TMU's Glacier White B8.5 S4 - MRC Stage 2

[scotty76]

The ADS modes are definitely different on a standard car. Auto mode tends to favour economy most of the time with dulled throttle response. Switch to dynamic and it's a different story. Sharp throttle response.

 

[Dippy]

Absolutely. If you don't notice the benefit of the ADS dynamic mode throttle response @Tashfeen I will be very surprised.

I can't remember how you change modes in 'ADS lite' - do you need to use the hidden menu?

 

[arad85]

Dynamic throttle loses me more mpg than the tune did... I guess I average about 1 mpg less now with the tune, probably 2-3 with dynamic. I'm back on auto as a daily simply because the car now accelerates fast enough for any situation I've come across on my commute even in auto... I can always use a little more pedal to downshift into 3-4k range and away I go - at any speed I've tried it at so far :s

Just as well I checked behind me as I pulled onto the motorway yesterday - there was a nice big police X5 4 cars back. They drove a steady 70-75 mph until we got to a variable speed limit area where they slowed to 60ish (speed limit 70). Kept a gaggle of BM's, Mercs, Audis and Jags behind them for a whole 8 miles

 

[V6_Man]

Absolutely. If you don't notice the benefit of the ADS dynamic mode throttle response @Tashfeen I will be very surprised.

I can't remember how you change modes in 'ADS lite' - do you need to use the hidden menu?

You need to activate it via the hidden menu by activating the hidden menu first . However, once activated, you access it via MMI under car settings, which I believe is normal. I am going to get the button retrofitted otherwise it will always generate a VCDS error.

Currently, this is how I access

And my current settings

Imho, since activating I have done only 14 miles on an A road (70mph) journey so didn't have enough time to properly test it. The one thing I did notice since is steering feel. It feels I am more in control now and the car doesn't swerve as much on high speed breaking as it used to.

Re: Throttle response, again I need some time to test and find out any differences. Responsive throttle on paddle shifts, I am not sure in D and S maybe.


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[Dippy]

Just as well I checked behind me as I pulled onto the motorway yesterday - there was a nice big police X5 4 cars back.

You lightweight! Your car can easily outrun an X5!

 

[V6_Man]

Dynamic throttle loses me more mpg than the tune did... I guess I average about 1 mpg less now with the tune, probably 2-3 with dynamic. I'm back on auto as a daily simply because the car now accelerates fast enough for any situation I've come across on my commute even in auto... I can always use a little more pedal to downshift into 3-4k range and away I go - at any speed I've tried it at so far :s

Just as well I checked behind me as I pulled onto the motorway yesterday - there was a nice big police X5 4 cars back. They drove a steady 70-75 mph until we got to a variable speed limit area where they slowed to 60ish (speed limit 70). Kept a gaggle of BM's, Mercs, Audis and Jags behind them for a whole 8 miles

And whilst I have thanked everyone, I must once agin also thank you @arad85 for helping me choose Milltek. I sat in @8BallAddict car when we were doing the mods and whilst the 'test drive' was short enough I didn't notice any drone. Fingers crossed.


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[arad85]

You lightweight! Your car can easily outrun an X5!

If only I'd thought of that..

 

[V6_Man]

So, the car came back today and whilst I was expecting to be blown away by Milltek it is actually Eibachs, which have been the biggest surprise. I can't believe what a piece of crap I had been driving for the last one year. The car is soo planted and smooth that it is unreal. The drop is just perfect, exactly how it should've come from factory - about a finger-and-a-half gap between the wheels and the arches. The ride is unbelievably smooth and I feel more in control in almost all the driving conditions specially coming to a stand-still from a higher speed.

034 Billet Aluminium Trans Mounts has made the gear shifts; both up and downshifts are a lot smoother than without. I haven't noticed any vibrations that @8163264 mentioned however, I did get some and I think I know the reason why it happened and I am not going to disclose it as it was more to do with my stupidity than the trans mount

Milltek Exhaust
I actually need to check with AwesomeGTI tomorrow as I think I might have got Resonated rather non-res that I ordered . I am honestly struggling to understand those complaining about drone on Milltek non-res. I have not noticed any either between 1500 - 2000rpms or between 2000 - 3000 rpms. There is nothing at all. It might be that once the systems is bedded in properly that it will come and we'll see when this happens. However, one thing is for sure - it is definitely louder then the stock. Even if it is Resonated the V6 growl adds to the character of the car and makes you feel you are actually driving an S4. Just the perfect setup. I think I need to give it couple of hundred miles to open up but as things stand, it is not boy-racer or neighbour annoying loud - at all.

The GT100 tips, I am not sure yet. I think they'll grow on me. At the moment they look at bit too big with the stock diffuser and I believe once I have changed the diffuser tomorrow I am hoping for it to blend it well with the carbon fibre. So, fingers crossed.

Overall, I think I am 90% there with the mods and after I have changed the stock pads and maybe rotors, I'll be almost finished with the car for sometime and focus on my wife's neglected car, which has suffered a lot in the last few months.

There is however, a twist to the story ...

I received a call after everything was done and to check if the car was actually MRC Stage 2 as I was told it felt no different to stock S4 - and this my friends for an OCD like me is a killer. This is extreme. This is a death trap. And I am sat in front of my laptop since 6am trying to figure out what could've happened.

I was told that a 30 - 70 mph rolling from third gear to red-line was done and the car did it in 4.7 secs. I was also informed that cars tuned by Revo have done or would do it in 4.2-4.4 secs. I have lap timer enabled in the car and I have tried. And I have done it in 5 secs, 6 secs, 4.8 secs and 6.2 secs. And I was nervous when I was doing it because I wanted to hit 4.2 secs to deny the chap that the car is not stock and that it is Stage 2 - and I have proof. And ever since I think it was a sales gimmick (the guy is Revo supplier) and just wanted to bring in another MRC customer over and the other me thinks what if he is right. And after picking up the car actually feels a bit slower or maybe not - I cant tell. And I am going to call MRC tomorrow and see if I can dyno the car tomorrow and find out if there is anything holding up the car or not. What do you suggest @xpoweruk , @Dippy @arad85 @scotty76 - help me - it is bugging me

 

[V6_Man]

Few pics of the drop
Before (rear)

After

Before (front)

After

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[xpoweruk]

If you are worried pop to MRC. An easy way to check if it has been at MRC is looking at the crank pulley.
MRC use a solid aluminium one & the stock is cast with a rubber centre

 

[V6_Man]

If you are worried pop to MRC. An easy way to check if it has been at MRC is looking at the crank pulley.
MRC use a solid aluminium one & the stock is cast with a rubber centre

Cheers bud. Will be calling Ben @MrC first thing tomorrow. Might as well get the map tweaks done at the same time.

 

[jdp1962]

@Tashfeen , the car's looking good on the drop, and it sounds from your description that it's handling like a dream. Glad you sorted out whatever gremlin you had with the transmission mount; and I'm sure a call to MRC will put your mind at rest.

 

[V6_Man]

@Tashfeen , the car's looking good on the drop, and it sounds from your description that it's handling like a dream. Glad you sorted out whatever gremlin you had with the transmission mount; and I'm sure a call to MRC will put your mind at rest.

Cheers @jdp1962. I know it can be a sales gimmick and nothing else and he's definitely got my attention, all of it


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[V6_Man]

And the final piece of the jigsaw went in just now. 20 mins is all it took and compliments the GT tips perfectly.

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[scotty76]

@Tashfeen my car is stock, right down to the V6T badges so I am not the man to help. What did MRC say when you called?

 

[V6_Man]

@Tashfeen my car is stock, right down to the V6T badges so I am not the man to help. What did MRC say when you called?

Just spoke to Ben over at MRC and he said it could be number of factors and one of which could be the weather. Car booked in @2pm Thursday next week for some map tweaks already so we will do a health check before anything else and find out. However, I could see another tank of fuel being consumed in the hope that there is nothing.


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[Suths]

Try not to stress mate. These cars have a habit of giving us brilliant highs followed by gut wrenching lows. Your car looks great, compliments to you. Fingers crossed that the hot weather has played a part in the performance over the last few days.

I've got H&R OE springs and the difference to stock is massive. The H&R sways help too and overall the car just feels a lot more planted but still maintains the smoothness.

 

[Dippy]

MRC will sort it. Maybe the exhaust has changed something which affects the tune in which case a map tweak is needed. However I'd be inclined to suggest that the hot weather was the problem. IIRC you don't have an uprated charge cooler?

 

[V6_Man]

MRC will sort it. Maybe the exhaust has changed something which affects the tune in which case a map tweak is needed. However I'd be inclined to suggest that the hot weather was the problem. IIRC you don't have an uprated charge cooler?

Not at the moment @Dippy. It is definitely on the to-do list but not in the immediate future. Looking at couple of options at the moment

The outside temperature at the time Mark did the run was between 24*-26* but he didn't send me an evidence after I asked him to. I have asked a friend and we'll try it tonight to see what numbers we can get as my attempts last night were all over the place (between 4.7 - 6). Milltek is not known for back pressure or performance losses however, we can't be certain until tried and tested. We'll find out, it is just that the wait has already started to annoy me


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[V6_Man]

Try not to stress mate. These cars have a habit of giving us brilliant highs followed by gut wrenching lows. Your car looks great, compliments to you. Fingers crossed that the hot weather has played a part in the performance over the last few days.

I've got H&R OE springs and the difference to stock is massive. The H&R sways help too and overall the car just feels a lot more planted but still maintains the smoothness.

Cheers @Suths. The first thing I noticed as was the perfectly balanced firm and planted ride. The kind of you'd expect from an S4, not sure why Audi wouldn't do it straight from factory.


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[arad85]

That looks really good. Like the diffuser too. Where did you get it from and was it pricey?

A trip to MRC will see you happier, but mine is obviously faster than stock since I've had it done - so much so that I don't really feel the need to take it any further for the moment (not that I can of course as I'm waiting on others to get stuff working...)

 

[V6_Man]

That looks really good. Like the diffuser too. Where did you get it from and was it pricey?

A trip to MRC will see you happier, but mine is obviously faster than stock since I've had it done - so much so that I don't really feel the need to take it any further for the moment (not that I can of course as I'm waiting on others to get stuff working...)

Cheers @arad85. Looks really good in real, I don't think the pics do the justice. The big exhaust tips compliment the diffuser. Again, not sure why Audi do such a bland stock rear diffuser.

It is from ECS, AwesomeGTI sourced it for me and I paid £672 for it. It is a bit too pricey but I couldn't find anything for B8.5 in the UK. Importing it myself would've been be a bit too expensive.

My fourth gear pulls are fine, or perhaps just how they used to be it is 3rd to 4th pull which I "think" are slower.

 

[arad85]

Yeah, thought it was pricey... I agree - stock diffuser is just pants! May have to bite the bullet and order one. Carbon on a black car... mmmm...

Don't worry, you'll get sorted (and have a day out in a nice car too!).

 

[V6_Man]

Yeah, thought it was pricey... I agree - stock diffuser is just pants! May have to bite the bullet and order one. Carbon on a black car... mmmm...

Don't worry, you'll get sorted (and have a day out in a nice car too!).

I have seen a few pics on one of the threads on Audizine and it looked really nice.


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[V6_Man]

Looking promising - one attempt @4.6 secs, which was using the onboard lap timer where I believe the margin of error is +/- 0.1, 0.2secs. Couple of more practise runs and am sure I will be able to hit 4.4. Will definitely take pics tomorrow.


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[Dippy]

@Tashfeen - On reflection I wonder if Mark's judgement is fair (no offence to him - as you know I highly rate him). As you are probably aware his main focus is Bentley and he seems to be doing a lot of turbo tuning work for those 2.0 TFSI hatches. I imagine that a lot of his test drives are with powerful customer cars. On that basis I would imagine that it is very hard to be objective about seat-of-the-pants performance of a car, particularly a supercharged one which as we know has a very different characteristic compared to those turbo cars.

I don't think Mark took my car for a test drive when he did the service a couple of months ago.

 

[V6_Man]

@Tashfeen - On reflection I wonder if Mark's judgement is fair (no offence to him - as you know I highly rate him). As you are probably aware his main focus is Bentley and he seems to be doing a lot of turbo tuning work for those 2.0 TFSI hatches. I imagine that a lot of his test drives are with powerful customer cars. On that basis I would imagine that it is very hard to be objective about seat-of-the-pants performance of a car, particularly a supercharged one which as we know has a very different characteristic compared to those turbo cars.

I don't think Mark took my car for a test drive when he did the service a couple of months ago.

You may well have a point here @Dippy. He did compare the car to the other Revo tuned cars - he said it was normal for these cars to do 30-70 pull in 3rd gear in 4.4-ish seconds.

On my run last night the outside temp was around 19* and the oil at 95*. On the other occasions when I tried the outside was 26* and oil was 105*. Now whether this can be the reason or not for being able to do 4.6, I am not sure. I don't know. I am no XP and he might call it all rubbish once he reads it








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[xpoweruk]

They can get hot quickly on standard cooling,so would seem like the reason was the weather

 

[V6_Man]

She is on the dyno so, fingers crossed

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[V6_Man]

Real time update:
Doug in the car


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[V6_Man]

Bad news, it is down on power - 450 from 477 .


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[mdmay]

Any thoughts on why?

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[V6_Man]

Letting the engine cool down. Doug is looking at it. Back pressure, blockage in the inlet, we don't know yet.


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[V6_Man]

So, the verdict is out; those with B8.5s keep your engines/superchargers cool, i.e. charger cooler else you'd be disappointed like I was.

We let the engine cool down, opened up to see the intake pipe, and airbox. Couldn't find anything so dyno again and we are back where we started from in April - we'll kind of. It is still down by nearly 6ps, which in a grand scheme of things is not massive but it is a bit of a decrease. Having said that, I am happy to be back where I should've been in the first place.

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[arad85]

Yeah, 'cos 450hp is just not worth getting out of bed for huh...

Glad you've got an understanding of the problem and know what your next purchase is going to be

 

[V6_Man]

Yeah, 'cos 450hp is just not worth getting out of bed for huh...

Glad you've got an understanding of the problem and know what your next purchase is going to be

Lol @arad85. I went there to get a few more horses added and came back leaving one behind .

We are talking about 30-40bhp for nearly £1.5 - £2k. Same amount of money that you to for 130+bhp. I will have to think about it and justify the costs, is it worth it. Heart says, absolutely every penny, head suggests otherwise. Let's see who wins.


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[xpoweruk]

6PS is well within the margin of error so all is good in the end
Get that chargecooler sorted then you will have all the PS all the time

 

[V6_Man]

6PS is well within the margin of error so all is good in the end
Get that chargecooler sorted then you will have all the PS all the time

Have been waiting for your message XP . Time to start reading thoroughly the charger cooling techniques thread on Audizine. And if you don't mind I might bother you every now and then and until I have sorted out one

The one from Revo and APR are good deals and so is Forge but they are slightly expensive. Doug mentioned another US company and was rating it highly but it was @£1650+vat so, kind of out of budget, at least for now. I need to get the dimensions/connections for B8.5 and then start looking fleebay - who knows I might be lucky. I quite like your setup and will try to find one similar. Please do keep an eye in case you come across one or perhaps point me in the right direction.


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[arad85]

I can tell you the APR one fits fine

 

[xpoweruk]

http://mercracing.net/ Contact Merc & see if they are doing another run of S4 coolers.