Charlie's Neverending RS4 Project

[Charlie D]

Thought I'd finally get signed up as I'm on here a lot seeking info anyways

Whew, where do I start... bought the car in Sept 2014, Audi RS4 Saloon in Phantom Black with 29,900 miles on the clock. Had all the specs I wanted (wingbacks, carbon interior trim, armrest, etc) except no ceramic brakes, black optics, or flat bottom steering wheel. Car proved to be absolutely mint though, bar a bit of lip on the brake discs and low tyre tread.

First ever pic:

First things first, get the discs skimmed and new pads:

Next up, full paint correction and detail, courtesy of a friend:

Brand new rubber (Michelin pilot super sports) an alignment while I'm at it, and a cheeky plate change:

Now, considering when I bought this car, the only car I owned previously was a 1.6 Golf with less than 1/4 the BHP of this thing, I thought I'd take some time getting used to the RS4 and enjoy it in its purest form for 6 months or so before I'd start doing things to it...

 

[Charlie D]

Jumped right into the deep end next. Bought a nice set of wheels made by 360Forged (3pc splits), took out the perfectly healthy DRC suspension and got Air Suspension installed (Airlift Performance with Accuair eLevel Management):

Also got the anti rollbars swapped for the beefier H&R ones front & rear, got the Pipercross (GruppeM copy) induction kit with a forge intake pipe in, and swapped a few bits in the bay with Carbon Fibre:

The car handles better on air than it did on DRC, but I put a fair bit of that down to the uprated ARBs. The car feels a lot more like a RWD car than before, which I like

 

[Charlie D]

So, 6 months into owning the RS4 and it's already on bags and custom wheels. It only goes downhill from here folks...

Next up, Tubi Exhaust (Non-Rumore because I'm not a complete nutter ), Milltek Decat downpipes, and a trip to MRC for some love:

• Full PowerFlex bush replacement for the front.
• Full carbon clean + Dyno Check
• Full works Stage 2 including Launch Control, Flat Shift, 155mph limiter delete, cold start delete.
• Manifold flap delete
• Aux Radiator delete + Cold Air Feed
• Fresh undertray, arch liners, and front wheel spoilers because mine were ripped to shreds.

440 PS... up from a very underpowered 347 PS... needless to say the car sounded and felt like a whole new animal driving back home!

Not long after that was GTI International, took the car down the strip many times using launch control, best time was 12.6s, I was pleased.

 

[Charlie D]

Now that I know the car goes fast, it was time to start making some cosmetic changes... headlights first (detango + joey mod with black vinyl):

Front bumper respray to take care of the stone chips:

Custom grille (plate filler delete), made from a donor RS6 grille blended into an A4 S-Line grille I bought off eBay. Custom moulding needed doing to fit the new smaller parking sensors into the mesh. Center beam of front bumper cut out to make room for it on the sides (black bit in the above picture), crash beam painted in black, parking sensor wiring rerouted along the bottom:

One of my 360Forged wheels cracked through the spoke which I later discovered was covered up by the previous owner, but I'll leave that story for another day. This meant I suddenly needed new wheels for show season... and I wanted something a bit... special

 

[Charlie D]

Lots of niggles with the car over the subsequent year or so, mostly minor things like replacing a dying battery, new lambda sensors, MAF, and replacing a cracked foglight.

That was up until my OEM clutch finally gave in at the following year's GTI International, on my 6th run it got stuck in 3rd and was left practically undrivable. Luckily, MRC attends that show and are also not far away, so after a nice chat with the lads I dropped the car into their yard on the way back home for a new Sachs Clutch. Kept the original flywheel in because I've been told the SMF rattles a lot.

A few weeks later I got the car back and carried on going to shows with my friends with new wheels (20" BBS Speedlines):

And eventually sorted out the cracked 360forged wheels just before the last show of the season (Ultimate Stance 2016, in Telford):

 

[Charlie D]

2016 was stressful, I realised right at the beginning of the year that life in general was utterly miserable for reasons I wont go into; and after lots of patience and futile wishes for things to get better, it wasn't going to happen without some significant changes. I was very fortunate to have the support of my friends & family whom I leaned on all year to help stop me from losing the plot.

It just so happened that I was also buying myself a new house at the end of the year. It seemed rather fitting that with a new year, new place, new circumstances, this was the fresh start I needed. And what goes with a fresh start? A colour change of course

Hey little Audi, say hello to Monsterwraps...

I also may have treated myself to a few carbon fiber bits:

 

[Charlie D]

Picked up some 20" Rotors too because I always wanted a set and they were going for silly cheap.

Anyhoo, a few weeks later, the car was ready. Window tints, light tints, window chrome delete, full vinyl wrap in 3M Black Rose including door shuts, and a 5 layers of CeramicPro on top to bring out the colour, glossy shine, and bird poo & scratch protection. I didn't end up installing the carbon front splitter until after I got the car home, but most of the other carbon bits were on and this was what it looked like with the new colour and new freshly powder coated wheels chucked on:

 

[Charlie D]

Getting the front splitter on was fun... ended up using 10x 8mm bolts I bought from B&Q as I was in an insanely rush to get the car ready on time for Ultimate Dubs in March.

Test fit:

Drill (I did not enjoy this part at all)...

Bolts:

Wasn't happy with the mirrors so popped back into monsterwraps and had them re-done in their new gloss carbon wrap, I was very impressed by how real it looks compared to actual carbon fiber:

 

[Andy avant b5]

Big thumbs up mate have enjoyed reading about the project I am currently modding a a4 b5 avant 1.8t but no where near as far in as you lol

 

[THQuattro]

Picked up some 20" Rotors too because I always wanted a set and they were going for silly cheap.

Anyhoo, a few weeks later, the car was ready. Window tints, light tints, window chrome delete, full vinyl wrap in 3M Black Rose including door shuts, and a 5 layers of CeramicPro on top to bring out the colour, glossy shine, and bird poo & scratch protection. I didn't end up installing the carbon front splitter until after I got the car home, but most of the other carbon bits were on and this was what it looked like with the new colour and new freshly powder coated wheels chucked on:

View attachment 131153
View attachment 131154
View attachment 131155

Luv the Rotors mate.

 

[Charlie D]

Big thumbs up mate have enjoyed reading about the project I am currently modding a a4 b5 avant 1.8t but no where near as far in as you lol

Thanks mate, had a look at yours and it's looking very clean! Will keep an eye out for it

Luv the Rotors mate.

Cheers man

 

[Charlie D]

A few weeks before Ultimate Dubs, I was asked by my friend Mark Rodway (automotive photographer) if I fancied going on a trip with him to Wörthersee in Austria this year in May... in my car haha.

For those of you who are unfamiliar, this happens to be the largest Volkswagen and Audi car event in Europe, held every year since 1981, where you'll see the 'creme de la creme' of modified cars from all over Europe gathered in one small little town to meet up and party, all surrounded by mountains, lakes, winding roads, and breathtaking scenery. The trip to & from the UK consists of over 2000+ miles of driving (via the German Autobahn and other countries) and if you're lucky, reasonably priced accommodation once you get there. So in essence, it's a German car enthusiast's idea of a perfect holiday, albeit very costly in fuel.

I had never been before and always wanted to go, and long story short, I said yes and got the time booked off work.

The only problem is that I felt like the car in its current state wasn't yet worthy enough to go, both in regards to its health and its 'show worthiness'. So in between work, finishing off my house, and social events, I had little time to waste in sorting a few things out:

• Replace my carbon rear diffuser for the more aggressive one (I liked mine but didn't feel it was aggressive enough). Only problem is that it was too risky to try to separate it from the rear bumper without causing damage, so I opted for buying a new bumper, get the new diffuser installed on it, and have that wrapped and installed too.

Before & After Pic:

• New front discs and pads. One side had started squeaking constantly due to some of the pads being worn down to the bone, and the discs were long overdue a change as I had them only skimmed over 2 years ago. I managed to round off the retaining screw's head on one side which meant I had to drill it out. This was a few days before the trip and was bricking it a little bit haha:

Disc + Pad change at night, in the rain, because that was the only time I had free. Yay:

• Source a Flat Bottom Steering wheel and swap it with my MFSW, then get it coded in.

Much better!

• Swap the light grey interior trim and roof lining to black. In the end I didn't bother because I decided after acquiring the black trim that I would eventually get my interior retrimmed anyways, and sell it and swap the black one into the car if I ever want to take it back to stock.

Also got my hands on more carbon goodies, not going on the car yet because I'm not happy with them (still waiting on replacements, my contact is currently in hospital so I've had to wait):

Carbon side skirt extensions, again not happy with the finish so waiting on replacements:

• Nice and easy one, new smoked indicators, replaced bulbs and lenses, took about 30 seconds on each side:

Much better

• And Last but by no means least, I needed some new wheels, because OEM rotors weren't going to cut it, and once again my 360Forged wheels were out of action. Also I had to ensure there was time to get the new wheels touched up if necessary, as everything had to be perfect if I wanted the car in top form for the trip:

20x10J Rotiform Centrelock IND-t's, the only centerlock Rotiforms in Europe I've been told. Bought with G23 centerlock adaptors, porsche GT3 RS nuts, socket adaptor, and a HUGE 700NM torque wrench. Also threw on a new set of Michelin PS4's, 245/30/20 for a bit of stretch.

Really happy with the colour especially with the carbon fibre bits on the car. The wheels tuck in when aired down, but not as much as it looks due to the dish and stretched tyres.

Managed to get it to a relatively happy state, JUST in time for the trip. Here's a few pics out in Worthersee

Worthersee was one of the best holidays I've ever had in my life. Made a lot of new friends who I still talk to on a daily basis, and saw so many incredible cars, many of which put the UK car scene to shame. Oh yeah the food was pretty epic too!

Already booked it for next year... I can't wait!

 

[b19ctr]

Looking good Charlie I modded a A3 Sportback with air interior rims etc. I'm making some modes to my S4 but not going down the air route again.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Charlie D]

As for why I call this the 'never ending project', here's some of what's still on the 'to do' list...

• Full interior alcantara retrim including seats, consoles, and door cards - toying with a dark charcoal+maroon type of theme but not fully decided yet. This is mostly waiting on my carbon seatback replacements which I'm still to receive an ETA for.
• Get the carbon seatbacks in, and done same time as the retrim.
• Install the carbon side skirt extensions, once the replacements arrive.
• Swap OEM centerboxes for H-pipe. Give exhaust tips a proper polish + some protection.
• RS4 Flat Bottom Silver trim, redone in Carbon to match the dash.
• Replace carbon boot lip, current one is only skinned and too thick.
• Replace rain tray + battery cover with proper Carbon, already on the way but ETA unknown.
• Get some heat insulation on the induction box to reduce heat soak.
• Install LED DRL upgrade kit bought from EMTuning.
• Install the headlight clear indicator lenses that I've had sitting in a box for over a year.
• Replace headlight outer lenses and re-apply smoke tints (also sitting in a box).
• Remove 'S' button on the dash, use the 2 blank slots for something useful.
• Replace right stalk with FBSW version, i.e. without the Up/Down/Set buttons. Alternatively re-use these to control the volume/etc somehow?
• Reinforce rear carbon diffuser which is currently only bonded on. Ensure it is secured to prevent it from tugging on the rear bumper at high speeds (tested to 175mph on the Autobahn, seemed fine but didn't want to push it).
• RNS-E Mk2 Upgrade.
• Supercharger! (TTS kit).
• Ceramic Brakes.
• PPF all over the car once the wrap is perfect.

Fixes / Maintenance:

• Another carbon clean + dyno health check at MRC
  
• Some of the wrap needs looking at, including the CeramicPro coating, relatively minor stuff but all imperfections need to be eliminated. The boot shuts were also not done which I wasn't thrilled about, considering the job was "show car standard" and it's fairly common for show cars to have their boot open to show off the air build.
• Fix one of the rear parking sensors. Rear bumper off job.
• Fix alignment of front bumper and bonnet gap. Had new adjustable front mounts in, but I think they need some glue to stop that torx screw from spinning rather than turning the whole mount like it's supposed to.
• Fix intermittent flickering headlights, possibly new ballasts needed.
• Replace old rear air ride bags. Already in a box sitting in garage.
• Boot handle no longer opens the boot, needs fix.
• Replace worn out air strut for lifting the bonnet.
• Lambda Sensor Replacement (bank 2 sensor 1).
• Check engine mount sensor.
• Replace front passenger side inner CV joint.
• Investigate ticking from rear passenger side wheel (probably CV joint).
• Oil change, brake fluid change.
• Wheel alignment.
  
• Repair damage to passenger side plastic brake vent, somehow a stone got in and smashed a big piece of it.
• Clean out / replace sticky air ride valves in the management.
• Replace air ride boot build for something better looking / more practical.

 

[Charlie D]

Looking good Charlie I modded a A3 Sportback with air interior rims etc. I'm making some modes to my S4 but not going down the air route again.

nice man, found your thread to have a look but none of the pics are up anymore

 

[b19ctr]

This was it Charlie. No where near what you've done to your motor

 

[Charlie D]

This was it Charlie. No where near what you've done to your motor

Ah very tidy mate, nice

 

[Tyrer]

This is lovely mate, yes to supercharge plans!!!

Big fan of the carbon and general attention to detail


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[MrSma]

Mad build. Don't find many show cars with a build thready anymore which is sad.

 

[Charlie D]

Mad build. Don't find many show cars with a build thready anymore which is sad.

Cheers mate, and yeah I know, it's definitely gone down in recent months. More people post incremental updates on instagram and such these days. That being said I'm just as guilty

This is lovely mate, yes to supercharge plans!!!

Big fan of the carbon and general attention to detail

Thanks man

 

[MrSma]

Cheers mate, and yeah I know, it's definitely gone down in recent months. More people post incremental updates on instagram and such these days. That being said I'm just as guilty

Thanks man

Aye I'm
The same sadly, just how it's going in general. Forums are dying and Facebook groups are growing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SPIKE_]

Just took a read through this thread, ant hat off to you for the hard work - car is looking good.

I'm sure the trip to Worthersee was unbelievable, and the pictures back it up. I'll keep an eye on this one.

 

[Charlie D]

Just took a read through this thread, ant hat off to you for the hard work - car is looking good.

I'm sure the trip to Worthersee was unbelievable, and the pictures back it up. I'll keep an eye on this one.

Haha thanks bud. More updates to follow soon, just not had time to dig out the pics and gather up and write what's actually been going on yet!

 

[Radford212]

Haha thanks bud. More updates to follow soon, just not had time to dig out the pics and gather up and write what's actually been going on yet!

Looking forward to seeing what's new!

 

[holmefield]

I've seen this RS4 on Instagram and followed you there, hands down one of the best Rs4 modded cars i've seen....

 

[Charlie D]

I've seen this RS4 on Instagram and followed you there, hands down one of the best Rs4 modded cars i've seen....

Very kind of you mate thank you

Looking forward to seeing what's new!

Hah... "things" are coming

 

[Charlie D]

Quick update: fitted ceramics the weekend before last

Old setup off:

Ceramics on:

Coded them in with vagcom and I gave the brake fluid a good flush and bled them properly while I was at it... the ez bleed kit from halfords worked a treat; good job i did too, there was a lot of nasty dark stuff in there!

My rotors didn’t clear the calipers, by a mere 1-2mm which took me by surprise, had to borrow my mate’s Oz Superturismo Dakars:

Before and after, I could feel a big difference, especially when hard braking from high speeds.

Looks kinda mean though, liking the raw race car look

More updates to follow

 

[neil ratcliffe]

what a great project she looks stunning mate. great work.

 

[Charlie D]

what a great project she looks stunning mate. great work.

Thanks man, appreciate it

 

[Poison92]

Hi Charlie d just read ur thread and ur car is fantastic looking and can’t wait to see what else u have planned keep up the good work fella
Cheers poison

 

[Charlie D]

Hi Charlie d just read ur thread and ur car is fantastic looking and can’t wait to see what else u have planned keep up the good work fella
Cheers poison

Cheers mate, big things coming soon

 

[neil ratcliffe]

love this b7 its a real stunner look foward to seeing what else you get up to.

 

[Charlie D]

love this b7 its a real stunner look foward to seeing what else you get up to.

Thank you

 

[malcs_s3]

lovely car mate

 

[Charlie D]

lovely car mate

Thanks bud!

 

[Charlie D]

So a few little additions and fixes...

New wheels (again) Forge 3pc splits, 20x10.5 all round. The tyres they came on didn’t have the stretch i wanted so I’ll be throwing on some michelin pilot sport 4s’s on there (245/30/20).


Carbon fibre sideskirt extensions finally on to continue the carbon front splitter lines round the sides of the car:

Next up, fixing the rear parking sensor that got poked in by somebody last year, annoyingly it was a bumper off job but was an easy enough fix:

Now to sort out the horrendously chipped crashbeam. All well and good having a plateless grille mod but it means the crashbeam gets absolutely peppered, especially at 180mph+ on the Autobahn!

LED DRLs from Trups at EM tuning in:

After clearing the headlight errors with vagcom the light is looking much more up to date, very happy with the results:

Sooo, first show of the season at Ultimate Dubs in Telford, and pretty happy with where I got placed (by the main stage):

Dropping the car off in Banbury in about 12 hours from now... big things coming haha!

 

[Radford212]

Loving the new wheels

 

[seasidestevo]

car looks mint, do you get swirl marks on a wrap like normal paint? and can you buff it out?

 

[RS4B5]

**** ME THATS THE BEST RS4 I HAVE EVER SEEN

 

[Leyton388]

That car is superb.