Project Old Yeller: The Search for the Perfect Wheel

Last time in the project series we covered the introduction to Project Old Yeller. This Audi TT was purchased to be a fun, reasonably reliable, great handling, weekend car. So far the car has lived up to the expectations. Well, mostly... But first, let's cover the wheel choice for this car. As soon as I picked up the car, I knew that it as going to need some better wheels. The factory 17's were well worn with peeling paint and a very dated look. I wanted to stay with a wheel choice that looked classic and truly fit the TT. Something trendy or totally new just wasn't going to look right and the car needed something typically German to work. That made the choice very clear, BBS. Within hours of ownership, I set out to find a set of BBS CH wheels. I had a set in 19" on an older Audi A3 build and loved the look. Since I wasn't going to do any go fast mods, I could splurge on a set of wheels, right? After searching for wheels through all of our distributors, I finally found CH's in 18x8.5, the only problem was they were out of stock. With the days counting down to H2O and my unrealistic expectation that I should have a set of aftermarket wheels on the cars a week after purchasing it, I had to look for other options. Luckily one of our vendors was able to find a set of BBS CH-R in the fitment that I needed. I was shocked that these wheels hadn't come up in my prior searches and even though they were more expensive than the CH's, I pulled the trigger.

...Oops

When the wheels got in, I was amazed at the quality and really happy with the fact that I sprung for the CH-R's. Then I tried test fitting them... The 3.2L Audi TT has brakes that are substantially larger than the 1.8T Audi TT. These wheels were said to fit on Audi TT's, but not 3.2L TT's specifically. Whoops. After a late night test fit and an overnight spacer order, the problem was solved! The TT got it's new shoes on and it was looking better than ever, just in time for the car show.

H2O, lots of it

When the weekend came for H2O, I drove the car to Ocean City, without any issue other than the massive amount of rain. As soon as I pulled up to my hotel and checked in, something just didn't feel right. The rear wheels were locking up and dragging across the pavement. My car was only moving the front wheels and the rears were effectively braking the car at speeds under 40 mph. Not good. A little research revealed that my Haldex controller had been compromised and I would need a new one. Luckily these are available second hand, and I could pick up one that gives my rear wheels a little more power. Now with a 50/50 power distribution the car feels much more agile and plows less through the corners. I'll chalk this one up to a happy accident. Stay tuned for more updates as my "no mods" policy is further compromised.