AWE or RS4 Intercoolers on Stage 1?

[JWMGT90]

Does anybody have aftermarket Intercoolers (RS4, AWE) on a stage 1 s4 or is it just a waste of money?

[KompMan420]

Never a waste of money. Go with AWE, better fitment and bigger

[S4_NE]

2nd that awe fits nice

[AudiSportB5S4]

3rd. love my AWE's...

You shouldn't just go with RS4 for the reason that if you ever go stage 2+ or stage 3 even, RS4 coolers are inferior to the AWEs so don't waste the money do it right the first time. Driver side IC requires a little love to the support but its easy, well, i watched and it looked that way :) haha

[Daft]

4th on the AWE coolers.

They will really shine in the summer months and will be ready to cover you if/when you go Stage 3.

[Alex/AWE]

Thanks for all the support.

To echo what everyone here has said, upgraded Intercoolers are not a waste on a Stage 1 car. While you might not notice the power increase you might see from something like downpipes, you will be upgrading a key component of your car and ensuring you have plenty of headroom for later modifications.




The RS4 Intercoolers were never designed to fit the US Spec 2.7T, so getting them to fit requires extensive cutting. Our Intercoolers were designed to vastly outperform the RS4 Intercoolers AND be a direct bolt in replacement for the US B5 S4 Chassis.

Some key fitment detail differences between our intercooler kit and the RS4 "kits":

• 100% coverage of the core face with our air ducts. RS4 kits leave gaps around face that lets cooling air escape
• No modification needed to the engine belly tray with our design
• Cores are 100% secure and supported with our design. RS4 kits have no way to secure the cores, resulting in the possibility of hose damage over time
• No modification or cutting of bumper required with our design

[AudiSportB5S4]

anddd if you ever go stage 3, and you really want IAT heaven you slap some w/m and you awe's together and you have yourself a sweet setup. thats my plan over the winter/spring. adding w/m injection from VAST.

[JWMGT90]

anddd if you ever go stage 3, and you really want IAT heaven you slap some w/m and you awe's together and you have yourself a sweet setup. thats my plan over the winter/spring. adding w/m injection from VAST.

how about the vast oil cooler too with that setup? Seems like a good deal for $500

[bandit]

ER sidemounts ftw

[Tifosi]

Is stage 3 part of your future plan ? If yes, will you be looking for more than just regular OTS stage 3-K04s ? If you answer yes again, the Evolution Racewerk SMICs would be a great alternative to the AWE's.

[RolledMySTi]

It's not a waste, but dp's or and exhaust would be a better way to go at stg 1.

[S4_NE]

Thanks for all the support.

To echo what everyone here has said, upgraded Intercoolers are not a waste on a Stage 1 car. While you might not notice the power increase you might see from something like downpipes, you will be upgrading a key component of your car and ensuring you have plenty of headroom for later modifications.




The RS4 Intercoolers were never designed to fit the US Spec 2.7T, so getting them to fit requires extensive cutting. Our Intercoolers were designed to vastly outperform the RS4 Intercoolers AND be a direct bolt in replacement for the US B5 S4 Chassis.

Some key fitment detail differences between our intercooler kit and the RS4 "kits":

• 100% coverage of the core face with our air ducts. RS4 kits leave gaps around face that lets cooling air escape
• No modification needed to the engine belly tray with our design
• Cores are 100% secure and supported with our design. RS4 kits have no way to secure the cores, resulting in the possibility of hose damage over time
• No modification or cutting of bumper required with our design

NP mine are working great and they fit my car well

[Hyperlitebordr]

I'm doing this same on my car (stage 1)...I figured it's not a waste because it may save some life on my turbos

[AudiSportB5S4]

bahh. this isnt a ER VS AWE thread again LOL. the man said "AWE or RS4"

AWE!

[Das General]

RS4 is a waste.

[AMC]

i vote it being a waste since your ony stage 1, since ill be stage 3 in a couple days i say u just buy me some awe's

[Evilevo]

Have AWE on my car, Dont get very much heat soak. LOVE IT!

[Tifosi]

bahh. this isnt a ER VS AWE thread again LOL. the man said "AWE or RS4"

AWE!

No one is pitting the AWE SMICs against the ER SMICs here. The OP may not be aware of the existence of ER SMICs which is why he didn't mention them in his OP. Wouldn't you want the forum to inform you of other alternatives that you may not be aware of ? I would.

[BastardS4]

ER or AWE


RS4 is a waste of time unless you can pick a set up cheap on the used market.

[2ndEngineS4]

^^$400 cheap. With hoses. . .

[fourings06]

My suggestion after looking at your mod list, is spend the money on DP's. You have no need for the side mounts yet. If you do them now though, or ever, definately AWE.

[JWMGT90]

My suggestion after looking at your mod list, is spend the money on DP's. You have no need for the side mounts yet. If you do them now though, or ever, definately AWE.

Any problems with CEL or emissions with AWE dp's?

[fourings06]

Any problems with CEL or emissions with AWE dp's?

I don't have AWE dp's, so I wouldn't really be able to honestly answer you there. I have Techtonics 2.5" from JHMotorsports's site. You can get them with or without cats. Either way you should throw no CEL (I think they guaruntee that or a refund), and as far as emissions is concerned, without cats you could always run into an issue, but you can also get around it. I have catless downpipes, with my catback removed... I have yet to go to emissions, but there are tricks. AWE downpipes are much more expensive I believe. I got mine for 700 from JHM, and with cats its like +100$.

[jesterekim]

Can we have an ER SMICs vs. AWE SMICs? Are they similar in size? They're similar in pricing, I know.

[Hyperlitebordr]

yea if you do it go AWE

[freuds]

AWE= The way to go!!!!!

[GramCracker]

RS4 is a waste.

Especially considering they are only 6% larger than S4 SMIC's.

[audiwop]

anddd if you ever go stage 3, and you really want IAT heaven you slap some w/m and you awe's together and you have yourself a sweet setup. thats my plan over the winter/spring. adding w/m injection from VAST.

Ya, I bet water/meth with AWE IC's would be a sick setup. I would love to have told you how well it worked on my car, but that's just not in my cards now is it? But ya, you can never go wrong with AWE I/C's.

[AudiSportB5S4]

^^ lol, that really blows man. whats your plan? rebuild that shit or no?

[EvilllEmpirE]

AWE's are better....over the RS4's, no doubt. But all the nutsucking in this thread is funny. Couple facts:

100% coverage of the core face with our air ducts. RS4 kits leave gaps around face that lets cooling air escape

(i have 100% coverage of the core face with my RS4 shrouds. NO AIR escapes around any gaps as well with an RS4 setup)

No modification needed to the engine belly tray with our design

(no modification to my belly try whatsoever. It's all in the install)

Cores are 100% secure and supported with our design. RS4 kits have no way to secure the cores, resulting in the possibility of hose damage over time

(not true.....core is secure and not going ANYWHERE)

No modification or cutting of bumper required with our design

(that's not true either.....there is cutting with BOTH AWE and RS4's. Albeit a little less cutting with the AWE's.....but there is definitely cutting on both)

Now if u wanted to bring up IAT's....then yes, AWE's keep IAT's down better and takes longer to heatsoak than RS4's. By all means....get AWE's if you can. But when I was doing my IC upgrade....I got my new RS4 IC's, APR Hoses, and RS4 oem shrouds for $ $750. AWE's were $1200+. The choice was easy. Keep in mind....RS4's do work and do a good job as an IC upgrade, and there are many fast cars that run RS4's. Just seems like many are dismissing RS4's as crap when that is definitely not the case

[audiwop]

^^ lol, that really blows man. whats your plan? rebuild that shit or no?

I'll find out more on thursday. But if I was taking the over-under on whether or not I have to rebuild, I would take the over with out a doubt. So this thread stays on topic, I had metal shaving in the top I/C hose coming from my FTW AWE-I/C's. Oh well shit happens.