Questions re: Modding B6 S4

[Richard 350z]

OK, I'm ready to start modding my '04 B6 S4 6MT sedan. I want to start with Exhaust, Very Lightweight Alloy Wheels, ECU program, and Suspension (probably lowering springs and swaybars, but maybe coilovers).

I have never modded an Audi before. What is the best equipment in each of the above categories. I'm sure I could spend all afternoon trying to find the answers in the archives here, but if someone could just reply here, I would appreciate it very much.

[Saturnine]

Miltek for exhaust and DP's

Volks/HRE/Kinesis/SSR/BBS for light rims

No sure about the software..

Either KW/Stasis/HR for suspension..

[oBluu]

There's a really crappy show on speed channel called sports car revolution. But they had an APR b6 s4 on it (saved to tivo for future drooling) that had a custom stasis/ohlins coilover setup complete with remote reservoirs. Now that's the suspension to get.

[2K4 Arctic]

who sells stasis suspensions online?

[Illusive90s]

Originally posted by 2K4 Arctic
who sells stasis suspensions online?

Stasis?

www.stasisengineering.com

[hyperspeed]

did ur car get totalled? or was it repaired?

[bbaudi382]

NOS

[Richard 350z]

You remembered!!! It got repaired and repainted. It was nowhere near a total loss. I'm picking it up in a day or two.

[neoprufrok]

Originally posted by 2K4 Arctic
who sells stasis suspensions online?

There are quite a few places that sell Stasis online. I believe achtuning does.

I would email Stasis, as they have not yet released the Motorsport coilover setup (with the Ohlins dampers with reservoirs) but are currently in the beta testing phase with this. They should be able to give you details.

They also have a track sport coilover setup which consists of their hyperco linear springs (which they choose for you based on your driving habits) rates 800-1000 f/r and koni based custom valved dampers. These are rebound adjusteable.

Stasis is THE best coilover setup for our cars out there. I doubt that there is any better.

[hyperspeed]

Originally posted by Richard 350z
You remembered!!! It got repaired and repainted. It was nowhere near a total loss. I'm picking it up in a day or two.

haha yeah...i browse these forums THAT much...lol sad isnt it.. well glad to hear ur cars back up n runnin! hows ur condition? didnt u break an arm or a leg? fergot.. but i remember it put u outta commision to drive to Z...

[Richard 350z]

Broke my left hand and messed up the rotator cuff in my right shoulder. The hand is basically healed, but needs continued exercise. Got the cast off about 10 days ago.

The shoulder is still sore and I am in physical therapy for that. Thanks for asking.

[G_A4]

glad to hear your o.k. good luck on the mods with the car.
statis are really good coilovers. i have them for my A4. love'em.

[Greylon]

Heya... I have an S4 as well (B6 chassis) and I want to add that the Thermal R&D exhaust system (racing version) is a very nice mod to get. I am not so sensitive that I can really tell a significant performance gain but the look is very clean and the sound is to die for. Not too loud but definitely noticeable. I took my friend out for a spin and she was so freaking jealous of the car hehe.

On an added note, does anyone have any experience about adding a turbo to the S4 B6 model? I heard the pistons of the engine are made of titanium or some other hard metal that allow for turbo modification without sacrifice in engine life. Anyone have any ideas?

Greylon

[Richard 350z]

I don't much care what the exhaust sounds like. I am interested in mods that make the car go faster and corner better. I noticed that the Milltek exhaust is $1095, which is not totally out of line, but their cats/downpipes are $1995, which is OUTRAGEOUS.

I paid $775 for the Borla true dual cat back exhaust on my 350Z, and $500 for the RT hi-flow cats.

[neoprufrok]

Originally posted by Richard 350z
I don't much care what the exhaust sounds like. I am interested in mods that make the car go faster and corner better. I noticed that the Milltek exhaust is $1095, which is not totally out of line, but their cats/downpipes are $1995, which is OUTRAGEOUS.

I paid $775 for the Borla true dual cat back exhaust on my 350Z, and $500 for the RT hi-flow cats.

Well.. the Thermal has the greatest hp/tq gain of any exhaust I know of for the b6 A4. So I'd imagine they'd do pretty well on the S4, but you might ask them about it.

[madrussian]

Software for a B6 S4 does nothing... There's rumors that you may be able to get 10hp from a chip, I forget which, but it's pretty much useless... money's better spent elsewhere.

I'd go w/ Exhaust, DP, SS, KW C/O's, and Hyperflo Intake...

The intake being the cheapest mod w/ the most gains. From then on, there's not too much else...

[Richard 350z]

What's "SS"?

I agree about chipping the engine if its only 10 hp. I had a '95 E36 M3, and the Dinan chip did nothing, so I got rid of it. I also had a '90 535i, and the chip make a HUGE difference in that car. Go figure.

[neoprufrok]

Originally posted by Richard 350z
What's "SS"?

I agree about chipping the engine if its only 10 hp. I had a '95 E36 M3, and the Dinan chip did nothing, so I got rid of it. I also had a '90 535i, and the chip make a HUGE difference in that car. Go figure.

SS = Short Shifter

[madrussian]

Chipping is a common thing to do amongst A4's, because the majority of them are 1.8T, and w/ a turbo it's very easy to tweak the programming to give you more boost which gives more hp. Hence why you'll see many DSM's w/ turbo having boost controllers, etc.

But on NA cars, such as the S4, it usually does little to nothing...

[JetBlue]

You may want to check with David at Eurocode. I have heard rumors of Revo getting major power (40 HP) from the B6 S4 with their program. I do not believe it is GA yet though. The Thermal looks nice, but the HP gains from the DP with the Millitek are higher. I believe the price you quoted, $1995, is for the DP's and Cat Back exhaust and not just the DP's. Let me know if you find any other good info since I am starting work on my car next month.
MO

[JetBlue]

By the way, I am glad to hear you are on the road to recovery. Your car looked pretty ugly after the accident.
MO

[astris]

Check out the Thermal exhaust at Eurocode . Check out the sound clips, its crazy.

[audidood]

modding a B6 S4 is not cheap.

[npb]

My brother in law was talking to someone at the crystal cove GTG about modding his b6 s4. The guy mentioned something about headers giving huge gains.

[JetBlue]

The headers are the Millitek Down Pipes. They are claiming 40 WHP, but I have not seen the dyno yet. I am still considering if I want to do the DP's and exhaust or just the exhaust. Anyone have any feedback on this?
MO

[PhantomS4]

Originally posted by JetBlue
The headers are the Millitek Down Pipes. They are claiming 40 WHP, but I have not seen the dyno yet. I am still considering if I want to do the DP's and exhaust or just the exhaust. Anyone have any feedback on this?
MO

The full miltek is only 13-18whp if you do the math on any of the dyno runs that have been posted. The cat-back system actually lost power compared to the stock system on the MAHA dyno at AMS. But i don't trust chassis dyno's anyway. I do know that miltek will not release any third party dyno sheets period. So your only choice in the exhaust area is sound for buck not performance. The Thermal system is still going through testing as far as dyno runs and is only like $850.00 shipped right now. It was prototyped on my S4 and i love the rumble it makes. It is louder then the res'd miltek cat-back though. Your best bet for any type of serious power gain would probly be something like a 50 shot of nitrous. Chips arn't going to do crap with this car unless you are going to run 103oct fuel all the time. The car is maxed out engine wise, bolt on parts just won't give you any power to dollar ratio. Noe if you want to port and polish the heads and get rid of the cats that may give you another 40whp. But none of the tuner company's out there have put up any third party testing to prove their claims.

Your best bet is to do suspension mods and maybe a clutch mod down the line. Oh and prey that the RS4 comes to the states. Other wise live with what you got. Sorry if this disappoints you but it is the reality of this car.

[Richard 350z]

PhantomS4 -

What you say makes sense. Is there a lightweight flywheel available for the S4?

Another approach is shedding weight. The S3 weighs 3800 pounds and needs to go on a serious diet. Short of removing the back seat, passenger seat and carpeting, I don't think there is much you can do. Is there a carbon fiber hood available?

I wish Audi would make a "lightweight" version of the S4 that was at least 300 pounds lighter.

[PhantomS4]

Originally posted by Richard 350z
PhantomS4 -

What you say makes sense. Is there a lightweight flywheel available for the S4?

Another approach is shedding weight. The S3 weighs 3800 pounds and needs to go on a serious diet. Short of removing the back seat, passenger seat and carpeting, I don't think there is much you can do. Is there a carbon fiber hood available?

I wish Audi would make a "lightweight" version of the S4 that was at least 300 pounds lighter.

Nobody has put out any tranny mods besides the short shifter as of yet . But some are working on it. Their seems to be a problem with useing a lighter flywheel because it is somehow connected to the accessory gear drive or gear drive timming(forget exactly what). But a stronger clutch would be awesome. Yes, you can get carbon fiber hoods for the S4. Also if you do go to track make sure to remove your spare tire before you do any runs,that will save you like 38lbs or so. Also try lighter wheels and get rid of those crappy conti's you will notice a big difference in the way the car feels. This car was made for the twisties so mod the hell out the way it handles and enjoy watching lesser vehicles fade in the rearview mirror when they try to keep up.
Until someone makes new cams and heads with a new ECU not to mention a new intake i don't expect this car to ever really get big hp gains. It is sort of like going back to the beginning of the muscle car days. Nobody could get extra poer without modding the way the car breathes (eg.intake,cams,heads,and exhaust.). Audi didn't leave alot of room to mod this car, for g-ds sake the damn thing is running an 11:1 compression ratio. With that high of a compression you don't have any room to move. Which by the way with that high of a compression the engine is going to get beat to hell with the crappy gas we run on. With that comp ratio we should be running on 104 octane gas so the engine won't beat it's self into oblivion.
I'm not sure why audi built this car the way they did, but oh well i still love driving it.

[Richard 350z]

I can get 101 octane gas for $3.99/gal. at an independent gas station near my ex-wife's house. I go there frequently to pick up my kids. Are you saying I should be running on that?

[JetBlue]

The chip that I was thinking of was AMD. There has been a lot of talk about this chip recently on Audiworld. All of the S4 guys over there are raving about it. The problem I see is that is is a chip swap and not a flash upgrade. This means it is visible to your service manager/mechanic.

Here is the info on the milltek exhaust from Strat:

Milltek is out in front again with the impressive downpipes and cats for the new 4.2 V8 S4. Bolts-in directly to your exhaust manifolds. Replaces your OEM primary cat with a 200-cell platinum-coated metal high-flow cat and eliminates your OEM secondary cat. Power gains come when you can free up flow as close to the engine as possible and Milltek delivers. Dyno proven to deliver 20 lb-ft and 15hp at the wheels. When combined with the Milltek catback your S4 jumps by 40 lb-ft and 30hp at the wheels. More torque, more power, more growl. An unbeatable combination for the spectacular 4.2 V8 S4 from Milltek.

As you can see they are "claiming" 30 HP and 40 lb-ft of tq from DP's and exhaust.

I personally am planning on waiting for some sort of Flash upgrade for the chip if there are any gains to be had. I will definitely be starting with the coilovers and light weight wheels. From there to an exhaust and hopefully Revo software.
MO

[CadenceX]

this is a car I'd love to own if I wanted to keep it close to stock. So far the aftermarket scene doesn't seem to be too supportive of the new S4 nor do I feel it's going to pick up much. Even all the race guys dropped the s4 for the RS6! Turbos just have so much more tuning potential/fun. Until a phatty $expensive$ SC comes out, I wouldn't do more than wheels, ss, exhaust and suspension to a new S4.

[Richard 350z]

That's what I'm going to do, lightweight wheels and competition tires; Milltek exhaust, cats and downpipes; short shifter; and some suspension work (lowering springs OR coil overs).

Thanks to all for the advice. I got the car back from the shop yesterday, and it is running great. In the 2 months it was gone, I forgot how much I love my Nogaro B6 S4.

[Diesel'S4]

wow, this thread was full of mis-information...

what a difference a month makes...

I'm still skeptical of the 37whp claim AMD is making on their chip upgrade... i'd like to try it, but warranty issues scare me until i can get in good with an Audi tech that will allow me to do the chip without him voiding my warranty...

[JetBlue]

If I am not mistake the S8 makes 360-380 HP on the same motor so the chip claim could be close. Has anyone on AW gotten a reliable dyno number yet?
MO

[i_eat_staples]

i was about to say, this thread runs contrary to a lot of what ive read over the past couple months lol