CoryC4

When I bought this car last june, many of you told me that it would be a money pit and it was the wrong car for a 17 year old. I've now put in the same amount of money into the car as I bought it for ($5,000) I'm sick and tired of it and I don't have the money flow to keep up with it. Took of my front right b5 s4 wheel, to find that the inside had completely worn down and you can see the threading. Same with the left side. Back 2 are completely fine but it still means I need 2 new tires.
-Help me out. Should I trade this for something else? Are the problems just going to keep coming at me? It just turned over to 120k.
I absolutely love this car but don't love the money i'm putting into it.

greenaudi100

Well obviously parts and labor is more expensive than fords and nissans. Do you do most of the work yourself or do you pay a mechanic to work on the car for you? You should be able to find most quality OEM parts on various websites that will be considerably cheaper than dealer prices. Usually just searching a part here will lead you to a part number and the cheapest place to buy it.

What $5000 worth of work have you specifically done? You may have reached a point where you have replaced most of the larger ticket items. You probably aren't going to get most of that investment back in a resale of the vehicle. I would recommend keeping the vehicle stock if you do keep it. That would have solved you B5 wheels problem...unless you're in the wrong forum. I will also add that 120,000 miles on these cars is relatively low. You're probably towards the bottom range in that respect.

CoryC4

Stage 2+ clutch, timing belt, coolant lines, water pump, starter.
It's lowered on a bilstein suspension, has newish injectors, new brake lines.

I haven't done much work to it myself because the only things that have gone wrong were the clutch, and they did the timing belt and other things while they were already working on it.

Basically, where I'm at right now is i need to know if things are going to keep popping up at me. The guy at a local tire shop told me i'd probably need a camber kit to fix the tire problem. But he said he knew absolutely nothing about audis so he said that wasn't too reliable of an answer.

I'm tired of spending every penny I earn on this thing to keep it running, even though I absolutely love the car.
I don't know what I would trade for because I have literaly no money to throw on top for a trade, and I don't want anything that is gunna keep draining the few dollars I get my hands on.
Theres a few nice MK2 GTI's on the Seattle craigslist, but don't want to let go of this car..

greenaudi100

It sounds like it comes down to money for you. Either make more money or figure out what you can sell your car for and what you could buy with the proceeds. Nobody is going to answer your question of what will happen in the future to your car. If they had the ability to see the future they would be trading options, not telling you what is going to go wrong with your car. Perhaps you should search for the buyers guide on this site to give you an idea of what people are fixing at what mileage. This is the best you're going to do on predicting the future.

GoHeels

Not sure why you are having such bad luck. I am on my second UrS car and both of mine were bought with about 145,000 miles on them. I have been driving them for 3.5 years now and have never had anything go wrong. I did do a timing belt, water pump, pulleys etc for a grand but that was more routine maintenance. I've bought about 6 tires. I love this thing and I figure I'm saving $ by driving it. I dont have a $400 a month car payment and the insurance is cheap ($70 a month) even with speeding tickets.

Integra 26R

It helps to know how to do the work on your own. And know people to get parts and help. But its not exactly a new car anymore. As much **** as I have to put into mine, I don't think I could ever get rid of it and not get another one. But just keep in mind that you are replacing all these parts and you won't have to replace them again for a very long time.

misfiturs4

I had to fix a bunch of things on my car too when I first got it. It has set me back quite a bit. I still have a few things here and there to fix up and with any car of this age you prob always will have little things. I do have to say that now having my car over a year now it has proven it's self. It has not really had any new problems and starts and runs good every day. If treated right these cars are tanks. I have thought of selling mine too from time to time but I love the exclusiveness of owning this old thing. Also its nice to have an AWD sleeper. Just hang in there all.

mk4jetta

I bought mine with 207 000 km and in 10 000 km and one year of owning it I've had to replace the following, and it's only left me stranded once.

-valve cover gasket
-spark plugs
-steering pump x-plug
-every coolant hose
-coolant manifold gasket/o-rings
-plastic flange on back of block, thermostat housing, water valve
-timing belt/water pump/thermostat
-fuel pump/sending unit/fuel filter
-temp flap servo motor

Now the car should be good for a very long time, and it isn't even that bad. You really need to know how to do your own work though! I've done everything my self and have saved tons of money.

gietl

Have you searched the forums at all? Any car, in general, that you lower is most likely going to get uneven wear. This is not a defect in the car, this is caused from modifying the car out of how it was designed. Our cars it is a guarantee.

Yes, camber plates will help, they don't always solve the problem 100% but minimize it greatly. Frequent tire rotation will help as well.

If you are going to sell it because this tire thing is the last straw, well then you did it to yourself by lowering it without provisioning for the camber being out of spec. Not trying to be an a-hole, but it is a fact. It's not the car failing you.

You have tackled a lot of costly items and they should last you a long time now. However, just like you started the thread, they aren't cheap if you are paying someone to do all the work.

If you don't want to spend money on camber plates, then I would recommend going back to stock suspension to save on the tire wear.

These are great cars and if you want to keep it for a long time simplification might be in order. Just to help reduce maintenance costs. Modifying them is a lot of fun, but it tends to increase the need for maintenance. This is true on most cars as well.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

CoryC4

Just stating this, but I bought the car lowered and the previous owner got rid of the stock suspension.
My dad just went to jail and I suspect he'll be there for a while. It's his 4th DUI so i'm trying to convince my grandpa (sense my dad won't call me, and calls my grandpa all day long) to get the car gifted to me, so I can sell it. If this happens i'll be buying a few parts... ie: camber kit and two new wheels.
Ive put maybe 6k on these tires and they were pretty much brand new when I got the wheels, and the inside of the front two is completely worn out, and the threading from inside the tire is very visible.
I do know a guy that works for audi in the dealer shops that can get me a deal on the camber kit.

Thanks for your input because I think it's convinced me to keep the car, and to start throwing my money into preventative maintanance things instead of miscilanneous things I don't need.