What's wrong with the APR FMIC?

[BNZ TOY]

Did a couple of searches and realized that hardly anyone uses the APR FMIC.

What's the deal?

http://getapr.com/audi-b6-a4.html

Found a deal on a unit that is like new for 800, so naturally I turn to the AZ community for experiences/critics.

Fire away~

(apr 1+ next week).

[Killerteve]

I would say it's mostly because the Racetec FMIC gets the same job done with an MSRP of a few hundred $$ less, and if anyone wants to spend over $1000 might as well go for the ER Comp. I haven't heard anything bad about it, just that no one uses it.

[traf818]

I've seen one on a B6. It took a lot of hacking of the bumper to get it to fit right.

[widgget]

Never again will anything from APR touch my car. You can find way better products at a fraction of the price.

[BNZ TOY]

I heard about the APR exhausts leaves much to be desired, but that shouldn't mean the whole brand is a write off. Their software is excellent at least.

Does anyone actually have or installed one? Did you hack up the bumper, the seller advised that trimming will be necessary.

[pondside36]

Doesn't the APR unit have the inlet and outlet on the same end tank? If so you would be utilizing the stock turbo outlet hose, pipe throught the radiator support and then a small pipe to the FMIC and then the pipe/pipes to the throttle body. Seems kind of poorly designed for the price.

[Papachristou]

I heard about the APR exhausts leaves much to be desired, but that shouldn't mean the whole brand is a write off. Their software is excellent at least.

Does anyone actually have or installed one? Did you hack up the bumper, the seller advised that trimming will be necessary.

1. yes it does.. their snubs crack, their TIP doesnt fit to save your life, their super duty 3+ R1 diverter valve fails, their exhausts crack and their customer service sucks a fat one oh did i mention they are over priced?

2. most FMICs feed into one side and out the other. so the piping flows from the turbo across the FMIC and into the intake mani fold like so

air flow in----0000---- airflow out

whereas the APR feeds like this

airflow in ---0000
airlfow out---0000

it maybe reversed from that poor rendition but you get the idea

so because of that shape you have to hack the bottom of the bumper a lot...


you know, we may not be experts or engineers but common sense dictates that if there isnt one on the entire forum (well im sure there is at least ONE) but there is a reason people dont get them and hey why is your guy selling it so cheap? he realized its going to be a biatch to fit

[widgget]

1. yes it does.. their snubs crack, their TIP doesnt fit to save your life, their super duty 3+ R1 diverter valve fails, their exhausts crack and their customer service sucks a fat one oh did i mention they are over priced?

Thanks Papachristou, i didn't feel like listing it all out again.

[mike-2ptzero]

It just adds way too much volume between the turbo and the TB. This means the air coming out of the turbo has to travel a longer distance to actually get to the TB and their fmic also adds way more bends which is never a good thing.

Using a FMIC that has an inlet/outlet on the same side is usually used on a car where the turbo and throttle body are on the same side. Not a good design for a car that has the turbo on one side of the car and the TB on the other.

[BNZ TOY]

haha ok, dully noted and thank you.

APR really needs to adress the issues, mentioned ^^.

[absolutegtr]

APR

There customer service and products suck dockey balls. But they do have a nice facility though.

Edit** Exactly what papachristou said

[DownhillA4]

I've been looking at alot of variations for FMIC, i'm between Race-Tec & APR FMIC...just checked A4mods.com & they even had to trim the front bumper to get it to fit, even though Race-Tec says it fits the stock bumper. Or does every system require cutting the front bumper to some extent?

[bigbro]

lol I never seen a Dockey before

[AudiA4_20T]

it looks like complete ass

[audikid66]

ugliest front mountncrap design, and yea i will not be making anymore apr purchases either

[phsingl]

stock bumper won't fit at all - S4 might , Oetty will is what I was told..

[alexza4]

Never again will anything from APR touch my car. You can find way better products at a fraction of the price.

I will have to agree. APR products are crap and are overpriced. Every single APR product i've used so far i was not happy about.

[A4Dit]

stock bumper won't fit at all - S4 might , Oetty will is what I was told..

I had to cut my Oetty bumper quite a bit for my Racetec to fit.

[outsider6661]

I had one on the car it worked great for the STOCK K03 but for BT or BAT (how ever you want to call it) it SUCKED!!! it literally has 12 90 degree bends in the pipeing and not to mention the list of complaints that most of you have already listed

[gdawg'05a4]

RaceTec fits behind my OE front bumper just fine as well as my USP front. No modifications needed.

[FourRings80]

BNZ TOY pm sent.

[dougyfresh]

you know, we may not be experts or engineers but common sense dictates that if there isnt one on the entire forum (well im sure there is at least ONE) but there is a reason people dont get them and hey why is your guy selling it so cheap? he realized its going to be a biatch to fit

Do I say something or do I leave that alone? haha.

But, yes, your common sense is dead nuts on with this one.

I've been looking at alot of variations for FMIC, i'm between Race-Tec & APR FMIC...just checked A4mods.com & they even had to trim the front bumper to get it to fit, even though Race-Tec says it fits the stock bumper. Or does every system require cutting the front bumper to some extent?

Racetec does fit. It fit without any cutting behind my S4 bumper.

Have you considered the ER or ASP FMICs? I'd choose them over the APR or RaceTec anyday.

[rxrep]

I'll hide behind something while the haters throw shit at me, but I can say with complete honesty that I've never had one single problem with APR or its customer service.
I've never had their exhaust because I like the Neuspeed tone better. I've never had their FMIC because I don't like the design and feel my Racetec is better.
I've never had their R1 because I didn't buy in to the hype when my Forge worked perfectly fine.
But I do have their snub, and I do have their Stage 3+, and I do have their (well, Carbonio) intake.... and I love all of it.
Any problems I've had (CF weave discolored) were fixed promptly and efficiently.
They've been nothing but the best for me.
Carry on.

[HTA A4]

My Carbonio is discolored. So will they send me a new cover?

[rxrep]

My Carbonio is discolored. So will they send me a new cover?

Since their CS sucks for everyone but me, I doubt it, lol.
They not only replaced mine, but they replaced it 3 different times, and each time they did not require me to send the bad one back first. The one I have now has not discolored.

[B6Lovin]

Since their CS sucks for everyone but me, I doubt it, lol.
They not only replaced mine, but they replaced it 3 different times, and each time they did not require me to send the bad one back first. The one I have now has not discolored.

it's cuz you actually spent the money to get their stage 3+

i keed, i've never had a problem with them... but they only thing i have from them is a snub

[davidlizard]

the only things I bought from APR was a TIP and I was pain in the ass to fit... I think that thing fits 2002-2003 B6 and it's sold for B6s... Apr TIP was missing 1 hole and an other was to tight... I strongly suggest to anyone to get the NEUSPEED's one

[ThatGuyAlex]

Ya the front mount design sucks, as for the customer service.......ya its shit. My APR exhaust cracked around the resignator and still is and they dont give a shit. My snub mount cracked and guess what? again they dont give a shit.

Their slogan should be APR - We dont give a shit. Its your problem.

Im sorry APR! But you guys have money for a new facility and its nice and all but you guys need to start helping old customers out or you will loose them. Also new ones ask questions about you guys, the olds ones will slamm you down. Just like its happening here.

[gdawg'05a4]

I've read a quite a few snubs failing now but I wonder what the cause is. I've had mine in since 2004 at only a few thousand miles on the car. Now at 98,3xx, I check the snub whenever I'm under the hood to make sure there are no cracks, etc. So far it's been fine.

[Papachristou]

RaceTec fits behind my OE front bumper just fine as well as my USP front. No modifications needed.

i have a USP and my Racetec fit without any trimming
hotside piping was a pain to figure out or i am stupid

[Papachristou]

oh and APR also charged me for shipping on their defective R1 DV that failed on my second gear shift after getting their 1+ flash.... bad enough i paid $150 for it and then had to pay for shipping BOTH ways to get it replaced...great service

[gdawg'05a4]

i have a USP and my Racetec fit without any trimming
hotside piping was a pain to figure out or i am stupid

Yes, the hotside was a pain to figure out but after some playing around with it, it worked. Tight but fits.

[BNZ TOY]

Im sorry APR! But you guys have money for a new facility and its nice and all but you guys need to start helping old customers out or you will loose them. Also new ones ask questions about you guys, the olds ones will slamm you down. Just like its happening here.

^^x2!

[widgget]

I think it's interesting that they are ignoring all this while bragging about their new shop just a few threads away.

I see allot of APR complaints on this site but never once have i seen an APR rep post in a response to these threads, but when it's time to sell something then you seem some APR posts.

[CyberPMG]

Same is true with other vendors only posting new products and sales.

APR refused to replace my discolored CF lid to the Carbonio intake. They were able to get me a full exhaust replacement (thanks mostly to ECS who handled APR on my behalf). My snub mount is still good (3+ years and over 90k miles). My TB pipe is doing equally well. Their K04 program has also worked great.

Can't speak about their FMIC as I'm running OEM DSMIC. The R1 DV has been operating well. It "moos" only when the boost and vacuum are equal causing the diaphragm to flutter a little, but quickly goes away when it goes into boost. It holds boost and is quick to get back on full boost.

[ExCarpi]

Sorry to thread jack here but I must be the only person that has had a great experience with APR's customer service.

I said something about it a few months back when I was dealing with fitting issues regarding their Turbo Inlet Pipe (TIP). I contacted them because one of the hoses would not fit in the pipe without an additional 90 degrees elbow and 45 degree hose.

They instructed me to take pictures of what I was talking about and email them. I did and someone got back to me, said that is not how they want the pipe to fit and it did need additional parts to be included. The rep told me that he would work something out with me.

He gave me a few options and I ended up getting my money back on the TIP (ordered from Ecodetuning who wanted ~15% restocking fee), and a dsicount on a fully loaded ECU. I believe I got an additional $250 off of the sale price at the time, though that included the refund of the TIP. Plus I got to keep the TIP because they could not resell that type of part.

All I have to say to the guys that got bad service, is to talk to somebody that is higher up. I personally would not hesitate to buy another APR product because of how they took care of me when the online seller would do nothing.

Brian

[Papachristou]

I sent several emails and left mutiple messages . It shouldn't be lie pulling teeth to get service

[widgget]

I shouldn't have to fight them to replace it if their product, that has a warranty, failed due to poor craftsmanship. If you have to keep asking to talk to a supervisor and pull what you need out of them then that is bad customer service.

I don't need the headaches that their products create when they fail nor the headache dealing with their customer service trying to hunt someone down that might be able to help me afterward.

[JBM]

All I have to say is that your money spent is now on their race track to test their crappy products. Of all the APR products I have had I replaced all of them because they sucked or just didn't perform that well. I was big into them when there weren't that many products.
1) Intercooler-Sucked balls-fittings sucked, and just looking at the overall design made my 15 year old brother realize it was a shitty design.
2) R1-Put it in and took it out, did not work out of the box coming from a Bailey,Forge 007 and Forge 004. I grabbed my trusty 004
3) Exhaust-It was broke dick after half a year. I had it professionally installed and they noted on the form that the welds looked like crap but didn't want to touch it if there was a warranty on it.
4) TIP- I looked at it, at the instructions and at the location it was supposed to go. I packed it up and shipped it back.

I guess the one guy from Tuner Transformation is the new APR customer. Popped collars and all.

[DownhillA4]

Racetec does fit. It fit without any cutting behind my S4 bumper.

Have you considered the ER or ASP FMICs? I'd choose them over the APR or RaceTec anyday.

I haven't considered the ER or ASP FMIC's because they are pretty pricey, over $1000(i'm on a highschool budget). For the price & the Temperature graph on Autobahn Exotics site about the Race-Tec FMIC seemed to be a good buy but when I read the install on A4mods.com they said you still need to cut the stock bumper even though under the Product Information for the Race-tec is says "* Designed to fit the OEM front bumper without any cutting.
* Does not require the removal of the secondary air pump and does not require cutting of the cross over pipe.
* Retains OEM foglights."

I'm torn about these FMIC's but I think i'm just going to purchase the Race-Tec and if it doesn't fit, hopefully I can return it.