Audi Q8 Newbie questions
 

Just purchased a 2023 Audi Q8 Premium Plus. Mod questions.
Just ordered a black optic grille. My current set up has illuminated rings, does anyone have a photo they could share, going to transfer that to the new grille.
Will be lowering the car with H&R springs (no air suspension). Will the springs need to settle before an alignment is completed? Also, I do not want to have the alignment done at my dealership since the car will be “modded”. Any recommendations on where to get the alignment done, or can it just be done at anyone of the tire places?
Thanks in advance!

Can’t speak to the rings question. Never dealt with the illuminated rings. Assume an extra wire back there but if you just went plain black rings maybe you could just zip tip the wire out of the way so it’s available if you ever wanted to put them back.

Alignment can be done at any decent tire shop I believe. Just call ahead to local place to confirm. Definitely shouldn’t need a dealer for that. The local shop you find could probably answer springs question over the phone too, sure you wouldn’t be the first person to bring a modded car for alignment.

Just put new tires on my Q8 and Discount Tire said they could do the alignment. Ended up that they could not do the alignment since the car has all wheel steering and they could not make the sensor adjustments that also need to be made.

Very interesting. Thanks

Good info to know and question to ask upfront before driving someplace should I need a 3rd party to do something.

The independent shops I have dealt with cannot do an alignment on cars with all wheel steering. Have to bite the ~$800 dealer bullet. Not sure what you mean by not wanting the dealership to do the alignment since it will be modded. If you are talking about a grill and springs no dealership will care. Even if you had a tune, just talk with your service advisor. They only care about getting a 5 start rating, not catching people who modify their cars, refusing warranty work or giving your car the black spot. My car still receives any warranty work, even though everyone knows it modified the second I pull in. That said, if I came in with blown turbos, trans or engine problems there would be issues.

Just take your car to a mod shop that does alignment. I had my shop who did the spring install do alignment at the same time.

800$ seems like one of those nutty amount for something so easy. if you don’t know of a shop locally and you don’t know who to trust locally, i would advise having the dealer do the alignment. this is what i would do. call and ask what their labor rate is. don’t say anything else. then go in and ask how many hours it will take for them to do an alignment for new springs. you might get a bit of a deal. when they tell you how long it takes, if ur b.s. meter goes off, just say wow. and wait for them to respond. if it is anything other than offering a discount stay quiet. this is hard for people because it can be uncomfortable. most of the time whoever talks first after that silence will not have the upper hand. you can always go to another dealer. i rarely walk out w/o a discount. when i did my car’s last service which was just an oil change and a steering wheel swap they gave me discount and a free 85$ umbrella and thanked me. i am always super nice. you can act like ur having a heart attack when they tell you costs. be funny if you have it in you. assume people want to make u happy.

Had my alignment done 2 weeks ago on my Q8 with all wheel steering. I am looking at the dealer's bill and the alignment was $219.99. Not sure where the $800 cost came from.