Projekt 8E

just got all the wheels on(myself) Shop mounted them fine, dinged up a couple spokes so they are buying me new centers. for 2 wheels. Couldn't put the wheels on for the drive homw...to low. On top of that, I just finished puting them on the car and I'm too low all around still after some slight adj. Now I get to go back out there in the dark and raise all of the coil-overs. AWESOME. Oh yeah, I'm missing my Oregon Duck game too!

C32

Doooode....GET TIVO!!!

A4NCAR

But I feel for ya. Is this just a bad first experience with car mods. Or just ****ty circumstances? You'll work it out. Hang in there. It can be hard when you do not have the right enviroment (or place/tech) to do the work. That's why I go to my dealer for most mods I do. Great tech to handle everything and the right place/equipment. A local tuner helps as well. For my wheels/tires; I just had them mounted at the place I bought them and took them home to install myself. Coil Overs installed at dealer and fine adjusted- but I still adjusted later on at home.

I am surprised that you are too low with H&R CO's [right?]. With 19x8.5 & 235/35-19 tires, there should be almost no issues. H&R CO's do not even drop that low compared to some others.
Try these measurments (from ground up to center fender edge): F=25.5" / R=25". Stock Sport is: F=26.5" / R=26" ( I think that's it). So start by dropping an inch all around. Then you can fine adjust after that (they'll settle in about a 1/4" too). Probabaly a good measurement would be: F=25.25" / R=25" (especially if you are going to get a body kit- you'll be grinding the front bumper).

And as to the tire shop mounting fvck up; that's pathetic. I have a feeling they did not know how to handle HRE's (reverse lip design). Bastards. So how exactly did they "ding" them?!? Well, at least they are replacing the centers. How much?

Projekt 8E

These rear c/o's are a PIA. I had to tear apart the whole control arm assembly. UGH! The shop that mounted the tires did fine with that part. The guy that did it actually handles HRE's for my buddy, Thats why I went to him. But after he mounted the tires. He let to retards put the wheels on. Come on now...How hard is that!?! I was under 24" in the rear. Bout 23.5 on the RL and 23.75 on the RR. I got another long day ahead of me today. I ended up with a 31 mm offset too. They did that so that I could clear brakes in the future. The new A4's can go to 27mm. Everyone in my complex thinks I'm psycho, I was working on my car on a fri. night from 5:45 til 2! Oh well. Ultimately I enjoy it...But man, This is killin me! Oh and my team lost too, haha! Sorry for no paragraphs. I just woke up and it's like 50 degrees out and I get to do it all over again.

A4NCAR

When I adjusted my H&R CO's, it took about 1.5 hrs to finish. You should not have to "disassemble" anything though. Only remove the wheels to adjust the CO height. Cut the handle shorter on the spanner for the rear perch. I had to do this to adjust mine. Fronts are no problem.

Under 24"'s in the rear is a bit much and way out of spec. You must have new rear perches, because I do not think mine will allow that much more drop, from where mine are at now. The fronts can go much more, but then I have to deal with the Oettinger front bumper grinding in every driveway.
Try the measurements I suggested and go from there. At may not be slammed, but it does look quite nice (like high-caliber, lowered cars).

My wheels are 19x8.5 31mm offset too with 235/35-19 and no problems (just that I am not slammed). Raise it up and at least to be able to drive it for now. The CO's have to settle in, so drive it for a while not so slammed and then make a final tweak adjustment. They may not all settle the same amount too. My rears settled much more then the fronts.

Sorry to hear that some morons put the wheels on the car and caused the damage. That's pathetic! You want something done right, you gotta do it yourself.