dgszweda 2012 Audi S4 Monsoon Gray Thread

[dgszweda]

Well, after looking for a new car for the last year, I finally received my 2012 Monsoon Gray S4. I have spent the last year looking at, test driving and mulling over the usual suspects. There were more than a few car salesmen that I scared on our test drives. It really came down to an M3 and the Audi for me at the end. I finally settled on the Audi last November. It was really the only car that was able to mix the technology, luxury and performance with such balance at the price that I wanted to pay. I placed the order at Audi of Jacksonville back in November. It took this long to receive the car because of the requisite plant shutdown in December. Okay, now for the options:

Options:

• Monsoon Gray
• DSG – My first non-manual, but as most have already stated, a really superb gearbox
• Sports Differential
• B&O Sound System
• Black Nappa Leather Interior
• Navigation MMI
• Advanced Key

I spent the day Saturday, detailing the car (thanks Phil @ detailersdomain), in preparation for my XPel Clear film installation (further information and pics in a short while). Overall the car has been fantastic. I have about 130 miles on it so far. I took it a little easy for the first 100 miles. I didn’t baby it, but kept it in the 3,500rpm to 5,000range with a few jumps near redline. I am now being more aggressive with the engine. I have thrown out Audi’s break in for two reasons. The first is that Audi seems to be too conservative. The engines are already taken to redline in the factory. Second, most people have found that babying it too much, creates the issue of excessive oil burning during the life of the vehicle. I am now driving fairly aggressively without “killing” it. I make sure that the car/oil is warmed up properly and I will sporadically punch it to redline, and then engine braking through the gears. This seems to have provided the most benefits to others.

I can say that I am very happy with my color decision. The Monsoon Gray really reflects the light to accentuate the various curves throughout the body. In addition, it tends to change shades depending on the weather condition (shady, sunny, overcast…). I also, actually like the 18” wheels. Everyone either goes aftermarket, or the 19” peelers, so these 18” wheels seem to be quite uncommon.
I have a number of mods planned (ECU tune, possibly wheels, lighting, RS5 brakes) and lots of fun stuff such as dyno’s and videos. So I will just continue to add to this thread as I hit these. I already have a few planned in the next few days.

Now for the requisite pics (the weather has been pretty overcast), so I will continue to gather better photos:

[ferrariyellow44]

Congrats! Great looking car but you GOTTA get rid of those rims ASAP!

[weirded]

Congratulations. Bought the same exact car with the same exact options (plus 19" peelers) in September, been loving it :)

[SierraBravo]

Congratulations on an excellent car in a great color. That's a very rich gray and I've received many compliments in the 2 1/2 months I have had mine. The way the hue will change according to the weather is nice. In fact I think it makes the whole car look pretty darn sexy.

I'm interested to see what mods you are going to do and will be following your progress.

[pepsiguy]

Congrats! Great looking car but you GOTTA get rid of those rims ASAP!

+1

[Deep Sea S4]

Love the car and the colour great choice, however those wheels have no place on a sports sedan!!!!

Off at once!!!!!

[Stereodude]

Congrats! Great looking car but you GOTTA get rid of those rims ASAP!

There's always got to be a dick in each thread. Thanks for stepping up and getting it out of the way so quickly.

[svander]

Agreed...

Nothing wrong at all with the stock wheels. Audi did a great job with those... They look great.

To each their own.

[SierraBravo]

I have the same wheels and think they look great. Plus the 18" tires give a better ride for when the wife is in the car. The tires are Pirelli Cinturato P7's which are hard to beat.

[FourRingRider]

Can't wait to see this tomorrow...

[mkato13]

There's always got to be a dick in each thread. Thanks for stepping up and getting it out of the way so quickly.

Thats great! Thanks for the laugh.

Beautiful car. Congrats

[OKS4]

Congrats man! Great and best color choice I must say. This car is a total sleeper. Enjoy

[prowl647]

My monsoon gray is on the boat. You have any full frontal shots?

[dgszweda]

Here is the full frontal shot:

[Stereodude]

I have the same wheels and think they look great. Plus the 18" tires give a better ride for when the wife is in the car. The tires are Pirelli Cinturato P7's which are hard to beat.

Nonsense! You're supposed to put heavy 20" wheels with 20" tires and then lower your S4 so you can be just like everyone else on the forum with a S4. Then you can join the collective that mocks newbies who haven't done the same yet.

[dgszweda]

One of my most important mods for me on my new cars has always been clear film protection for the car. In the old days everyone use to put vinyl/leather bras on the front of their cars, thinking they were getting protection. In the end they created moisture problems and scratching from particulates that got between the bra and the paint. Add on top of that, the fact that they were pretty ugly. Step in the 21st Century, and we now have clear film that can be applied to a car. They not only protect the paint from scratches, but they resist discoloration/yellowing/fading, you can wax them and the newer ones are now even self healing. They can even protect a car in minor fender benders. A few years ago, I had someone back into me with their car. Both of our bumpers were fairly scratched up. The only difference was that I went home and buffed out the scratches from the clear film in about 5 minutes. Everything looked as good as brand new.

Since I recently moved to Northeast Florida, I went on the search of someone who could do this work for me. I found Gilbert Victorino from Clear Bra of Jacksonville. I had briefly heard of him and the great job that he did. If you live in Northeast Florida, I highly recommend him. He carries two lines 1) 3M and 2) XPel. I chose the XPel because of some of the unique features it had. After some discussions I settled on (for now) getting film on my entire front bumper, the entire hood and the mirrors. We chose two types of film. For the bumper and mirrors we chose XPel Ultimate. This is a highly stain resistant film and is also self healing. Since this is where the majority of nicks and hits are taken, I wanted maximum protection here. For the hood I chose XPel Extreme. I hope XPel doesn't come out with an even more advanced film, because I am not sure where you go from Ultimate and Extreme. These names always crack me up. Gilbert quoted me a fair price and showed up to the appointment promptly with everything he needed (except for an electrical outlet, I had to provide that ).

The install went very smoothly. I would highly recommend Gilbert and Clear Bra of Jacksonville. Top notch job and he really knew what he was doing. I am now waiting the requisite 48 hours before washing and waxing the film. In the past this film has not only significantly increased the quality of the paint on the front of my vehicle, but it has made cleaning of such items as bug, tar, sap... far easier. Simply a quick wipe will get rid of most problems. Much better than scrubbing away at bugs and then getting heart broken after seeing every little nick.

Okay, now for a few requisite pics:

[dgszweda]

Nonsense! You're supposed to put heavy 20" wheels with 20" tires and then lower your S4 so you can be just like everyone else on the forum with a S4. Then you can join the collective that mocks newbies who haven't done the same yet.

We definitely need some more collective diversity, right?

I was actually thinking 22" wheels, and instead of lowering it, I was going to put an air suspension in it, and some remote hydraulics. Ha!

My preference for modding cars is to 1) try to mod with factory items (i.e. instead of going with Stoptech brakes, go with the RS5 brakes - keep a stock/modded look). I then 2) try to go for functional design elements. While looks is cool, it is not everything to me. Otherwise, I could go out and have a fully custom carbon fiber body kit to replace every body panel. And lastly, 3) I like to go for a different look. Yeah the VMR wheels are cool, but everyone has them. So I like to try to find looks that are unique. I will probably change out the wheels at some point, but I will continue to take time in finding the right item.

[Turbowned]

You might as well at least burn the tires off the stock wheels before looking for something else ;)

I agree that while they are nice wheels in design, they look bland on the S4. My next S4 is getting the Titanium package... $1,000 extra for nicer wheels and cheaper trim... I can't believe they charge extra money to remove the metal trim and replace it with plastic.... oh well, it looks mean!

[prowl647]

Monsoon is a very hard color to capture in photos but damn, you nailed it.

[s4APM]

+100 on the new car! I got the exact same get up as you did but did not get the full hood clear bra. Thinking about new wheels now though but can't justify the cost just yet :)

[jamesj2k]

I agree I like the 18inch rims better then the 19 peelers. Although, I am replacing mine in the next few months lol

[oneiztoomany]

i also like 18s better and the ride is more comfortable with them. based off my test drives that is...one day i will own my own!

[dgszweda]

Well I did my first, very simple mod. If you look at my original pictures, you will notice that it was already present, but I did really write it up. Well like many others, I felt that the chrome V6T badges were pretty lame. So I decided to replace it with the more appropriate Supercharged badges. The difficulty that I had was what color should I choose with the Monsoon Gray. I though the red might contrast well with the gray, but after some advice from my dad, I chose the carbon fiber badge (even at my age, I still ask my dad about car options). I wasn't sure about the silver/black color of the supercharged badge and how it would look against the Monsoon Gray color. The colors are close and the Monsoon Gray often has a color that changes under various light conditions. Since I struggled, I wanted to help others out. So I took a number of close up shots, under different light conditions to help others out. Hope this helps some.

[dgszweda]

Okay, next mod. In general, I hate yellow lighting. So my goal has been, starting out, to replace all of the "yellow" lights. This means that I need to replace the License plate lights, foglights and the interior lights. I have the fog lights, the interior lights on order, and the license plate lights already installed.

I orderded the lights from our very own FourRingRider. My whole goal in modding is to try and do things with OEM parts (either US or Euro), whenever possible. So with the license plate lights I wanted to use stock LED lights and FourRingRider was selling the exact set I was looking for. He is currently selling them in the Classified Section. Since he was living in Jacksonville and a mile or two from work, the purchase went smoothly. The parts were in excellent condition, still in their original packaging. I was even provided the offer of a free install.

While I got the lights, I needed to get the adapter wires. I was recommended to purchase the LED lights from ECS Tuning, that included the adapter wires. I received the wires from ECS tuning very quickly. I was all set to go. The install was very easy and just required a simple pop out of the existing lamps. Since these were OEM Audi parts, they were a perfect match and identical in size and shape to the stock S4 lamps. The entire install took 2-3 minutes in total. I was extremely happy with the outcome. Since these are OEM Audi parts, the color was a perfect match. While the route I took was not the cheapest, to me it was worth the extra costs to have an OEM part and to have the correct color. Many of the other aftermarket products are either too bright or too dull. I tried to take some shots, but with all the bright lights, it was difficult. But I did my best. Here are some pics to help others out.








My next mods are the fog lights, Interior LEDs, Flat Bottom Steering Wheel and RS6 shift knob.

[FourRingRider]

Hey Dave, nice write-up... don't forget the super awesome VAG-COM mods!

If anyone is interested I only have ONE brand new pair of Genuine Audi License Plate Lamps left. See my ad in the Classifieds, or PM me!

[dgszweda]

Hey Dave, nice write-up... don't forget the super awesome VAG-COM mods!

If anyone is interested I only have ONE brand new pair of Genuine Audi License Plate Lamps left. See my ad in the Classifieds, or PM me!

Yes! Thanks a ton for all of the VAG-COM mods that you helped me with. I even tried the Euro Parking mod the other day when I parked downtown.

[dgszweda]

Okay, after doing a lot of research on the best LED interior light kits, I chose TunerDome lights. They seemed to be the closest to the color of the stock footwell lights and seemed to not only be the most popluar but also didn't throw any error codes.

I ordered the lights, with no issues, but when they were shipped, they could only ship half the order. I received a great note that clearly explained the issue. I ended waiting only one week instead of the two weeks I was told. In addition they added a few extra ones in. I installed the new lights this evening, and I am very happy with the results. Now that the fogs, License Plate and interior lights are all LED, I now have the right colors. Here are a few pics:

[dgszweda]

Thursday I will be taking this for a baseline dyno run on a Dyno Dynamics. Getting this done before the GIAC tune. Bi will post graphs when I get them.

[dgszweda]

Okay, got my car dyno'd tonight with FourRings at a local tuning shop in Jacksonville (Mace Engineering). A great shop working on some serious tuning (1,080hp Ford GT, some 458 Italia's, Gallardo's, full bore race cars, and others). He has a dyno dynamics dyno, which is highly accurate (but of course doesn't read as optimistic as other dyno's). I got 282.1 hp full stock. I am very happy with that, and at 17% drivetrain loss, is about 330hp. FourRing has a stock 2012 B8 S4 with APR 93 Stage 1 v1 and he ran 320hp. I am going in for GIAC tune early next week. I will run it for a few hundred miles and dyno it stock, with 93 octane and 100 octane. Not sure if anyone has posted pure stock GIAC numbers. I am targetting for before the end of this month, with dyno graphs.

[Kano]

Well I did my first, very simple mod. If you look at my original pictures, you will notice that it was already present, but I did really write it up. Well like many others, I felt that the chrome V6T badges were pretty lame. So I decided to replace it with the more appropriate Supercharged badges. The difficulty that I had was what color should I choose with the Monsoon Gray. I thought the red might contrast well with the gray, but after some advice from my dad, I chose the carbon fiber badge (even at my age, I still ask my dad about car options). I wasn't sure about the silver/black color of the supercharged badge and how it would look against the Monsoon Gray color. The colors are close and the Monsoon Gray often has a color that changes under various light conditions. Since I struggled, I wanted to help others out. So I took a number of close up shots, under different light conditions to help others out. Hope this helps some.

This is perfect. I had trouble deciding as well. On one hand, I liked how the red badge matched the red S4 badge on the back and front, however I thought the red supercharged badge might pop a little TOO much. I want people to know what's under the hood if they bother to look, but I don't really want to jump up and down and scream "hey everyone. look at me, look at meeee!!!!". Does that make sense? Ultimately I went with the carbon fiber, and your pics helped seal the deal. Looks fukin fantastic.

[dgszweda]

Glad the pictures helped.

[dgszweda]

I have an appointment scheduled for a GIAC tune on Wednesday. I will drive it for a week or so, and do another dyno run on it. This should give us a good comparison between a fully stock car w/ and w/o GIAC. I will also try to do a 100 octane run as well.

[Money2536]

Nice man. I am interested to see the plots after the tune. I already have my tune, but I didn't get a baseline.

[dgszweda]

Money,

How do you like the tune?

[LYKUNO]

My next mods are the fog lights, Interior LEDs, Flat Bottom Steering Wheel and RS6 shift knob.

Nice job so far Dave. I'd suggest a genuine Audi Sport carbon fiber plate frame to replace that dealer frame ... typically in the $120 range (from the dealer) although this one is about $20 less:
http://www.audipartssuperstore.com/p...oducts_id=1290

[dgszweda]

Thanks. The license plate you see is gone. The plate was just paper. I am going au natural, with no frame. I like the cleaner look.

[Money2536]

Money,

How do you like the tune?

It's okay. I was a little underwhelmed. I guess I was expecting a bit too much. I haven't gotten the exhaust and intake yet. I do want to take it to the dyno to make sure I'm making a respectable amount of additional power. I haven't run both cars against each other yet, but there is no way the S4 is faster than my M3 with tune and full exhaust. I'm hoping the AWE exhaust and intake make a significant difference.

[BlackGecko]

Hey fellow Floridian! Monsoon Gray is one of the best colors Audi came out with. Remember to break her in gently! If you're looking at wheels that are extremely good quality and are different than the VMR-type, PM me. I just put my OZ Superleggera 3-Piece wheels on the market and I'm only 4 hours south of you. I haven't seen my wheels on any other car yet and they get plenty of compliments.

[BlackGecko]

What do you think?

[dgszweda]

I picked up a GTECH Pro the other day so that I can do some basic logging. I know it is not as advanced as teh vBox, but it isn't that bad either. I was mainly focusing on 0-60 runs for now. I did multiple passes with launch control (both directions to cancel out any effects of elevation changes and wind). The uphill pass I did 0-60 in 4.75 seconds. The downhill pass I did 0-60 in 4.71 seconds. Temperature was 69 degrees. Average those out and it would be right about 4.73 seconds for a 0-60 mph run. This is a totally stock car with about 800 miles on it. I just dropped the car off at Technical Dimensoins this morning to get a GIAC tune. I should have the car back this afternoon. I asked them about the noise going out about the warranty issue. They were not aware of any changes, or received any information from any customers who had problems with the local dealership. They did say that they can swap out the entire ECU with a brand new one and code everything. They said it is pain, becuase of all of the other smaller ECU's, but they have done this before with no problems. Expensive, but an option.