Tom Blaney

I picked up my Silver TT from Newton Motorsports in NJ last week. <p>The car is too cool...<p>I raced SCCA national level road racing for 20 years and retired the end of last year from a GT4 Toyota, so I have a good idea on handling. The TT is one of the best cornering street legal cars I drove, and I can't seem to stop "setting up" for every little twitch in the road. The car is just a great toy.<p>BUT TALK ABOUT BRAKE DUST!!!<p>I dont know if this will settle down, but after 600 miles it will darken the front wheels every 2 days.<p>Anybody having the same problem??<p>Tom Blaney

PeTTer

Hi Tom - Do you do a lot of braking? Hard braking? I always downshift while slowing, cornering, etc. . . and use the brakes very lightly. Brake dust is very typical in German cars I find. I experience much more of it on auto transmission Benz's, by far. Very little dust accumulates for me on the TT. Over 1000 miles now. Pete

Darth Maul

you know, one hard braking motion, and I've never had a problem with brake dust on any car I've ever owned. Read on numerous sites that downshifting is unnecessary on a street car, and that it may cause extra wear on synchronizers, throwout bearings, etc. It would be great to get a racer's opinion, tho.

Brad Willis

But first a comment, that California Duster is working great at keeping the brake dust off of my wheels. It takes about 2 minutes to get them pretty darn clean.<p>Now to the question that was asked, what do you think about frequent downshifting to slow a street car? I tend to do this quite often. Do you believe that this puts undue stress on the drivetrain components?

PeTTer

My take on how healthy downshifting is: Have owned several Porsches and two 7 Series BMW's (1988 and 1990 - just a mere two percent of the production, BTW). Have NEVER had a problem with these cars, engine wise, brake wise. Have always downshifted; have always considered a solid 50% of the fun/control on manual transmissions is the downshift. If I had to commit to rolling to a stop each time in either neutral or a high gear, I would drive an adaptive automatic. Again, just my 2 pennys worth on this. Peter

Tom

Peter:<p>I usually try and do slight trail brake into the first part of the corner, and toss in the shift just prior to getting back on the gas. I find that in most front wheelers that unless your are really on the mark with revs, that the car tends to bind up while the motor is comming up. So if the corner is a fast sweeper (like interstate exit ramps..) than a late brake and quick shift sets the car up well. On a slow in fast out, I agree, and will downshift early, but try and ease the gas up. But since I only have 800 miles, I am trying to be civil. I did try a left foot brake in, but the petals are a little close for sneakers. <p>

Tom Blaney

Darth:<p>You are right about strain on the gearbox, and frankly brake pads are a lot cheaper. See my response to Peter regarding trail brake. If you do like to hustle through corners, than once the car is broken in, get a feel for where the boost and torque seem to meet, then approach the early out trying to get the engine at that rpm range, roll on the power, and the car should "pop" out of the corner. I am really really trying to be patient, but this car is just teasing me....<p>Tom<br>

Kevin

This seems like a common problem on the Audi cars especially. A4 owners recommend switching pads to a brand called Mintex. Check out the A4 archives for more info. Some owners switch the pads the day they buy the car. I will just deal with the dust unitl they need replacing.<p>Kevin<br>'96 A4Q

Jason Dale

You actually had and E32 7-series five-speed? I drove one of these for a while when I worked at a dealer in Rochester, NY. As far as I know, it was one of two Cinnibar Red/Black 5-speeds in the country. Fun car to drive. We also had a Red/Black 300E stick that was a lot of fun.<p>Jason Dale<br>Audi Technician<br>Ken Garff Motors<br>Provo, UT

PeTTer

Yup, I owned two 7 series with the manual transmission. They were flawless . . and had the best of all worlds in my book. Oddly, I was told at the time I leased the '88, not to purchase this car because it would have a very limited resale. At the end of the two years . . . .It was in very high demand. . .so I returned it and bought a '90 - this time . . . no lease. Sold it a few years later for exactly what I paid for it. Was very difficult to locate the new one . . .but phoned BMW of North America and they ran a search telling me exactly who had one. Bought it on the spot, significantly under MSRP. Had a lot of joy from that car. It's now TT time and that's great too, in its own way. Great to drive and to touch. '99 Benzo wagon (automatic) for hauling stuff . . . and my Lab, Tyler. Peter