How To Change Tires/Lower Suspension

Another good car with problems. The Minichamps Audi RS4 is a very good miniature, but has big tires and doesn’t look as nice as the real car. With this DIY you can can dramatically change the look.  There are two options, the novice option or more experienced option, we will explore both.  This is how the car looks when you buy it.

First of all, you must have the car.  The first step is remove the old tires. You have to take care, and is better to heat them with a hairdryer to make the rubber softer. When I first modified the car (I did it for 3 times), I broke a part of the back axle (as you can see in the pictures). because I didn’t heat the tires. I bought 4 new tires of 15 mm width, 35 mm outer diameter and 28 mm inner diameter.  Tools and supplies are noted above.

Here are the tires, on the left the new one and the old one on the right.

And this is how they look like (old/new).

First we remove the screws from the chassis. There are 6 screws. There are 4 bellow the rims, so you have to take care removing them.

There are different methods to achieving your goal.  I will explain them all from easy to hard, so please bear with me.

Option A – I don’t recommend this option, because the springs are strong and could crush the rubber piece in the future.  Here you can see the screw of the front suspension.

Screw removed:

I cut a 3 mm pieces of the tube of rubber and I put it pressing the suspension to make the plastic part move up.  While pressing I put the screw.

Option B – This is the option that I recommend.  First, remove two screws (red arrows) on the front of the chassis. Then, you have to press where yellow arrows are with a thin screwdriver to separate the parts.

Is better to cut a little bit more, as I did the second time.

These plastic parts are labelled “R” and “L” but for me I could not tell the difference.

The next step is optional, but highly recommended.  I cut two pieces of the tubing about 1.5mm thick.  The first time I used a part of a pen, as you can see in the first picture.

Then cut this spacer in half as shown below.

Now place the spacer within the suspension components.  With loads of patience, I placed the pieces bellow the wheel, to raise the suspension.  Repeat for opposite side.

In the RS4 Avant you can do it easier cause you can remove the piece on the picture.

Using a cotton swab as a tool I glued the rubber pieces (because rubber is too soft) to ensure the spacers don’t move. You have to use care and use a small amount of glue here.

Now when completed the addition of the spacers put the suspension pieces back in place.  With lots of patience we have to unite the chassis with the body of the car. It’s a bit of a challenging step, but with some practice you will do it quickly and safely.

See the final results of a completed model below.

Locate the screws of the rear suspension as shown in photo below.

Now cut a two spacers as we did for the front suspension.  I decided on 2mm, but you can work with the desired drop to satisfy your project.

Then remove the screw, and as we did (or maybe not) press the suspension and put the rubber piece on the plastic cylinder of the suspension. Then return and tighten the screw.

This is how the Avant looks compared to the Sedan. There is some glue, be careful with separating the suspension from the chassis.

Here’s the difference of 2mm vs. 3mm spacer.

Now you need to remove the dabs of glue (removed on the left, not removed on the right). I did it with a screwdriver.

Now you can remove the rear section of the exhaust, press down in the holes where you just removed the dabs of glue.

We repeat the process in the middle of the chassis – left, glue removed/right glue not removed.

Now you can remove the exhaust line.  Now you have to remove a pair of screws.  See photo below – yellow arrows.

Remove the screws of the suspension if you haven’t done it yet. Now you can separate the chassis and the suspension, but only a bit, because the line shaft is attached to both parts. Note this part is a flexible to an extend. If you brake it it really isn’t an issue because when you put the exhaust line back together the line shaft will be hidden.

Now that you have everything apart let’s modify the rear springs.  You will notice the springs are shorter and softer than on the front axle.

Cut the springs down and then to put them into their respect home.  See photos below.

And then we unite both suspension and chassis again. This is how it should look if everything went well.

You now can combine this step with the previous, I recommend you use a 1mm spacer instead of 2 mm.

The exhaust system can now be easily put back into place. Remember to re-glue it into position.

Reassemble.  Reunite body with chassis, and you should get this!

2mm rubber spacer without springs cut vs. springs cut.

2mm rubber spacer without springs cut vs. springs cut and 1mm rubber spacer.

This is an optimal steering adjustment, it will allow for overall better movement.  Since the model is already apart , go for it!

With the pliers we can brake the steering stops. Its easy and you won’t brake any part of the car.  The first time I cut it with a Dremel, but it takes too much time, and the result is worse than if you do it with the pliers.

Completed with pliers.

Left not modified/Right modified.