I know this has been gone over several times. Im buliding an engine for a s4 turbo. The front and rear iron measure about .005 step wear on the side seal wear area. I know the limit is about .0039, but ive heard some people say even if its out of the limit it shouldnt hurt anything. I also checked the oil ring wear and they appeared to be within the limits ( I cant remember the numbers but I felt like it was acceptable in those areas). I guess what im getting at is would anyone else bulid an engine with these irons or would you replace them? Please keep in mind in only doing a stock rebulid. Im not planning on doing any major mods to this car in the future.

 

you fine.

 

I would rather use worn stock irons than lap off the remaining 3-5 thousandths of factory nitride hardness in attempts to obtain a flat surface. The wear on the irons won't cause any problems, but you run a risk if you get them lapped enough to remove all the wear, as lapped irons often wear out very quickly (<10k miles) causing a ton of smoke, you also run the risk of a coolant jacket breakage due to the thinner groove you're left with. You'd get to pay about $400 including shipping for the privelege to take this risk.

Used irons are usually going to have about the same amount of wear on them unless you find a really low mileage set, such as from a jspec.

 

Thanks, I wouldnt have thought it would be a problem as the car still had tons of power. But, it had 167k and was time for a rebulid.