Argh ... Major R8 issue
 

So I guess it’s true ... you want to play you gotta pay ... the R8 is known for having 2 big issues one is the air conditioning and the other is the magnesium shocks ... the latter is extremely common, much more expensive to repair and not covered under most extended warranties.

My car is a 2008 with 16k Miles and yesterday I brought it in for a rattle and the dealer said 3 out of the 4 shocks are leaking :ack:

The shocks alone cost $8k and I figure labor will be another $2k to $3k ... totally sucks but there is a possibility my warranty might cover it ... fingers crossed the claims guy from the warranty company is coming to the dealer tomorrow.

I read online it can go either way and to think I was upset the parts to fix the rattle were $500 plus the labor of taking apart of the dashboard :ack:

Holy fuck. Are there any aftermarket options that might give you improved performance? If you're spending that kind of scratch, might was well get something out of it.

If the warranty covers it, that's the obvious route.

I've only had mine on the car for a few months, but maybe look into MCS shocks? They list the R8 on their applications page, but they could probably make one for your specific trim... https://motioncontrolsuspension.com/pricing/

You buy enough high end cars that I’m hoping you have friends in high places at your dealer. This sounds like the right time to ask for “goodwill” warranty participation. While the dealer won’t offer it up, the service manager does have some discretion to help out VIP clients.

Good lord.

If they don't pay, can you go to a different shop? Non-dealer?

I got an email from a place I bought the spare tire from and they said I can get the OEM shocks from them for $5700 but the dealer said they can’t give me the 1 yr warranty on the labor part if they do the install so I am not sure if that is even an option.

I have been checking around to see other options and the savings I am seeing is minor and then the shocks are not able to switch modes between comfort and sport ... at the same time I think I am keeping the car for another year or two and the ride will be improved so much I think I want to stick with oem.

Anyway my mind set is I pay the price (like i’ve got a choice) and that is the way it is and if by chance they cover it will be SUPER happy.

I’ll know tomorrow so basically another night of no sleep.

Sarafil ... I am definitely going to talk to the manager on pricing if I end up paying, i’ve gotten 4 new Audi’s from them since 2015 and have all my service done only by them ... I know the manager and he is a good guy and usually does the right thing by me.

I really don’t want anyone touching the car but the dealer, they have done this many times over and have R8 techs ... these guys know there shit.

The dealer treats their R8’s when they come in for service very special, no one is allowed to move the car except for the managers or the R8 techs. They also move the car immediately into the shop when you drop it off and it sits by itself in a part of the shop so no one can go near it even if they aren’t working on it.
They really make you feel special ... no wonder they are charging $10k to $11k for this :lol:

I googled "Audi R8 shocks problem" and this was one of the first hits.

I can't see giving the dealer that kind of money for something that failed... just to have it fail again in another 10K miles. No way.

I hope they cover it for you.

Great Googilly Moogilly, your shocks are worth more than my whole car !!

:lol::eeps:

Let’s see what happens with the dealer if it’s not covered I will definitely check into this, thanks !!

Bobo ?? .... lol I am guessing and hoping you’re another Howard stern fan otherwise you’d have no idea what bobo is ... if so did you update your Sirius app ... it’s awesome they have videos on it ..

This thread was also interesting. "oemmotorsports" claimed he could source replacements for $1,200 per shock instead of $1800, but that was in 2015.

For whatever reason this really pisses me off. How can the stealer charge $8,000 for shocks that last 10k miles and get away with it. :irate:

Time does a number on seals etc. Ten years probably had as much to do with it...

I don't know how important having OEM active suspension is for R8 resale. If it's not $8k important, going to a quality passive set sounds like the ticket.

He is the one that gave me the $5700. Price ... that included shipping so maybe that had something to do with it being higher in price ... Thanks for checking into though I appreciate it :thumbup::thumbup:

Bewigged OCD caller and former driving instructor?

I haven’t listened in a long time

It’s ri-goddamned-diculous is what it is. What the fucking fuck. Assholes. It should piss everyone off. Fix your shitty product before reaming people like that. I don’t imagine it’s an unfixable engineering or production problem.

This makes me feel better about my $10k motor replacement. :p

I missed the rest of that story. Did you have to pay for the replacement?

I get why AF wants the dealer to replace the shocks, I might be in that same camp.

But if the replaced set fails . . . . It would be "hello aftermarket" for me

I'm more pissed off by a manufacturer that specs stupid expensive complex parts that doesn't last than I am at the dealer that marks them up a bit and charges book time for labor.

OTOH, you buy your ticket and take the ride.

I'm with you on the manufacturer part. But the dealer is marking them up more than just "a bit". A random dude on the internet is selling them for 30% cheaper and presumably still making a profit.

The dealer is not only getting the labor income, but raping him for $2300 of pure profit from the shocks as well - profiting from Audi selling parts that don't last. They're in this together.

Does Audi have something like CCA discount for parts? That's helped me a lot on the BMW side. Took a chunk of sting out of the LSD and the tires I ordered from the dealer. They basically matched TireRack's price on the Michelin all seasons I ordered after the discount was applied...

At a top line, I don't really disagree with you. A 33% dealer mark up on their cost for parts? It's a lot, but about what I'd expect from lugnuts to long blocks for the most inexpensive appliance cars to near-exotic cars from major nameplates. When the part price goes up, the mark up goes up in dollars. Yeah?

Even so, comparing what a dealer pays for a part to what a random internet dude pays may be a fair comparison. Or it may not. I don't have the information to know in this case. But, I do know that suppliers charge different customers different pricing for a variety of reasons.

Random internet dude says Delphi is the only source for those shocks. If true, do we know Delphi is charging random internet dude the same as Audi? Do we know the only difference between the shocks Delphi sells to Audi and random internet dude are that these went into this shipping box and those went in that one? Do we know that Audi doesn't have testing requirements on each shock and only those that pass get sold to Audi while ones that fail, but are still good enough to use get sold to random internet dudes at discounted prices? Do we know Delphi replaces defective units at no cost for both Audi and random internet dude?

And then Audi resells the parts to their dealers, presumably with some level of markup added.

It's a expensive part with a short lifespan on a super expensive car that generally don't get and aren't expected to rack up many miles. Sure, it's a racket, but this is what's been going on with these types of cars since long before any of us were buying our own cars. When you buy a car like that and then insist on having all work performed by the dealer and using only genuine Audi parts (even when there are better and cheaper alternatives), you've bought into playing your role in that racket.

Sure, it kind of blows, but meh.

So, I guess you need to factor in that the dealer is also guaranteeing the part for a certain amount of time after the install...so there's some risk coverage on their part for that.

That, too, I think.

When I took my parents 2001 E38 after they passed away... The CEL was on. In talking to the BMW mechanic in Monterey we used when I lived down there, he mentioned a few things to do.

One of them was to replace the mass air sensor.
The interesting thing is that the same engine is used in both BMW's and Range Rovers. Both use the same Bosch stuff. I bought the cheapest LR 'branded' mass air sensor for about only 60% of what that identical part was from the cheapest BMW branded source had it for.
Opening up the green box revealed the same identical part that was installed in the car from the factory - right down to the PN cast into the housing.

Parts are a commodity... VW / Audi / Porsche have (for a long time) shared many of the same parts amongst their cars. I have a friend who has Porsche's (older ones - water and air cooled) who make it a mission in life to see if he can get the 'cheaper' VW version of the same item his Porsche needs - for a substantial discount.

Though that is the price originally quoted I would think they would come down if I get stuck paying for it ...



Agreed ... like I said before you want to play you gotta pay.

I got great news ... the warranty company is covering all 4 struts the only thing I have to pay for is the alignment at a total cost of out of pocket of $200. :banana:

Argh ... Major R8 issue
 

Excellent! Should be good to go for another 10k miles! 😊

Fantastic!

Sweet!

Fan-fucking-tastic!

Drinks are on AF tonight!

Cool news. Yes - drinks on AF. The 'good' stuff. :)

:lol:

congrats!

Woohoo!

Warranty prices on the R8 going up as we type...

Would you believe I only paid $2,600 for a 6 yr warranty with -0- deductible when serviced at the selling dealer which is the one by my house.

I already got my money back 2 to 3 times before this even happened.

Note to self. Don't go into business insuring Audis.

:thumbup:

:lol:

:lol:

I wondering if they were subsidizing the hell out of that? It’s a no brainer to spend $1k/year (or more) for a warranty on a car like that. And I’d say that with a pretty large deductible.

Wow that is great!! They do make sense sometimes. The fidelity platinum 7y 100k mile that was 6months old when I bought the M5 from the OO saved my ass over the years. I need to add up the receipts but easily over $15k in that timeframe.