Dane's Phantom Black B8 S4

[Dane]

Hi chaps,

Thought I'd start a thread on ASN for my B8 S4.

It's the replacement for my old 520 bhp B5 RS4:

And it looks like this:

Spec includes:
Phantom Black paint,
Black optics
Black Super Sport Seats (Silk Nappa),
Sports Diff & ADS
Stronic
Tech pack (high) - HDD 3D satnav, 40GB jukebox and glovebox device connectors, 2x SD slots, DAB
Phone prep (high)
B&O

Already had:
New mechatronic unit
New water pump (confirmed by inspecting and finding a metal casing)
New thermostat under the recall.

As of a few weekends ago it now it has a facelift RS5 Flat bottom multifuncton steering wheel:

Before:

After:

I still need to change the model badge

And a quick comparison shot:

 

[mancdan]

Now that's a muddy drivers mat!

 

[razza1]

Do the wheel functions work? Notice you have extended paddles as well, nice

 

[Big Bird]

Very nice! How much was the new wheel and is it an easy swap???

 

[V6 Quatt]

Those paddles on the wheel are 2014 Audi changed the look of them....nice wheel and car!!

 

[Dane]

Now that's a muddy drivers mat!

Yeah that was annoying, it was clean the next day.

Do the wheel functions work? Notice you have extended paddles as well, nice

Yep its a facelift RS5 wheel so bigger paddles and different button layout. Every control I had before works, the iNav button doesn't but I didnt have that before so I'm not too bothered.

Very nice! How much was the new wheel and is it an ea
sy swap???

Thanks bud, this was £800 from ebay, round RS5 wheels with the oblong airbag are much more common than flat bottom ones so you just have to keep an eye out for them. As well as making sure it 's an Rs wheel not an Sline wheel, sline ones aren't as thick.

The swap was really easy just followed the guide on audizine here:
http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php/464230-RS5-Steering-Wheel-Install

The flat bottom wheel is slight;y different because the airbag clips in to the wheel instead of screwing in.

Those paddles on the wheel are 2014 Audi changed the look of them....nice wheel and car!!

Thanks - I took a bit of a gamble because I couldn't find much specific info on putting a facelift RS5 wheel into a prefacelift S4 but it worked out great. The interiors just a few touches off being the same as an RS4 now

 

[razza1]

Love it thanks....

 

[Tay]

Very nice car, and love the steering wheel retrofit. Want to do it myself but they're half the cost of a stage 2 map!

 

[Dane]

Love it thanks....

No worries

Very nice car, and love the steering wheel retrofit. Want to do it myself but they're half the cost of a stage 2 map!

Yeah well, the right one showed up on ebay so I went for it and it was an easy swap not:
Getting up early,
Driving to Banbury,
Sitting in a waiting room for half and day,
and driving home.
LOL

Theres plenty of time for go faster bits

 

[Sandra]

Thats a nice upgrade car Dane. I hope you enjoy it. x

 

[Dane]

Thats a nice upgrade car Dane. I hope you enjoy it. x

Thanks Sandra, I'm loving it.

 

[Dane]

This thread needs more pics, so here's some from the s4's alpine adventure over new year.

It was a bit of a last minute decision to take it but I managed to sort out some thule wing bars roof bars on short notice:



Photo from the train:



Our view after getting stuck in a bit of traffic around Geneva



All parked up

 

[DrSasso]

That is one sexy car! Thought about swapping the geat selector also? Or CBA with the fiddlyness/potential plastic snappings?

Very jealous!

 

[Dane]

That is one sexy car! Thought about swapping the geat selector also? Or CBA with the fiddlyness/potential plastic snappings?

Very jealous!

Thanks mate, very kind of you.

Yeah I have thought about that but I haven't looked into it very much, they do look nicer but I'm not sure I'm massively fussed.

I'd rather get a piano black mmi/dial trim but I dont want to induce any squeeks or rattles from taking the dash apart, currently it's perfect and I'd hate to ruin it.

The next mods will be KW adjustable springs, spacers and an mrc stage 2.

 

[Dane]

Sun was shining, cleaned the car, took some photos

I decided to polish the tail pipes, before:



Half way through one side:



And one side done:



Before and after:

Some other clean photos:

 

[Boydie]

Very nice buddy. What did you use on the exhausts? I've meguires but just don't think it cuts it enough.

Need to invest in a FBMFSW again!

 

[Dane]

Very nice buddy. What did you use on the exhausts? I've meguires but just don't think it cuts it enough.

Need to invest in a FBMFSW again!

Thanks bud, I used Autosol on an old microfibre which did the job very easily

The FBMFSW has made a huge difference, I love it!

 

[Keef]

Need to invest in a FBMFSW again!

Hijack alert!
Boydie drop me a PM if you’re after a wheel!?
My new S4 one was replaced with an RS4 SW so i have one for sale, haven’t post in the classified yet

 

[Bulldog]

I normally use meguiars & zero grade wire wool makes them really shiny & takes all the other crud off too. This was when I first did it as the previous owner had never bothered with them.

 

[Buxton2901]

tail pipes look awesome, I'm going to do mine soon. I wish they were removable, thus being able to change them.
I think they stick out a little bit too far on the 2.7 & 3.0 TDI's

 

[Dane]

Summer wheels are on:

OEM 19x8.5 ET43

 

[Buxton2901]

Summer wheels are on:

OEM 19x8.5 ET43

Dane, your motor looks sweet. So want a set of rotors for mine.

 

[Dane]

Dane, your motor looks sweet. So want a set of rotors for mine.

Thanks dude. it's just a shame they aren't 9J rotors but it's tricky to find them at a workable offset.

MRC Stage 2 and GB map coming soon

 

[Bristle Hound]

Summer wheels are on:

OEM 19x8.5 ET43

S4 looking very nice indeedy Dane!

 

[TahirS]

Very nice car, and love the steering wheel retrofit. Want to do it myself but they're half the cost of a stage 2 map!

I feel that. I'd sooner get the stage 2 and if one pops up on ebay after that then fair enough... What stage 2 are you thinking of?

This s4 looks hottt

 

[voorhees]

How does it compare to the RS4 then Dane

 

[Dane]

S4 looking very nice indeedy Dane!

Cheers mate.

How does it compare to the RS4 then Dane

It's a bit unfair to compare them on performance at the mo, but I'll know more in a weeks time. The S4's pretty quick it just doesn't really excite me in terms of straight line performance, it handles excellently and you do end up going faster than you think but I guess that's due to how linear the power delivery compared to a turbo engine.

In other areas though it's worlds ahead, the interior is a VERY nice place to be, the seats are great to sit in and look at, the Bang and Olufsen is miles better than the Bose ever was in the RS4 (probably a bit unfair as well) I put a DVD on whilst stuck in traffic and the surround sound is better than my home stereo lol. Importantly it's still fairly economical, the RS4 would return 16 mpg maybe 18mpg even on a run - which made it pretty impractical the S4 does between 25 and 28 so it is all together more useable.

 

[V6 Quatt]

No worries



Yeah well, the right one showed up on ebay so I went for it and it was an easy swap not:
Getting up early,
Driving to Banbury,
Sitting in a waiting room for half and day,
and driving home.
LOL

Theres plenty of time for go faster bits

Yes I know but put a smile on your face good mod

 

[mcpickering]

wow... nice car dane!

it will take a lot to beat the incredible straight line power that RS4 had! that things was a monster!!

James

 

[Dan930]

Very nice car mate...can't wait to get mine
When u getting the Mrc stg2 done?

 

[Bristle Hound]

Gorgeous looking S4 Avant Dane. Like a lot!

 

[jdp1962]

I've only been over here since yesterday but I'm already in a permanent state of tumescence over the gorgeous S4s on view. That's a lovely car, Dane. Can't wait for the summer.

 

[Dane]

So my S4 is now MRC stage 2!

The day started off interestingly with my ecu being in development mode - a sign of already being remapped... But after putting it on the dyno for some before results it turned out it wasn't, but it had three engine flash attempts and one gearbox flash attempt, resulting in an X being present when you scan the ECU. I think I read somewhere Audi look for the X to tell if you've had a remap and whether to honour your warranty or not.

Any way it did 338PS and 464 NM as standard and Stage 2'd it did 483 PS and 601NM

It feels great and the power is fantastic on the road. It's still a very linear performance, no turbo shove in the back at 3.5K just woosh off you go.

wow... nice car dane!
it will take a lot to beat the incredible straight line power that RS4 had! that things was a monster!!
James

Yeah I really miss that car... ah well.

Gorgeous looking S4 Avant Dane. Like a lot!

Cheers dude - it's pretty standard looking but I love the black optics.

I've only been over here since yesterday but I'm already in a permanent state of tumescence over the gorgeous S4s on view. That's a lovely car, Dane. Can't wait for the summer.

Shucks! thanks mate.

 

[Dan930]

Hi mate,lovely car u got there...
Our of intreast is the s4 in current tune quicker then yr rs4 when accelerating away?

 

[razza1]

Good stuff, certainly shifts hey

 

[Dane]

Hi mate,lovely car u got there...
Our of intreast is the s4 in current tune quicker then yr rs4 when accelerating away?

Pretty difficult to say without a VBox - but the dsg box makes pulling away quickly very easy - so off the line yes I reckon the S4 is quicker - but once your moving nothing I've driven has accelerated like my RS4.

But that could just be down to power delivery - as you can see from the graph the S4's power delivery is very linear whereas the RS4 had lag but once you hit boost the gradient of the graph line was steeper so at that point it accelerated quicker.

The RS4 had nearly 50 more Bhp so it's not exactly a fair comparison, due to the gearboxes I expect the S4 would be able to get off the line quicker but once moving the RS4 certainly felt quicker - Scary quick - the type of quick you don't get used to and then want more.

Good stuff, certainly shifts hey

Yeah it sure does but in a very different way to how the RS4 used to.

 

[Ant138]

Smart car mate. With performance to match!

 

[Bristle Hound]

So my S4 is now MRC stage 2!

The day started off interestingly with my ecu being in development mode - a sign of already being remapped... But after putting it on the dyno for some before results it turned out it wasn't, but it had three engine flash attempts and one gearbox flash attempt, resulting in an X being present when you scan the ECU. I think I read somewhere Audi look for the X to tell if you've had a remap and whether to honour your warranty or not.

Any way it did 338PS and 464 NM as standard and Stage 2'd it did 483 PS and 601NM

It feels great and the power is fantastic on the road. It's still a very linear performance, no turbo shove in the back at 3.5K just woosh off you go.



Yeah I really miss that car... ah well.



Cheers dude - it's pretty standard looking but I love the black optics.


Shucks! thanks mate.

Impressive dyno figures Dane

Your S4 Avant is certainly the 'stealth rocket' me reckons

 

[Compkiler]

Am i right in saying that all you need is an uprated pully and remap for this kinda power?
Or you gota get full exhaust etc too ?

 

[razza1]

Am i right in saying that all you need is an uprated pully and remap for this kinda power?
Or you gota get full exhaust etc too ?

No exhaust needed, just pulley, filter and remap