Mr_Hooper

I picked up a 2013 S4 in moonlight blue. I am beginning to explore wheel options and wanted to get any feedback of positive experiences or brands to stay away from.

I'm looking to stick with the OEM 18" size, but swap the stock wheels for something black or a darker shade of grey.

Any recos are welcome, as I'm a newbie. Thanks in advance.

DrGP

I reccomend that you get 19" wheels. This car BEGS for 19s. They look so much better. I live in a real bad pot hole area and have not had any issues with bending a wheel when hitting a pothole. Check out Velocity Motoring and Hartmann wheels for some nice looking wheels at reasonable prices. Decent quality . Plus if you are not running expensive wheesl and you do happen to damage one, the cost to replace is not that bad. BTW, you will not find a BIG difference in ride qualty between 18" and 19" wheels.

huskyz

This isn't a recommendation, just some input. I bought these wheels in December from Tire Rack with 18" snows. They still sit in the spot where I put them when delivered. We never had enough snow to bother mounting them on my then really new car...and I had my trusty ol' '98 A4 stick available for one more winter while the Saab (no snow warrior...) rested snugly and comfortably elsewhere in town. Now that winter's gone, and the Saab has returned (sorta like the swallows...) the wife says get rid of something. So this was the last hurrah for my old pal, a truly great snow car, to star in what snow we had and, and thus spare it's new S4 garage mate the drudgery of winter weather in NEPA. That said...

I liked the look of these wheels, the number and size of the spokes (I also live in pothole heaven) and the price. They may come in 19" I didn't look. I can't say anything more since they're unused. They are made in China. Time will tell. I bought the same brand when the '98 was new. They held up for almost 20 winters (!) but they did develop some rust the last few years (between NY, CT and their assortments of road/snow stuff... and now especially PA who uses a lot of SALT or something and pre seasons roads with something that probably will melt most anything if left on long enough).

Sport Edition P5 Anthracite Painted

BTW, Tire Rack's web site has a great 'look at how the wheels look on your car' tool there, even if you don't buy from them. It helps a lot to try "for look" this way.

(My picture here is with 19" factory wheels...)

troposphere

I have a set of 19" oem titanium package 5 spoke wheels. They are in storage at the local dealership. Oem conti sport performance tires have a bit of tread left. My 2012 s4 prestige is for sale so the second set of 19" is available.

Southern NH / Northern Mass area.

Make me an offer.

Bobby Kinstle

I have the same car in the same color and the 18" wheels it comes with are a pain. They look "meh" and they are a lot of work to keep clean. I've been contemplating the 5 spoke titanium wheel because it's already brake dust colored and it looks very simple to wash.

I haven't had any problems with sidewall scuffing even after driving at the limit, so there's really no reason to upgrade to 19's except for cosmetics. I'd go with a lighter wheel personally.

eric strauss

… the five blade "titanium" wheel is easy to keep clean and hides brake dust well. The decision about wheel size is a complicated one for me… From an engineering standpoint, a larger wheel should only be used to clear brake calipers. Larger wheels generally weigh more and can even reduce performance because of the rotational mass and added unsprung weight. I have included a chart from a recent test of a VW Golf with increasingly larger diameter wheels (overall height remained the same). You can see the tradeoff between acceleration and roadholding, with the sweet spot being a 17" fitment.

The 19's look OK on the S4, as long as you don't stare too long at the space between the rotors and the inside of the rim. I agree that the 18" wheel option from Audi for the S4 was bland, fussy and a bitch to keep clean. However, other 18" wheels would look great. The 18" fitment keeps the same section width (255), but includes a bit more sidewall. They will also be much cheaper to replace.

We use our cars in the canyons each weekend "con brio", so we only get 10K max from a set of tires - even with rotations. The 18" fitment will likely run ~$50 less per tire. There are great looking wheels in both 18 and 19 inch fitment - go to the Tire Rack. Our S4 has 21,000 miles and is on its third set of tires. However, three out of twelve were replaced under road hazard warrantee by Audi after having sidewall cuts from the stones in the canyons. Two 19" wheels have been damaged and replaced.

Don't forget to enjoy the car :-)

Eric

westwest888

Go with a BBS wheel. Extremely high quality that exceeds OEM. There are a lot of cheap replica wheels out there that you can't trust. HRE flow formed are nice also, if you want custom colors.

Ryan Mills

I just got some cheap fleabay OEM knockoffs, and haven't had any issues. I went with Dunlop signature hp tires, and moved up from a 18" to a 19" wheel tire. I've hit some pretty nasty potholes with them, and haven't had any issues with bent wheels. I've even got a little too close to curbs, and the tires protected the wheels from any curb rash.
The tires have about 25k on them, and they're probably good for another 5-10k.
Anyway, I don't have any idea what model of Audi these are supposed to be on, but they look decent, and the price was right:

car:
[IMG]

Wheel:
[IMG]

Mr_Hooper

Thanks for all the input! I ended up going with 18" Avant Garde M310's in dolphin grey. Pretty excited about the color & design. Haven't seen too many on S4's, but think it will look nice with the moonlight blue.

westwest888

You won't know if your wheels are bent until you put them on a mounting machine for your next set of tires.