountered on a couple of occassions in the past, and now that I've dealt with it a few times, it wasn't a real issue. Other than that, she hummed right along at a steady 80-90mph for the whole day, right up the Continental Divide and back down the other side, all in 85*+ heat. Finished up the last 8 hours of the drive today without so much as a peep. The only other issue that I had in the end was a very odd tire-wear pattern that wasn't apparent until the end of the trip: The inside tread block of my Pirelli P-Zero Rosso on my passenger side/front tire was worn down much more noticeably than the other 3. Also, the fronts in general are showing more wear than the rears, and the tires are only about 2300 miles old. Needless to say, I'm putting the car on jackstands tomorrow and rotating my tires, as well as scheduling an alignment check. I checked tire pressures all the way around, and they were all within 1.5psi of each other. Speaking of the Rossos, they were a GREAT tire for the long trip, despite the bad rap that performance tires get in terms of ride quality. Sure, on really bad pavement they were a little harsh and kind of noisy, but it was REALLY bad pavement, so I can hardly fault the tires there. I'll definitely be buying another set of these when the time comes to replace the current ones. Pretty much the same comments for my Vortrag fixed height kit, too: a little harsh on bad roads, but super-controlled for the most part. Carving up the hilly passes in Oregon and Utah was NEVER this much fun in my Tahoe. The car rode so flat that even up through passes with turns marked 50mph I was doing 90mph and my mom in the passenger seat slept right through it all.
In summation, this was the kind of trip that reminded me why I obsess over this car so much. It was comfortable and reliable for 22 hours of saddle time while still being more fun than a roller coaster. My mom drove it for a bit and even though she hasn't driven a manual tranny in years, she loved it.
Tomorrow I'm going to have to go buy a torque wrench, a break bar, and a floor jack. Then I'm going to wash and wax the wheels, rotate the tires, wash the car, and vacuum/detail the interior. Then I'm going to hook up my VAG-Com and see if I can figure out what's up with the vapor-lock. And then, MAYBE I'll think about unpacking the giant moving van full of my stuff in front of the house. Priorities, you know
Anyways, I just thought I'd share a positive A4 experience with everyone to remind us why we love our cars.
Back to your business,
B
The car drove flawlessly for 15.5 straight hours yesterday, only being shut down for 3 refuelings. My only problem the entire day was a resurfacing of the infamous "vapor-lock" problem that I've encountered on a couple of occassions in the past, and now that I've dealt with it a few times, it wasn't a real issue. Other than that, she hummed right along at a steady 80-90mph for the whole day, right up the Continental Divide and back down the other side, all in 85*+ heat. Finished up the last 8 hours of the drive today without so much as a peep. The only other issue that I had in the end was a very odd tire-wear pattern that wasn't apparent until the end of the trip: The inside tread block of my Pirelli P-Zero Rosso on my passenger side/front tire was worn down much more noticeably than the other 3. Also, the fronts in general are showing more wear than the rears, and the tires are only about 2300 miles old. Needless to say, I'm putting the car on jackstands tomorrow and rotating my tires, as well as scheduling an alignment check. I checked tire pressures all the way around, and they were all within 1.5psi of each other. Speaking of the Rossos, they were a GREAT tire for the long trip, despite the bad rap that performance tires get in terms of ride quality. Sure, on really bad pavement they were a little harsh and kind of noisy, but it was REALLY bad pavement, so I can hardly fault the tires there. I'll definitely be buying another set of these when the time comes to replace the current ones. Pretty much the same comments for my Vortrag fixed height kit, too: a little harsh on bad roads, but super-controlled for the most part. Carving up the hilly passes in Oregon and Utah was NEVER this much fun in my Tahoe. The car rode so flat that even up through passes with turns marked 50mph I was doing 90mph and my mom in the passenger seat slept right through it all.
In summation, this was the kind of trip that reminded me why I obsess over this car so much. It was comfortable and reliable for 22 hours of saddle time while still being more fun than a roller coaster. My mom drove it for a bit and even though she hasn't driven a manual tranny in years, she loved it.
Tomorrow I'm going to have to go buy a torque wrench, a break bar, and a floor jack. Then I'm going to wash and wax the wheels, rotate the tires, wash the car, and vacuum/detail the interior. Then I'm going to hook up my VAG-Com and see if I can figure out what's up with the vapor-lock. And then, MAYBE I'll think about unpacking the giant moving van full of my stuff in front of the house. Priorities, you know
Anyways, I just thought I'd share a positive A4 experience with everyone to remind us why we love our cars.
Back to your business,
B
05-23-2001, 10:02 PM
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I found a killer deal for torque wrench today.
Reggie has done some testing on his and he said the one he received is pretty well calibrated. Hope others are the same.<ul><li><a href="http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/taf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=239">1/2" drive torque wrench</a></li></ul>
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