Are RS4 Cams worth it?

[amd is the best]

I am thinking about picking up a set of RS4 cams for my APR Stage 3 but was curious as to if it is actually worth the money and time? Anyone have any dyno proof?

Nick

[fixn2xlr8]

I think you could do better with an after market option but yea, I dont see a down side.

[highPSI-S4]

I remeber some threads awhile back, but over the years is has been talked about. I have heard that they are not worth the money, but no one had any dyno graphs and as i think about it alot of tuners have had them in there setups. i would be interested as well to see if there are any gains from these.

Someone has to know.

[unknowna4]

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I have a question along the same lines. What about more aggressive cams? I know evo's and other popular tuner cars show major power gains even on mildly modified cars with aggressive cams and a tune. What about our cars and what cams would you recommend?

[amd is the best]

I know there are a few companies out there that do regrinds, colt and crower come to mind.

[unknowna4]

Still the duration on these cams is nothing compared to what people frequently put on these other cars(272's, 280's ect.) Is there a reason that there are no or at least not that many s4's running around with high duration cams?

[highPSI-S4]

Found a thread, haven't read it yet but it's 4 pages long

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...market+cams%3F

[Das General]

With K04's they aren't worth it. I'd say, maybe with RS6's...

Aside from that, you want them paired with a larger set of turbos.

[CHEROHALA]

didnt think it was worth it when I upgrade to rs6 turbo- you lose some lower end torque for a small amt of higher end Hp.

[unknowna4]

Stock turbo evos make huge power gains with an aggressive set of cams though, I'm just wondering why s4 with k04's wouldn't see the benefits?

[amd is the best]

From what I gather from the other thread is that 2.8 cams are actually more aggressive then RS4 cams. Might have to dismantle my DD for its heads and cams, lol.

[Dr. Jekyll]

Not worth it. I did before and after dyno pulls when I installed RS4 cams. Dyno's were done a day and a half appart, and no other mods were done (just a cam install). Without changing the tune, I actually lost about 25-30whp. Tony then retuned the car (all this was done at EPL btw) and I gained back that power, but I ended up putting down the same peak power as my baseline runs. I might have gained ~5whp at the very top end... but nothing substantial.

MAF values were exactly the same too

Before and after MAF values (blue is RS4)

1 caveat though - Apparently compressing the cam tensioners (inorder to get the cams out) can break them. So it's not holding the right timing when the timing change occurs. This *might* be effecting the peak power some... but I'm not sure. It's a $450-$500 part and a pita to change. I'll be fixing it soon and getting retuned for w/i, so we'll see if I pick up any power after changing it (before I get retuned for the w/i).

But imo RS4 cams aren't worth the money or the labor for the install (even doing it yourself it's a pita and not worth it). And remember, the RS4 runs 1 bar of boost, so they were designed for 1 bar of boost. So you're not likely to see more gains with bigger turbos and more boost.

2.8L cams seem to work well if you can find someone to properly tune for them. They are pretty aggressive, so I think you'll only really benefit if you have GT's.

[tdi_logik]

From what I gather from the other thread is that 2.8 cams are actually more aggressive then RS4 cams. Might have to dismantle my DD for its heads and cams, lol.

do ittttt Nick!

[AudiA4_20T]

1 caveat though - Apparently compressing the cam tensioners (inorder to get the cams out) can break them.

ehh, anything can break if u mess with it.... They work just fine if you gradually compress them

[Dr. Jekyll]

I did. Did it by the book using the proper tool. I'm not the only one that has had them break during a cam install fwiw.

[okkim]

I did. Did it by the book using the proper tool. I'm not the only one that has had them break during a cam install fwiw.

How did those broke? I have done it many times succesfully.

[Dr. Jekyll]

No idea how they actually "break". Could be the solanoid or a internal seal (since it uses oil pressure to adjust). The only way I knew it was "broken" was from the dyno chart; there was a notch in the initial power curve ramp up that couldn't be tuned out. I had seen the notch before from someone who had a broken cam adjuster (the reason I was cautious when I was compressing mine). So we logged blocks 91 and 92. Those blocks are suppose show either 0 or 22 (after the cam adjustment occurs). Sure enough, one was off. It couldn't hold the normal 22 degree's, it would bounce around between 19 and 22.

It doesn't throw a code and you can't tell just from driving the car. The only way I knew something was wrong was from the dyno chart. I then confirmed one was broken by logging blocks 91 and 92. I still put down over 400whp... so had I not noticed the notch in the dyno curve I never would have known it was broken.

I have a feeling it's a more common problem than people think. There is an updated part number for the cam adjusters as well... so Audi had to have changed something with them.

[ladedruck]

In my experience the rs4 or 2.8 cams in an off the shelf tune lost midrange power. Exactly where you see the dip in Drjekle's graph. So much so with the 2.8s that I took my car back apart to make sure they were timed right. However if you have a tune for it there are good gains to be had from the rs4 at least. I haven't tried the 2.8s except in with ots software though. It makes sense since the s4 and rs4 run different cam timing from the factory.