HRE




So good news and bad news...good news wheels came in from HRE, Good news, the wheel fit the RS3 with Carbon brakes, Good news I got them mounted today. Bad news... I didnt inspect the wheels when they came in and the dealer came out and told my wife that they noticed a ding in the rim while mounting the tires. The ding is a perfect oval chunk missing from the lip of the wheel right at the apex of the radius. Doesnt look like damage from being dropped, but could be damage from something getting dropped onto it. Of course if the dealer did it they’re not saying. HRE wanted to see the boxes but I had thrown them away already. I told them they were in good shape. So in thier mind they were damaged after being removed from the boxes. I have no recourse or proof either way. So yay, I just bought a damaged wheel.

HRE FF04
Fronts 19 x 9.5 ET 45. no spacers needed over carbon brakes. 255/30/19 tires
Rears 19 x 8.5 ET 47. no spacers needed over normal brake caliper. 235/35/19 tires.

I bit the expensive bullet and bought the TPMS sensors from Audi. $134 per sensor $75 per valve stem (supposedly they’re titanium?)

Yes I have the Dynamic Plus. Personally I think the Dynamic Plus pkg is worth it, the biggest advantage to the carbon brakes is the weight savings. You loose even more weight off the front of the car plus sprung weight and rotating mass and it helps the car to be even more neutral. People are afraid of replacement cost of the rotors, but unless you drive on the track A LOT, the rotors will last 100k miles easy, and on the RS3 only the fronts are carbon so you dont have to replace 4 carbon rotors should the need arise, which it wont. But I drove up one of our local twisty mountain roads the other day, where they hold hill climb events twice a year, and I was absolutely blown away at how neutral the RS3 is in corners, zero understeer if you drive it how it likes to be driven. I was laughing out loud at how unAudi like it was. The TPMS sensors for the Dynamic Plus also read out temperature for each tire which I like more than the pressures. Its cool watching temps on each tire as you start driving it hard. That was why I just stuck with Audi supplied TPMS sensors, didnt want to risk buying cheaper units that didn’t display temps. Those decals I just picked up off of Ebay. Normally I like to apply the fading ring decals to the front door but Audi doesn’t make them anymore and I cant find a source so I just went with those. Im not sure yet, but I think with the wider wheel sizes of these HRE’s, I think you can probably run even wider tires front and back.
I think running a 265 front and 245 rear (if they’ll fit) might net even better neutrality as it will spread the weight over the front tires even more and help them to not overload under braking. Right now you can overload the front tires trail braking into a corner, it def likes being off the brake before entering the corner and oddly enough likes to be slightly accelerating which is usually a no no. But oddly it works with this car. With wider tires on the front you could probably drive it more like a normal car and trail brake a bit more. Tip: hit the traction control button once when driving aggressively. Will allow more oversteer and will even allow some drift. I know journalists aren’t fans of E-Diff where the car applies a small amount of brake to the inside rear wheel while cornering but I think it’s brilliant. You can feel the car tighten its line and just track exactly where you want it to go. You would have to have 4 brake pedals to accomplish what these system do for you. I have yet to feel like the system is fighting me, always feels like its helping out. I think you’ll love the RS3 once you get used to it. My only bitch is the throttle response / lag from a stop which probably has more to do with the trans. It likes to be full throttle all the time especially in Dynamic mode. Get on the gas mildly and it sometimes feels like a CVT trans from a stop, like a rubberband winding up. But give it the beans and it grips and rips. I live at 4500 feet too, so the elevation here might have something to do with that. But if you’re just putting around put it in Comfort mode and it shifts more like an automatic, smooth. Its lethargic as all hell in Comfort mode, like its more concerned with fuel mileage than performance but its def smoother if you’re in traffic. One cool thing, in manual mode and Dynamic, it will not shift unless you shift it.Even Porsche’s will intervene now days if you dont shift it when it thinks it should be shifted, they will drop a gear on their own. Not these, it will bang off the rev limiter if you want it too. Found out once by accident, thought I had it in auto and was waiting for it to shift when I realized I had it in manual shift mode...doh! At some point in the next few years these motors will switch over to a 48volt electric systems and electric turbos or superchargers and the from start lag will be nonexistent and the car will be absolutely perfect. But have fun with the new car, its a blast, by far the most driving focused sedan Audi has made in a long time. You lose a little creature comfort compared to their other RS cars but you gain driving enjoyment, involvement and playfulness those larger RS cars cant touch.

Found another pic my wife took.