S4 b8 tuning advice

[biscuittin]

Hi all I'm thinking of jumping ship ( I currently have a spec c Subaru ) and I'm looking for a car that I can do the Nurburgring in and the odd track day in England
I have my eye on the s4 b8 , I just have a few questions
I would like the dsg also , is it worth getting one with the dynamic drive pack , or can you update the rear diff in the non dynamic pack ?
How reliable are the 3.0 litre engine when tuned , is there much more that can be done once you have changed the super charger pulley , and exhaust
Does the 3.0 engine suffer from carboning up of the valves etc like the 2.0 engine ?
Cheers for the help

 

[Chop.]

hi mate

i dont have the rear diff so i cant comment but drive select is a must in my opinion

stick your post up in the B8 section or have a look through some posts there, theres quite a lot of pepole running 450+bhp S4s, stage 2 maps with pullys etc from what i know i think 480 or round about is the max iv seen

i think your limited to filter, exhaust, pully and a larger intercooler + a map but others might know different

the engine its self is pretty solid, theres been a few issues with s-tronic boxes but you really only hear of the bad cases mine is spot on for 90k

chop

 

[desertstorm]

Welcome to Audi-Sport.net, Good move looking at an S4. Moved to the B8 A4 forum as you are likely to get more replies.
Have a lok around at some of the owners build threads who have S4's they are a very capable quick refined car at stage 2.
I believe it would be possible to retrofit the rear diff, I can't see any reason why you couldn't ,but it would be pretty expensive as you won't find the parts appearing very often. Better to get it on the car you buy.
Some people have had issues with the gearbox, others seemed to have avoided them. The later gearboxes seem to be more reliable though.

 

[xpoweruk]

If you w the diff then best to buy one with it.,I don't have it myself.
Tune and charger pulley will get you in the 450-500 HP bracket with buckets if torque from 2500-6000rpm
If you want more,Dual pulley setups are starting g to come to the table.Tnus entails utilising g the smaller charger pulley and adding a larger crank pulley to spin the charger even faster.

 

[Fctaff]

I have the diff, I do not believe it's part of the dynamic pack. Dynamic is great though. I believe it's an option on top. Audi sports diff.
Great cars, springs and arb will have you cornering flat.
Map, intake, exhaust pulley and your knocking on the 500 door. I run REVO software, tried a few and REVO was my favourite.

Best thing with my revo S4 is it's still an S4 after it's been tuned. You can go from the school run and straight to the track. The car is just as happy on both jobs.

 

[xpoweruk]

I have the diff, I do not believe it's part of the dynamic pack. Dynamic is great though. I believe it's an option on top. Audi sports diff.
Great cars, springs and arb will have you cornering flat.
Map, intake, exhaust pulley and your knocking on the 500 door. I run REVO software, tried a few and REVO was my favourite.

Best thing with my revo S4 is it's still an S4 after it's been tuned. You can go from the school run and straight to the track. The car is just as happy on both jobs.

Revo 1+ here too.Never misses a beat & fast as a fast thing lol

 

[Dippy]

I have the sports diff and am loving it. I actually feel that the dynamic steering is helping the handling at the limit too. It's taken me 18 months of ownership to know the car well enough to really start throwing my pride and joy round corners in the wet and I am continually impressed by the handling.

Of course it is an S5 which does handle better than the S4...
S4S5

 

[biscuittin]

Thank you for the advice , I'll do some digging around the web site
And if I get one I'll pop some pics up

 

[biscuittin]

Is there away off telling if an s4 has the sports diff , if the car does not have the dynamic pack ?
Cheers

 

[xpoweruk]

Just look under the rear of the car.

 

[scotty76]

Also if you find the sticker with the options on it you can use one of the many online decoders to see if it has it.

http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/PR_Codes

Google "audi options decoder".

 

[biscuittin]

Cheers for the pics . She looks rather clean under , is that an uprated arb ?
Ok scotty cheers as ill probably have to travel for one which I don't mind , so if I can get the info of the sticker first won't be a wasted trip if it's not got the diff I want
Where is the option sticker located . In the spare wheel well ?

 

[biscuittin]

I've opened the Ross-tech and it mentions where the sticker is

 

[Fctaff]

Remember on an Audi options are king, a fully optioned car is worth considerably more then a base model S4. So can be worth having higher miles if loaded as aposed to lower and base.

 

[ianv5]

Disagree that Audi options are king. Buy a cheaper spec car if you wish and spend the money you saved on performance upgrades etc . I don't have drive select or sports diff although I have mmi high with bose satnav etc and more than happy. In everyday situations how often are you going to use the sport diff!

 

[biscuittin]

I would be looking at going to the ring twice a year ( like I already do ) and possibly 1 or 2 track days the rest of the year
As I do a bit of mtb riding which takes up a lot of my spare time , hence why i prefer an avant for the extra room

I have also noticed some s4 have the radio functions by the gear stick and others in the dash ( where they normally would be ) does this mean anything ? Sorry for what seam like silly questions, I'm really new the Audi Scene

 

[ianv5]

Higher spec, bose satnav etc have controls around the gear stick.

 

[biscuittin]

Cheers I thought it would be something like that
As has already been mentioned on this thread , if end up with a non sport diff , I'll put some springs on and uprated arb ( I'll probably end up doing them any way )

 

[biscuittin]

172414045681
Got my eye on this on eBay , I think the spec is good and the price is reasonable?

I want one with all black trim , not a fan of the seats with the white inserts ( sorry if I offended you and you have them )
I think being silver it would make a good sleeper car

 

[xpoweruk]

Looks OK if the service history is spot on (stronic fluid etc a must to be done on time )
A warranty including box would be great too

Prob some wiggle room on price too

 

[Lavis89]

If you can 500-1000 off the price then i would say it's a pretty good buy (as above, if the gearbox has been serviced, don't take the dealers word on it unless it's on paper somewhere).

 

[biscuittin]

cheers , good job im a mechanic so ill give the car a good service when I get one

 

[Fctaff]

Let's clear some stuff up here

S4 B8 top hifi is B&O,the controls are on the wheel, Bose is base option.


acti diff is usedcmore then you think in cornering. It stops understeer. I would rather have a car with 20k more miles and options then not. You have stock sports and supersport seats. Adaptive lights, reverse cam, lane assist. All things that you use day in day out.

When you come to sell it, selling a lux brand car with base options in hard work.

 

[Dane]

You can have Audi Drive Select (ADS) without the sports diff but you can't have the sports diff without ADS. Easiest way to tell if a car has the diff is to use the setup button and go to the ADS menu, if there is a sports diff option in this menu then there is a sports diff fitted. Should be easier to get a seller to confirm this.

In terms of reliability of the engine mine is an MRC Stage 2 (pulley, belt and map) with a gearbox map and has been that way for 15K miles. We use it to drive to the Alps and to Austria to go skiing, on the Austrian trip we traveled through Germany and did 140 mph for half an hour with no issues whatsoever.

The real Achilles heel is the DSG box look out for clunkyness going from 2nd into 1st, but its important to remember that DSG's tend to be a bit rough in slow traffic anyway. My Mum has a completely standard TTS and it behaves just like my box, could be smoother in places.

Hopefully that helps.

 

[biscuittin]

Fctaff and Dane cheers that helps a lot
On cars with sports diff I've seen a dynamic button on the dash close to steering wheel , does this engage the sports diff ?.
Or do you need to go into the ads menu every time to operate it

 

[biscuittin]

I also only thought there was just sport seats to

 

[Lavis89]

I also only thought there was just sport seats to

The "base" seats on the s4 are sports seats, the upgrade are the "super sports" seats as shown below

 

[ianv5]

Like my supersports seats, very comfy

 

[Lavis89]

I'm a big fan of them, i think they set the interior off perfectly, whereas the normal sports seats are a bit plain.

 

[Chop.]

wish i had them :-(

 

[Dane]

The buttons are slightly different between B8 and B8.5.

On my b8 the Audi Drive Select buttons are just above the drivers side aircon/heated seat controls:

Sorry I can't highlight the area exactly, work blocks photobucket.

There are four settings to choose, dynamic, auto, comfort and individual and you cycle through them using one of two buttons on either side of the highlighted setting.

However, these buttons being present does not necessarily mean a sports diff is fitted, it's pretty ****** likely but not guaranteed. So it's a good idea to go Settings (or Setup) > Audi Drive Select > and check if there's and option for configuring the Sports Diff.

By moving through the options you'll set all elements that make up ADS, including the sports diff if fitted, to Dynamic or auto or comfort. The individual setting allows you to configure different elements individually, so I think my individual setup is:
Engine & Gearbox: Dynamic
Diff: Dynamic
Suspension: Auto
Steering: Auto

 

[Dippy]

B8.5 ADS button functionality is really poor in simply cycling through the modes. It would have been really easy for Audi to have implemented a 'last mode' selected function so that most of the time it is just two presses to toggle between individual and dynamic.

 

[Fctaff]

B8
Comfort custom dynamic , you can set the diff to be on in differing modes and levels as far as I can remember. Once set it's done until to change it in the settings. Could have sworn there were three trim levels, I have the original sales book I'll double check.

 

[Fctaff]

Dynamic stiffens the syspection, makes the throttle and steering more responsive. The car will change down a gear as a rule when active. Makes quite a difference!

 

[Lavis89]

wish i had them :-(

Suprised you haven't stuck some buckets in yours yet

 

[Chop.]

@Lavis89 mate it's on my list been looking at a few

 

[Lavis89]

@Lavis89 mate it's on my list been looking at a few

Good effort, i was going to do the same if i couldn't find a car i liked with the supersports seats.

 

[biscuittin]

Thanks for the help , I do like the look of the super sport seats , what do the sorts seats look like , if someone has a moment to pop a pic up cheers

Never realised there where so many options when choosing specs it's a mine field haha

 

[Lavis89]

The s4 you put up on ebay has the sports seats

 

[biscuittin]

Cheers I see the difference easy when you have pics to compare
Don't want that one then haha