the_duke

My Dad sent me a text this morning.

Garycw

Nice! Your dad might like it better with some Big mud flaps with some long horns above the grill ...lol

the_duke

It will be getting the small Audi mudflaps. I occasionally drive on gravel plus they use a lot of sand here in the winter. They are not the best looking things but they are not too bad.

Garycw

I have a set of those small one, but haven't been able to put front or back ones on yet. I'll stick the backs ones on first temp without drilling and give them a good look. Although they fo help with dirt, mud,, Tar, snow etc, they're also a good place to trap moisture for future rust

the_duke

I have them on my A6 which can rust and there is no issue. I just make sure I clean them well when I wash it. The A8 is aluminum so there is a possibility of corrosion but not rust. My 2005 A8 has zero corrosion so i'm not worried about that.

MP4.2+6.0

Definitely don't space the wheels then if that comes up as an idea later. Wife's family is from MT (mostly Ryegate, Billings and Bozeman) so I get it about roads, gravel, conditions, little traffic. Also, if you are thinking winter tires, besides going to the somewhat narrower set up, you could also use a Q5/S5 type wheel in your choice of size for winters. A little less aggressive offset than a current generation A/S 7 or 8 wheel, and they have the bigger current center hole like D4's.Then if you went narrower for winter, in offset tweaking but still OE wheel quality and strength you could take any tire width decrease off the "outside" only as far as how they fit within fenders. Would need to assess brake clearance along way. I own both D4 and Q5 so might try one next wheel change just to know.

First get the car and enjoy, but you can start to noodle on winter set ups along with flaps and such.

the_duke

MP you are a mind reader. I am indeed trying to decide what to do for winter wheels. The narrower the better.

MP4.2+6.0

So with a 4.0T, you need at least 19's to clear brakes diameter wise. You also have to be careful to clear spokes too. The 19's used on baseline D4's are 19 x 9 and thus still wide. There has been a set for sale for quite a while set up for a D4 with Blizzaks on them at a decent price, but those are up at 275's. There are genuine Audi winter wheels sold by dealers too, but finding those sets at a decent price is hit and miss. Look into it/specs though if you want; those are intentionally spec'ed to a narrow width.

There are 19 x 8's in Q5's, ET39. Could look at A5/S5 too. Our Q5 came with them originally. You would really want to check clearance to be sure. Here is a diagram to illustrate an example with them (assuming 235/50 19). Max width recommended on that tire size is an 8 ½. Notice visually how (if it clears brakes) it pulls wheel into fender some too.