I recently bought an a6 and I was asking a mechanic if he knew of a good place in phoenix where I can get some reasonably priced rims. He told me not to change the rim size because it can damage the suspension and also throw off my speedometer. Also, I saw a pretty cheap set of 19"s that require spacers and longer lug nuts. Are spacers bad for the car and is this guy right about the suspension. Is it better to just stick to the factory 16" wheels I have?

 

i think the overall diameter of the tires is more important than the rim size. if you have 18s..and you upgrade to 19s, you can get a lower profile tire and keep the same effective outer diameter..which shouldn't hurt the suspension or mess with the speedo.

if i'm wrong about this please correct me, but that is how i understand it.

i am not sure about spacers..

 

It's not bad on the suspension...some Audis come stock with 17" and 18" rims. As for spacers they actually help to some extent in that they give you a wider track by pushing the wheels out further to the corners...wider is better. Lastly Audis have a pretty large "fudge factor" when dealing with wheel size and the speedo, so 19's shouldn't have any effect on it, they will however bemore unsprung weightand make the car ride a little rougher.

 

if you end up getting 19's your probably going to notice a decent amount of difference in how your car feels and rides. I would assume the the 19's your going to get are going to be much skinner (the tire) so your not going to have as much cussion as you had on the 16's. Then they could also be wider...

 

As long as you keep the overall diamater the same by decreasing the wall ratio #, you're fine. It is all about revolutions per mile, which is a direct correlation to diameter. Suspension won't suffer much but jumping from 16 to 19 will be a dramatic change in your riding experience, it will be like driving a different car. It'll be rough and more reponsive. less tire wall flex. Watch the pot holes!
See my 19 below! had a little pot hole encounter!!!!



See if you can borrow a buddy's 19's before buying them. If you go 19, I would go one size larger with same wall ratio. This time with my new 19s, I went up to 245x35 from 235x35. Diameter variance is minimal.

Spacers are fine. Defnitely get longer bolts so you can have at least 6 or 7 full turns.
I had 8mm spacers in front and 15mm in rear with my 17 BBS RC rims.

Good luck

 

oh yeah i forgot, if you go 19's, buy light weight wheels!