The springs give a little plusher ride over harsh roads and the larger tires definitely ride over the top of pot holes better instead of falling in them. I'll do some testing and get back to you on braking, I haven't noticed a big difference yet. To me first gear in the manual feels very tall even with stock tires and if it's been a few weeks since I've last driven the car I'll ride the clutch a little the first few times. I would say its not any worse with the larger tires but it was a concern of mine going in. I towed 1500lbs behind it with the larger tires and it wasn't to sketchy, I did have to cautious when starting on an incline.
I have a stage 2 tune and the car feels slower with the bigger tires. I don't think the hwy miles dropped to bad but I'm guessing I'll drop around 8 mpg in the city. Alignment is actually spot on.
Interesting. I would love to have the ground clearance you have, but that tire size might be too tall for me. I don't find first gear to be overly tall, but in reverse I always have to use more clutch especially if backing up any incline.
I have a stage one kerma tune and with my slightly taller 205/60/16's I can still release only the clutch slowly to start rolling forward, very handy in stop and go crawl traffic. Not sure if I could do that with a much larger tire.
I don't know if it is the tune, but the motor will bump up to 1k rpm just as the clutch engages, and then there is enough power to fully release the clutch to get rolling
Nice to hear the rear the rear springs are not stiff, I might buy the same set in the future.
Currently I have Emanual design spacers with TT Audi pads in the rear, and the car looks normal to me. Maybe my springs have sagged. On a recent trip to the beach we had the car loaded inside, a loaded roof box and two bikes on the back. There wasn't much travel left.
As far as support bags, I think the springs you have in the back are from a Q5, not an Alltrack based on the part #'s
It's amazing how much a 5% change in tire revolutions per mile actually feels like ( especially at highway speeds ). I've dealt with this on my previous vehicle. ( 1991 VW 4x4 Westfalia ), but these TDI's have a lot higher torque to weight ratio so maybe its not so bad.
When I first bought the car, the ride seemed a little too stiff for my taste and driving conditions, but now with the taller tires and maybe broken in springs, the ride is acceptable, but additional ground clearance would be great.
As much as I love the Xenons, I like the somewhat "retro" look of your headlights with round projectors inside.