Wheel choice

[KevH18]

At least they’re not black, Mik.

Sounds like Broccers!

[DeskJockey]

I kind of like it. Much less showy than the others.

[JonMad]

Excellent! Just to check, when you say small you mean 18s?

[Jobbo]

Yeah, they’re tiny 18”s They don’t look very big. Currently unsure if the 20”s will go on again before I sell it in a few years.

[Jobbo]

It seems obvious now but I've had a niggling dislike of the 18" winter wheels on my car since fitting them. They just didn't look as good as I remember on my previous Allroad. And there's a reason for that; the design was changed slightly when the facelift happened (which pretty much passed the Allroad by since it kept the original bumpers, sills etc while the normal A6 ones were updated). They're a similar 5-spoke design with a facet cast into the spokes to make them look like they twist. The facelift version has slightly more slender spokes. And they look much more elegant. I had never previously noticed the change. Doh.

Older style on the left, newer on the right.


Going to try to pick up a set of the newer type for summer wheels. I like the way the 18"s drive. The current Dunlop winter tyres on the car may be good in ice but I discovered on Saturday on a spirited drive home through the Cotswolds that they don't cope any better with farm mud Had a nice couple of 4-wheel drifts round an S-bend which showed that the Audi can be amusing to drive when you push it a bit.

[DeskJockey]

Newer looks better, I agree. Worth swapping or is it acceptable?

[Jobbo]

I forgot to post my plans so I've added them as an edit - I'm going to keep the current ones with the winter tyres (they'll do next winter too, based on wear rates - probably the year after as well) but I'd like the ones I intended to get in the first place.

Also found a set of the 20"s I like but I can't really justify 4 sets of wheels for one car

[Jobbo]

Bought a set on eBay, as new with new Continental summer tyres. Weirdly I offered €700 and I'd had my offer accepted at €588.21 so not sure what's up with eBay but they seem to be cheaper than I was expecting. Buying wheels from Germany on eBay has been a pretty cheap experience so far

[JonathanE]

VAT in Germany is 19% so it looks like the seller has assumed your €700 offer was inclusive of local VAT, and then deducted the VAT as the wheels are being exported. But in practice you will probably have to pay 20% VAT on the €588 (and on the shipping costs) when you import them into the UK.

[Jobbo]

Ah, that would explain it - cheers. So I'm going to end up paying roughly what I expected, subject to whatever fees the courier adds for administering the collection of the VAT.

[Simon]

But they're second hand so no VAT would apply, right? Either in Germany or on import?

[Jobbo]

Why would VAT not apply on second hand goods sold by a business?

Tyres are new anyway.

[Simon]

Ah, it wasn't clear you'd bought from a business....

As you were

[Sundayjumper]

Why would VAT not apply on second hand goods sold by a business?

In the UK it'd likely be marginal VAT, not the full 20%. Depends if the dealer was able to reclaim VAT when they bought the stock in the first place.

Ever bought a second hand car from a dealer ? There probably wasn't any VAT on the invoice.

[Jobbo]

I’m not sure the VAT margin scheme applies to German sellers. HMRC will just add 20% on top.

[Jobbo]

Wheels arrived during the week (all 4 this time, DPD again). The chap who packaged them up clearly had fun on the cling wrap machine so I didn’t unwrap any of them until today.

Was a bit worried they’d sent a set of the same design I have on the car; they really are similar looking. I had to roll one out to compare They are the correct wheels anyway, and a nice new set of Conti tyres. I’d like to put them on now because it’s not that cold anyway and I’m not a massive fan of the Dunlop Winter Contacts; compared to the Pirelli Sottozeros I had on my Merc last year until about May they really drop off as the temperature gets up to 10C or more. But what’s the point in wearing out the new tyres sooner than necessary, so it’ll keep the winters on until March at least.

[Jobbo]

Took the winter tyres off today. Giving me the opportunity for a direct comparison:

Before:


After:


Yes, I really didn’t realise there were two designs of this wheel hence buying the wrong ones first time. Getting them free was a bonus

[DeskJockey]

Quite a subtle difference. The slimmer spokes suit the car better I think.

[Jobbo]

After taking off the winters I checked the size, offset etc marked on the back. It seems they are official Audi winter wheels and are 7” wide rather than 8”. Same tyre size (235/55).

[Jimmy Choo]

Also found a set of the 20"s I like but I can't really justify 4 sets of wheels for one car

@integrale_evo would disagree with your assessment.

I was going to say that I think you're nuts with a preference on such a slight difference until you put the picture up and clearly you are correct.