2 birds 1 one stone?

[Jason Dodd]

Hey guys so i purchased my 1st car since passing my test a month ago the 2007 audi a4 s-line 1.9 TDi, now i make frequant long journeys through dorset country and the roads here are lets say a bit mental? sweeping, tight bends and loads of hills.

the problem im having is gearing for it 3rd seems to less and 4th seems too much im constantly changing mid hill just to keep the car going, i was thinking a remap stage 1 would help? giving me better rev range and power and tourqe? my local remaping place is revo in lincolnshire and they charge £360 for the stage one + a full days testing etc (worth it?) with this remap in mind would my clear box thats been fitted next week for insurance to be as cheep as it is £1000 for the year, would the box pick up the change? or would i be fine on that side of things?

Also im planning on swapping the headlight units out at the end of the month for some B7 R8 style projector lights, anyone had any experiance with them? good/bad? (only changing as the standard ones are pretty poor at night.

thanks in advance

 

[Joe_Murphy21187]

Stage 1 remap will increase power & torque, giving you a wider power-band and allow you to hold each gear longer. I'm not familiar with the gear ratios on the 1.9tdi but it might be worth checking they are as they should be before going for the remap. No doubt someone will be along to comment soon.

Any modification done to your car should be declared to your insurance company for legal reasons, and a remap will inscrease your premium. If a 'Clear Box' is just a GPS tracker it shouldn't detect the remap, and the remap alters the ECU programming so it should be fairly undetectable anyway. However if you don't declare the remap to your insurance company your insurance will be invalid and hence you will be driving illegally.

Remaps themselves are not visable under investigation as it changes a range of parameters within the ECU, but they alter the checksum (or similar) within the ECU which indicates to any insurancy investigator that the ECU has been changed/altered.

When you say B7 R8, do you mean the starline style headlights:

Although they looks good in the pictures, I have read many reviews which say that the curved LED strip doesn't flow with the bonnet lines of the B7, also that the light output is not fantastic. If you want best light output stump for the OEM Bi-Xenons and headlight washers (required by law if you have HIDs). Beaware that changing the headlights is a bumper-off job and cannot be done by solely removing the headlight units.

 

[hades-]

i wouldnt do either as your a new driver
or check with insurance 1st

 

[Jason Dodd]

Stage 1 remap will increase power & torque, giving you a wider power-band and allow you to hold each gear longer. I'm not familiar with the gear ratios on the 1.9tdi but it might be worth checking they are as they should be before going for the remap. No doubt someone will be along to comment soon.

Any modification done to your car should be declared to your insurance company for legal reasons, and a remap will inscrease your premium. If a 'Clear Box' is just a GPS tracker it shouldn't detect the remap, and the remap alters the ECU programming so it should be fairly undetectable anyway. However if you don't declare the remap to your insurance company your insurance will be invalid and hence you will be driving illegally.

Remaps themselves are not visable under investigation as it changes a range of parameters within the ECU, but they alter the checksum (or similar) within the ECU which indicates to any insurancy investigator that the ECU has been changed/altered.

When you say B7 R8, do you mean the starline style headlights:

Although they looks good in the pictures, I have read many reviews which say that the curved LED strip doesn't flow with the bonnet lines of the B7, also that the light output is not fantastic. If you want best light output stump for the OEM Bi-Xenons and headlight washers (required by law if you have HIDs). Beaware that changing the headlights is a bumper-off job and cannot be done by solely removing the headlight units.

yeah the box is just a gps device to monitor milage and speed etc, shouldnt touch the ECU atall from what i can gather but wasnt sure. Yeah those are the lights ive seen a few youtube vids and they look pretty sweet from what i can tell. HID's are apparently been made illegal so projector lenses are my next best option i would have thought?

i wouldnt do either as your a new driver
or check with insurance 1st

Haha im new to car driving but make a 600mile journy every weekend to go home and drive a 1300hp challanger 2 daily for a living the power is nothing to what im used to + im not going for a power re map i was thinking more along the lines of an all rounder remap maybe a boost of 30hp and 50lbft tourqe may help with the constant gear changing?

 

[Joe_Murphy21187]

Haven't seen the headlights in action myself, although I was considering getting a set. I just heard on forums etc that the light output is not brilliant. I was never 100% so it's further down my shopping list than a few other things. Personal preference I guess.

HIDs aren't illegal, but if you're retrofitting them you must have the following to pass an MOT:

HID compatible 'projector' style headlights
Auto-levelling system for the headlights
Headlight washer system (working)

All to do with the bright beam getting scattered by a poor quality reflector lens or dirt on the headlight, so I've read.

 

[Jason Dodd]

Haven't seen the headlights in action myself, although I was considering getting a set. I just heard on forums etc that the light output is not brilliant. I was never 100% so it's further down my shopping list than a few other things. Personal preference I guess.

HIDs aren't illegal, but if you're retrofitting them you must have the following to pass an MOT:

HID compatible 'projector' style headlights
Auto-levelling system for the headlights
Headlight washer system (working)

All to do with the bright beam getting scattered by a poor quality reflector lens or dirt on the headlight, so I've read.

how much would this kind of conversion cost me?

 

[Joe_Murphy21187]

Difficult to say, but as a guestimate:

£150 for new bumper (assuming it comes with washer nozels and solenoids)
£??? to paint the bumper and blend it into your bodywork
£500 if you can find a set of bi-xenon headlights (£500 is a guess for headlight units, ballasts and bulbs)
£10 for a new washer pump (which you need to modify existing washer bottle for)
£20 for wiring etc for the washers

Not sure about costs for auto-levelling headlights, would think that if the headlight units are OEM Bi-xenons they would be auto-levelling, which may just mean powering them. It may also mean new motors, new wiring and new tilt sensors.

If you were doing it properly I would think you'd be looking in the region of £800, but that's based on estimates. I could be way off. Could be £1500, could be £400 if you get lucky on eBay and are handy with a paint gun...