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Only way to damage tire this way is if it is permanently rubbing at something. Since your tires and rims are OEM spec it must be something very wrong with your front suspension. Part close to that area of tire is knuckle. It should be at least 1/2" apart from tire so if it is bent could rub there. You have to check it yourself.
As I said, in my opinion anything bigger than 20" doesn't look good. And for a fact, anything bigger than it is necessary to clear your brakes is ruining ride quality, performance, handling, safety and budget.
the earlier ("old") RS6 style 9 spoke factory 20's (20x9) used on many W12's until the "new" style was phased in. The wheels are polished on the face and painted in the barrel and spoke area. They are forged, albeit somewhat heavy.
My car came w/ the same set. They can be refinished, all the way to bright polish if you want; factory is very slightly brushed. Extremely high quality wheel. Almost unobtainium on the used Audi OEM wheel market, and they are easily $1000+ at dealer. Unless you buy high end forged, you are unlikely to find anything in the same quality overall. They are somewhat heavy because of the spoke design (the "new" style 20" twin 7 spokes that appeared in 2007 are almost 5 pounds lighter), but they are quite strong. A word of caution if you have them fully refinished: if they use a cutter on the wheel face all the way to the center cap area, the cap will not fit flush--thus don't let them use the cutter all the way into that final center area--they would need to hand blend it in.
Having been through it on my W12, if you want a somewhat more hunkered down look, use VAG COM to lower it for starters. I did mine, albeit only modestly--10mm or less. Also consider spacers to push the wheel out toward the fenders. 12 mm in front, 20 in rear given your wheels and tires (BTDT). I use H&R in DR's; the 12mm is the hubcentric one (in that thickness there is a choice).
Then one more off the beaten path, but you would save a lot of $$ compared to good wheels if you just do a tire size switch. Consider a non-stock (sort of) tire size--265/40-20. New size in the market place. That is the size used on the new D4 A8's. If you look at the spec carefully, despite the "265" it may be the same tread width more or less as the 275's. (Another example is apparently the 265/35's used on the D3 S8 are typically the same tread width as the nominal 275/35's, but just had the sidewall lower) Of course in the 265/40's, the side wall is somewhat taller, so you would "fill up" the wheel wells a bit more, if that is one of your objectives.
I don't endorse it, but biggest quality wheels I recall folks fitting on the D3 were 21's--several years ago a poster posted a bunch of pic's of MTM's in 21's on an S8. Big bucks wheels, and actually very similar in appearance to the ones you have,
I have a set of MTM 21" wheels on an S8. Sorry for the quality of the photo, phone camera and no wash in 500 miles.
I really like the way the car looks with the 21" wheels. Ride quality is worse, and I am constantly concerned about potholes, in a way that I wasn't with the oem 20".
In the future, I will be sticking with the largest spec that the cars manufacturer suggests.
Had the same problem and after six years of fan wheels decided on a new look 19x9 et 32 with 285/35/19.These are vw factory wheels with audi center caps and new tire pressure sensors.The car has a much improved stance.
Some of the images I've found via google appear to look nice with 22" rims. The vehicle below has nice spacing (around the tire/rim within the wheel well) and doesn't hide the top of the rim/tire. This is exactly what I'm referring to:
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I love the wheels and stance in the pic so i researched a bit more and found the specs
I used to live in Saratoga Springs. Not a big town, lovely in the summer. I miss the English Bakery.
Anyway, I would like to suggest an alternative. These are the 265/35-20's stock on the S8 in 2008. They have a similar design, and look quite good on the car. There is a ride quality benefit associated with having that bit of extra sidewall, not to mention I would suspect those 22's are going to cost you more in rubber. Just a thought.
I used to live in Saratoga Springs. Not a big town, lovely in the summer. I miss the English Bakery.
I live right next to Skidmore College. I'm looking to move to Arlington VA bt the summer.
I know the negatives of having 22's but i still love the look and I'd only use them during the warm half of the year.
I've looked at thousands of relatively inexpensive wheels (nothing over 1500-2k) and these by far take the cake imo. I don't know if they are discontinued or not. Can anyone tell me where i can find these exact ones for sale?
09-13-2011, 04:54 PM
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