| Author | Message | ||
     Mikef5000 |
This time with the car club! I'll be there a bit tomorrow afternoon, then at and around the dragon all day Saturday. This will be my second time down in this car. But this time the car is setup much better. Should be a blast! Downside is that the fricken Mini club will be there with over 500 Mini's! Ouch! Our club has between 20-40 Audi's and VW's, and a few Porsche's. My 4 wheeled toy: 2002 Audi A4 1.8 Liter Turbo Quattro (All Wheel Drive) Lot's of small mods. If anyone is interested I'd be more than happy to list them.    The middle picture show's its current ride height. The top and bottom are older pictures, where it was 3/4" lower than it is now. Since I put the new much wider wheels and tires on there, I had to raise it up. Should help with handling too, I had it way too low. | ||
| Xbullet |
Looks good. little brother and I were talkin' bout takin' his 3KGT up to the dragon. gotta find the time.... | ||
| Josh_ |
Hmm, maybe I won't hit the dragon this weekend. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Nice BBS wheels. I think those are the best looking wheels hands down. I used to be on Club B5 when I had my Passat V6 4-Motion. Same platform, same parts. | ||
| Toona |
Mikey! I was at the Dragon today and yesterday. Most of the Mini's can hold their own, but the sheer number of them is what blows. I did spot a Valencia Orange 12S on the way to the Dragon and a CityX on the Dragon yesterday. I stopped by Smokey Mountain HD/B and picked up another messenger bag for a friend. No test ride, becuase it was spitting rain, but the sales rep was cool and said "fill out the paperwork, here's your bag". They had the full allotment (S, R, TT, Ss, Blast, Uly's) on the floor and right up front. A semi-decent display of Buell swag, apparently the bike accessories are in the parts dept, or I just missed them. Go west on Lamar Alexander Pkwy about a mile and they are on the left (off of 129, south of Alcoa/Knoxville, TN) I did see a lowered A4 go thru the drive up window at the DQ just east of the dealership. | ||
| Nevrenuf |
nice car mike, hows the m2 holding up. been doing much riding up there. and toona, are you down around the knoxville area or just running through. started working up in chattanooga last week of which if everything go's good i'll look at getting the bike up here in a few weeks. i've met up with rotzaruk here waiting to see what happens with his leg and his bike after his accident. if ya'll get over this way, look us up. rotz would appreciate it i'm sure | ||
| Hughlysses |
Quattros rock!  | ||
| Toona |
Nevr, I'm in town, Knoxville, for a car show at Chilhowee Park (with my business). I figured since I'm going to be this close, might as well bring the bike! I've had a blast for the last 2 days and I've finally lost my chicken strips completely and even scuffed my boots on the road-I haven't looked at my pegs yet, but I didn't hear them scrape. The weather doesn't look like it is going to cooperate for riding the rest of the week, but we'll see. | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
 I hear the Hocking Hills calling!! | ||
| Macbuell |
I've always liked Audi's but I have heard that maintenance costs are really high. Is this true? I currently am driving a Lexus IS300 Sportcross and I love it but I might look at an Audi for my next ride. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
I've been very happy with the audi's costs. As with all cars, but ESPECIALLY German cars, the newer you go the more reliable. Parts seem to be VERY resonably priced from what I've found. Coil Pack - $25 Hood Shock - $30 Control Arms - $25 ea. I guess that about all I've needed to buy for mine. I do most all of the work myself. Here's the timing belt project from 2 weeks ago:  That was a pretty big project. It would have been about $800-900 for a shop to do it, including the new belts, tensioners, and water pump. Sure the maint. costs will most likely be a bit higher than your domestics and your lesser expensive cars. But you must compare apples to apples. The weather does look a bit questionable this weekend. All the better to show off the Quattro. And yes Hughlysses, Quattro deffinately rocks. Last spring when I was down there with the club, I still had the factory 16" wheels and skinney 215mm wide all seasons. Now I've got the new BBS wheels with the amazing 245mm wide sticky tires all around, it'll be a whole new ball game. | ||
| Ikeman |
I'm a big fan of the Audis and V-Dubs. I've got a Jetta TDI wagon with a 5-speed. I think it's pretty cheap to run (requires synthetic oil but 10K mile change intervals) - I've had 0 problems with it and get 48 mpg flogging the hell out of it. And I'm about to pick up a used VW Passat W8 4-Motion with the 5-speed Tiptronic (my wife would like an automatic for a change). | ||
| Nevrenuf |
toona, i don't think your that far away from etenuly, i was thinking of getting up that way to catch him maybe this weekend. how long you there for. and mike have fun at the dragon. watch out for the squids and the like. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
500 minis? what New BMW Minis or old Austin Minis? If it's the new ones, do me a favour & drive back & forth slowly with a big dually, I hate them new ones. Yeah I know it's irrational but hey, that's the kinda guy I am!  | ||
| Thumper74 |
Mark, I just don't see you in a Miata... Anyway, I've got my SVT Focus to play with... | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
Its the wifes car. She lets me drive it once in awhile. I have to get lubed up to fit in it but its not that bad after I get in. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
Wow what an awesome time! Interesting things that happened: Dragon night run Friday evening. I've never been on the Dragon afterdark, it was an awesome experience. Mini Club... There were over 500 Mini's. 3 real (old) Mini's, and the rest were the new ones. They did a great job of separating. We never ran into a group with over 30 cars. For a group that large, I couldn't believe they were never in the way. Mini flip Saturday afternoon... Halfway down the Dragon a Mini went off the outside of a corner and rolled. Both driver and passenger appeared to be OK, but they did call in an ambulance. New tires... I just bought my new tires. 245/40/17 BF Goodrich G-Force KDW's. WOW! I can not praise these tires enough. If you're alright with some road noise... and as they wear, A LOT of road noise, then these tires are amazing. Both wet or dry, these things stuck like freaking glue! Very predictable too. Milage... The whole trip was something like 1300 miles. Half way home I hit the 100k mile mark in my car. The pain... My toolbox was strapped down in my trunk, but didn't appriciate my Dragon runs. When I got home, I found the handle broke off and the box itself very cracked. And the more expensive pain... My clutch is toast. It's been slipping upon heavy boost in 5th gear for a long time, but this trip it really started to slip. Now I can't really get into boost in 4th or 5th gear without some major clutch chatter. If I can find a lift I'll do the job myself, otherwise I'll have to pay to have it done. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
A couple quick pictures:    | ||
| Mikef5000 |
Oh yeah! There was a Firebolt on the overlook this morning! You on here? |
