RobMate

thanks Birdman!

Care to share any tips that you learned from the gf's dad?

I agree about the sense of accomplishment comment. Like Otto Man mentioned, no one will take care of your car more than you would.

flybooey

I change my oil the same way, let it run down the driveway into a drain on the street.

RobMate

Only thing I'm missing is a torque wrench which I could probably get for ~$100.

I'm sure there's going to be some challenges the first time around but it'll probably go a lot smoother after a while.

Also noticed that these things would help especially if I'm doing it myself:
http://shop.achtuning.com/hartmann-w...-for-audi.aspx

HaveBullDogWillTravel

FWIW, anyone wishing to tackle this on their own should know that with a decent floor jack you can get both tires off the floor from either jacking point right in front of the back wheel or just behind the front wheel. I pad the jack plate with 6-8 layers of corrugated paper to protect/cushion any part that might come in contact with the underside of the car.

Break loose all of the right side(or left) wheel bolts before jacking the vehicle. I don't like breaking loose lugs while the vehicle is suspended.

The wheel hub will likely have some rust on it. Wire brush the rusty residue away and apply anti-sieze compound to any area where the wheel will contact the hub. Some say to apply anti-seize to the lug bolt threads. I do not do this as I've always left lug bolts/nuts "dry".
Be sure to step-torque(I use 3 steps 35-65-105) the lug bolts.

Don't forget the use a wheel-chock opposite the side you are working on and be sure to apply the parking brake.

vwtoys

An impact wrench, compressor, or the harborfreight electric impact all works well and speeds up taking the lug bolts off. If you can get the entire side of the car up in the air, you can swap the front/back in no time. I spend about 15-20 minutes to rotate the tires, tops.

Remember, always handtight with a wrench and after that, lower the jack and then use a torque wrench set the torque accordingly, never use the zip gun to zip the lugs back on. Drive around and re-torque. If you live in an area that has road salt I would use anti-seize on the threads and the hub bore.

RobMate

Sorry about the dumb question, but what exactly do you mean by step torque?

Do you do set your torque wrench to 35...follow the star pattern until all lug bolts are 35, then repeat the process until 105?

Thanks for the tips guys.

HaveBullDogWillTravel

YES!

GeodesicSAAB

I use a hockey puck on the jack plate as a cushion and it works quite well.

HaveBullDogWillTravel

That's a great idea. I got pucks!

hmn4858

Best advice I got about this was to use my leg and body weight to break them loose vs my arms.