Tire height is stock which is what 26?I love the 3.42 like some guys are saying it a good all round gear to have for city and highway for a DD.

 

It is a very good gear for the A4 cars especially the cars that get driven alot. There are always sacrifices to be made when it comes to gearing. My previous post was directed to 69camaro and not you....sorry for the confusion.

 

go with the 3.73's

 

Contemplated it but im going to stay w/ the 342's

 

3.73's w/o a doubt

 

You haven't answered specifically two things, which you need to look at:
1. How many miles do you drive the car annually?
2. How many of those are highway cruising?

If it's a lot of miles and mostly highway, STAY 2.73s and get a stall and cooler.
If it's a lot of miles but less than half highway, it's a toss up and will fall to your tolerance of highway RPMs. Obnoxious exhaust - stay 2.73s.
If it's not a ton of miles and more city, do the 3.42s.
If you change to mostly city, grab the 3.73s.

We all want performance, but this WILL affect your overall enjoyment of the car - a LOT - and it could go either direction. Make sure you make the right choice for your actual use of the car. Be realistic.

If you change gears, make sure to get a tune. Also keep in mind that higher RPMs equals more frequent maintenance and repairs. People tend to not account for this and putting themsleves in a bind.

 

i have talked to people that that swapped out 3.42's to 4.10's and gained nothing in the 60ft. their overall et did not change even a hundreth of a second and their mph went down a few hundreths. i have stock 3.23's and i also have a stock 3.42 rear that i will be putting in my car. i don't think you will get any more of a gain but everyone has their own opinion.

 

It seems that with automatics there seems to be a big difference in frequency of breakage between 3.42s and 3.73s. A lot of guys I know with 3.42s are keeping them alive in hard-launching 10 and 11 second cars, but it seems that almost everyone with 3.73s end up snapping them at the line. Any thoughts on this?

 

Bump,bump.

 

I would like to know this also.

 

IMO, there's not enough diference between 3:42 and 3:73 to warrant the change.

I'm amazed at how many people are afraid of a little gear. Up until the early eighties we only had non-lockup A-3 and M-4 transmisions available. Even back then, the most common performance ratios were 3.73 and 4.10.

 

I wanted to swap to a m6 because all the a4's i broke how much did you spend on the swap and what do you think about the reliability of the t56 vs 4l60e?

 

If you are thinking of going t56 just because the 4l60e can't handle the power, don't forget about the 4l80e swap. Just another option to throw out there.

 

I'm an m6, but I went from 3.42>3.7 when I got my rearend. Back in Michigan I hated the gear change since I drove on the highway 95% of the time (why I stuck with 3.7 instead of 4.11). My MPG dropped from 27 to 25. Now that I'm in the city, the gear swap is ok.

 

So If I got this right, I have a 12 bolt with 3.42's and a TH400. Now I have 28x10 slicks in the rear for the track. Will I see a difference in that set up if I went to 3.73's? I just want to know. I will keep the 3.42's cause I have a set of street tires that I will take "SHORT" trips with but was just wondering. If there is a big gain from going from the 3.42's to the 3.73's I will change gears but if not I will stay. Just some info if anybody have any. Thanks.

 

Im sure there would be a gain, since your gearing is sooo far from being optimal. 3.90's would probably be more beneficial then 3.73's. If you can hook on a 26" tire, it would be similar to running 3.90's and a 28" tire. Currently i run 3.42's, with TH400....and back to back runs with 26-28" tires....my setup with the 28's runs .15 slower in the 1/8.

 

That's good info. I know that I will be leaving some on the table with my gear and tire set up but I got such a good deal I coundn't pass it up. I may changw gears next year so for now I guess I will have to be .15 slower than I want to be. Thanks again for tbe info.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqH21LEmfbQ

your decision.... listen to the words... you will find your answer within them..

 

Thats funny lemons.Thats how I started this thread.I thought it would be a catchy name.SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO!!!
It took someone long enough to figure it out!!

 

i thought so..