my B5 had a close call last week and I dumped alot of my stocks in order to buy a new car...I almost bought a 2000 bmw 330ci last week, but then I found out that the horrible noises and shaking of my 1998.5 A4 1.8TQM was actually coming from my timing belt falling off (audi of SM gave me the shaft) and my driveshaft got the shaft, so to speak..lol

so, all this being said, my car is back up and operating for 655$ cash and I now want to do the following mods

coilovers, upper control arms, motor/tranny mounts, Giac, Tip, fmic, exh., hfc

or I could have my car repainted for about 2800, which would rid me of 20 or soo dents, some major key marks and more waterspots than you could count in this lifetime, plus he'll paint my lowers at the same time...

so, what do you think?...all show no go or all go and no show?

or the third option would be....use the A4 as a down and get a newer audi/bmw

 

not to rain on your parade but if that was me, i'd opt'd to trade it in for a newer audi/bmw. Not sure if its worth investing all that money on a 10 yr old car.
Do you know what your trade in value would be?

 

If I were you I'd get chipped (and maybe exhaust with the hfc/tp) and save a little more for the body work.

I'm in sort of the same boat, but my cars body doesn't sound nearly as bad as yours though the little damage it has pisses me off. I plan to do a few things before getting some scratches removed, 1 dent popped out and my lowers painted. So the order of things to do for my car are as follows.

vag-com cable
sway bars
tp/hfc
timing belt change
coilovers (my sports suspension is ok for the time being)
body work, wheels, tires
then big turbo and all supporting parts.
jhm short shifter

I've already got exhaust, clutch, chip, boost gauge.

Sorry got off track there a little bit.. anyway, your third option is also good, but keep in mind if you choose the third option, will you have much money left over for modding? From the sounds of it, thats something you want to do. If your car doesn't have insane amount of miles and for the most part is running just fine, I'd keep it. If you're car has a lot of miles and doesn't run that great, it might be worth trading it in.

 

the car runs flawlessly, in the last year I have put about 3500$ just into preventative maintennance, It has 117K on it now, but it got a new turbo at 70K...

the car is amazing on the inside and if you click on the camera to the left under status, you will see that is is not as bad as I described, I just love my car and I overexagerate to make every minor thing life or death...lol

as far as $ goes...I will have about 3.5k$ to play with in a week and can sell the rest of my stock whenever and have another 4k if I did decide to upgrade to a newer car...

so I can put 3.5K into the A4 I have now or I can use this A4 as a down and have another 7k on top of it...

the problem is that I am a school teacher and I am paid by the quarter...so, I can't afford large monthly payments....

That is the reason why I am thinkng of keeping my A4...I think the question is, should I live with the slowness and the wheelgap and have the car painted to perfection (including some custom shaving/lowers and a couple deletes) for 2800

or do you think I should go for full suspension (including sways, control arms and all new the mounts), chip, fmic, exh./hfc, tip
for about the same price

 

Perfomance.

 

that's a given....

I guess no matter what i have to do upper control arms and motor/tranny mounts...(~430$ roughly)

then Coilovers for about 744 (shipped)

then I could prolly talk the paint jobe down to 2,500$ cash

get the maintenance out of the way and then compramise...

with the performance stuff I can just do it one part at a time, and the better the car looks the more inclined i'll be to put $ into it

we'll see when the check comes in...

I will also need a clutch in the next 20k miles or so

 

all go no show

 

haha...yeah, if it was my spare/race car that's how it would go...

but this is my DD....I really want it all, but like everything else, a line must be drawn...

my 10 year old paint and my door dings make almost hate my car, but then I get in the drivers seat and re-fall in love with it (everyday)

I think my word of the day is compramise

I will do necessary maintenance, Coilovers and then I am going for a new coat of brilliant black

the nice part about all the suspension and motor upgrades are that you can buy them one at a time instead of a one time lump sum kinda deal...

eventually the car will have everything I want on it...it'll just have to wait until the funds are available...either way, every mod listed above will more than likely be on the car by the end of the year...lol (sounds like a long ways away, but I can only afford a mod or two a month)

 

I'll bring you a blindfold to wear outside of your car, then you can take it off once the engine is started.


Feel like swapping an axle and possible a drivers side axle bearing carrier on sunday?

 

ummm, what does your saturday look like?....sunday I am gunna spend w sierra....I would be down for an early morning or late night wrench on saturday, or a late night friday....

umm, so, I talked to the Kyle guy who's parting out the car and he seems pretty defensive....I don't think he'll be the one you should get your knuckle from ... It sounds to me like this car has been severely molested...lol

this is what he e-mailed me a bit ago.

" it would appear that it is the right front steering knuckle that is damaged? you didnt specify. the left knuckle on my car is in good shape, but the right front is destroyed. lets make a few things clear, i pull all the parts on my car. also, i am in no way obligated to tell you how badly the car has been damaged, just let me know what you need, i and i will let you know what i have."

seems a little shady...I might buy an armrest from him, but I don't think I am up for a molested knuckle...If you want I can go by LKQ 2moro and get a price...

I think after guiding me to my car a couple hundred times you'd prolly break down and just gouge out my eyes...lol

I really want coilovers and paint, engine performance can wait...I have had fast cars... ME + FAST CAR = TICKET