Vinny's s4 timeline

[VinnysS4]

Well everyone, I have been on here for a little bit and have been slowly working my way into the audi scene. I have owned a couple and my latest one is a 2005.5 s4 b6/b7 Tiptronic. I wanted a manual, but the lady can't drive one, so I figured why not.
A little back story and what led me to buying this particular car. Erlier this year I had a vw VR6 GTI. I basically replaced everything on the engine and suspension and then it threw the timing chain 52 miles from home. Bought a long block and put it in, sold soon after. Bought a Mercedes c230. The car had some weird issue when it was cold. Traded that in for a 03 rs6. Loved that car, but between the cost of un maintained parts such as the DRC system, brakes and rotors, and it being over due on the timing belt change. ..it just looked like I was getting hosed. Then I get a call from the lot asking me to come in. Long story short, deal feel through, got the Mercedes back and almost immediately took and traded it in for a 2010 A4. Seemed more practical. I had that car for a few months until a lady lost control of her car and slammed into the side of me. Insurance totaled it.
The A4 was in such good shape and the only things I had to do to it were front wheel bearings ( got the car almost 4k under book because both he and I knew what it needed) and the battery. First car I've had that didn't need anything haha.
So since the A4 turned out to be a good car, I bought my s4 from the same lot. No PPI ( my fault I know) BUT I did take it for like a 45 minute test drive and put it through the places, looked everything over. The dealer actually called me wonderingwheniwas coming back.lol. The only thing I didn't do was crawl under the car. I noted oil burning off of the downpipes
, flickering h.i.d bulb, and a popping noise when turning. For some strange reason, I just had to have the car. So i signed the initial paperwork. I remember him telling me they had just put a battery into it. Well I brought tools, scanner, multimeter etc... with me when I went to pick the car up. And after signing the finalized paperwork, I get the keys, I go out to start it and it won't start. Battery is dead. Jumped it and it ran fine, and the multimeter showed it was charging. ( he looked surprised that the car didn't start (riiight) Dealer then informed me that the car "had a slight valve cover gasket leak". I drove the car about 40 or 50 Miles home and the car dumped about quart of oil. ..
And my timeline begins.......

So here is my car. I fell in love by the dealer pictures:


In the ad it stated the car had a sun roof. Look at the last picture. Sunroof. My dumbass completely missed the fact that the car doesn't even have one. Was to wrapped up in the car. I've been told it's a good thing. Who knows.

So I ordered a bunch of stuff right from the get go





And it begins:



I had narrowed the leak down to the front of the engine and it ended up being the oil filter gasket and/or valley pan. It was leaking pretty bad. I ordered the parts and took some photos along the way and wrote a little diy. ( didnt know ecs tuning had one already. )I was still in pain from the accident so I didn't take nearly as many the farther along in the process.
https://www.google.com/url?q=http://...qKsFpAvb3c4zhw



There was also a power steering hose that was leaking pretty heavily so I bought some fluid and did a system flush and cleared all of the old fluid out of the system while I repaired the leaking hose.
At the same time, I ordered: brake fluid, spark plugs, valve cover gaskets, coolant, oil, filter, fuel filter, thermostat (received wrong one) valley pangasket, oil filter housing gaskets, oil pressure switch, (didn't know about the oil check valves or I would have ordered them too), and intake manifold gaskets.



Threw some color on the valve covers for fun while I had them off. The paint on them was horrible.


Upper intake manifold gasket leaking causing a slight lean condition. Sealed it up with my favorite black sealant.

I flushed out the cooling system with distilled water and mixed in the g13 coolant.

After that the car was good to go. I swapped out the headlight bulbs for some morimoto's because of a flickering bulb. I also went and installed a new battery since the "new" battery that the dealer had put in the car was not even close to the right one. Or new for that fact. Go figure.

Next I ordered a copy of the navigation disk with the newer software so I could use an ax input. I then coded the RNS-E to accept the input and installed the aux cord


Changed the startup to make my brother smile



Then 2 weeks later, the radiator blew out after the first time taking my new car out and giving her a little workout. Nothing crazy, nut obviously the radiator was the weak link. So I installed this


So far so good. I'll continue to update this. Just thought that I'd share my new build with everyone. Props to those who have helped me with advice and such.

[richB7S4]

Good work taking care of her 👍

[JS4Avant]

Nice man, I'll be on the same track as you soon. My s4 avant needs some TLC. My problems are a bit more serious, could have scored cylinder walls and or valve stems. Dealer screwed me as well. No ppi done... Bought car out of state. Good luck with the beast! Looks like your right on track.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[VinnysS4]

Thanks guys! I love to do stuff to my vehicles. I have just begun. Right now i'm at a cross roads. I really wanted an RS4, however, my budget did not warrant that so i settled on an S4. I'd like to trade it up for an RS4 but after dealing with the DRC system of the RS6, i'm not so sure i want that headache. either way, if i can match the performance of an RS4 then i think ill keep her and do a ton more. I'll keep updating pictures as they come!
vinny

[VinnysS4]

Tonight I cleaned and conditioned the leather. I haven't done the rear seats because it got dark and dinner was ready, but I'll finish that up soon. Poor leather was probably never taken care of, it soaked the conditioner up like a sponge. Looks much better. Feels better too. I'll try my best to bring it back! I'm going to remove the interior soon to wire the car for some aftermarket stereo equipment. I removed the alternator and installed a 0 gauge wire to the battery as part of the "big 3 upgrade" one thing I found interesting is that my alternator is newer. Manufacture date of august 2013 if I remember correctly. So that's a plus because they aren't cheap or easy to replace.

One question I have, is the cover for the ashtray only goes up so high. This just seems odd to me. You can feel it is obviously hitting something behind there, but my question would be is this normal height for the ashtray lid?



New found treasure is going into my headers fund ;)

[Gosser]

Who flosses while driving??

That ashtray lid is probably being jammed by loose change that dropped behind it. You'll need to remove the radio, HVAC controls and then you can remove the ashtray assembly.

Nice work on the clean.

[richB7S4]

Vinny - where did you order the updated RNS-E disc? What year? I had used copied disc's which resulted in my RNS-E unable to read the disc after it gets hot. Have you encountered this?

[d2a4]

How do you code for the start up screen? I hate my warning screen. I used to have a Euro RNS-E on my A4 B6 Avant and it did not have the warning crap screen when start up. You are good & brave. I just got my RS4 almost a month, and the only thing I did is replaced the starter.

[q_dubz]

Got valve seal leakage? That plug didnt look too happy...

[richB7S4]

This - "http://nickscarblog.com/cars/must-have-vag-com-mods-for-b6-and-b7-audis"

[VinnysS4]

Got valve seal leakage? That plug didnt look too happy...

not sure i follow you...mind explaining deeper what you mean? thanks!

[VinnysS4]

Vinny - where did you order the updated RNS-E disc? What year? I had used copied disc's which resulted in my RNS-E unable to read the disc after it gets hot. Have you encountered this?

i actually took a chance and ordered it from someone on here. You have to have alteast SW260 (i think) to code the RNS-E to accept the AUX plug) Have had no issues at all...i can shoot you the name of the person i got it from if you would like. he may have more!

- - - Updated - - -

Who flosses while driving??

That ashtray lid is probably being jammed by loose change that dropped behind it. You'll need to remove the radio, HVAC controls and then you can remove the ashtray assembly.

Nice work on the clean.

Thanks for the advice! im going to be pulling the RNS-E unit and looking at it soon

[q_dubz]

Vinny - where did you order the updated RNS-E disc? What year? I had used copied disc's which resulted in my RNS-E unable to read the disc after it gets hot. Have you encountered this?

i just ordered my 2015 disk from NAVDVDMAPS.com and got it all up and running last night.

Mind you i had to go the extra mile and covert mine back to US firmware first because i took the car with me to Germany.

[q_dubz]

not sure i follow you...mind explaining deeper what you mean? thanks!

Just looking at the first few threads of the plug before the ground straps and also the porcelain around the electrode. Could just be the photo making it look darker than it really is.

[richB7S4]

i just ordered my 2015 disk from NAVDVDMAPS.com and got it all up and running last night.

Mind you i had to go the extra mile and covert mine back to US firmware first because i took the car with me to Germany.

Cool. Thanks. No issues so far? Is it OEM? Or burn disc?

How did your s4 fair on the autobahn? Did you have the green (4) sticker for emissions?

[VinnysS4]

Got valve seal leakage? That plug didnt look too happy...

oh i get ya. yeah i'm not so sure what is going on there. I would venture to think they were not the original plugs because i have 96k miles on the car and the coil clips were broken. If i decide to keep the car long term, i will be doing a valve job and changing the valve seals as well. Thanks for pointing that out!

[VinnysS4]

How do you code for the start up screen? I hate my warning screen. I used to have a Euro RNS-E on my A4 B6 Avant and it did not have the warning crap screen when start up. You are good & brave. I just got my RS4 almost a month, and the only thing I did is replaced the starter.

i used my VAG COM cable and went into the coding. I basically was searching the web for mods and i came across this one. My friends get a kick out of it haha. My little brother actually thought i had bought a lambo (his friend has a countach so he was stoked lol)

[VinnysS4]

I ran her through her paces. Just wanted to set some baselines for future mods. Not sure what the car is rated at stock, but I timed the runs using a stopwatch app while watching the playback (I know i know, I'm sure there is a better way haha) and the runs are 5 seconds or under. 4.7 4.4 can someone chime in if this is average? I've read elsewhere on it. ..I'd just rather have real world data. (If that makes sense)

https://youtu.be/HLobuplkG6k

I'd like to be sub 4 seconds after mods NA.....Wishful thinking?

Came home to these today:



Still waiting on my led interior kit to go with it. I'm going to try and do a whole LED exterior (except headlights) and interior

So my fiancee is all excited about getting my car tuned because when I told her JHM was in California, she heard road trip lol I'm going to try and stash a few dollars and sneak a few things into the trunk (not sure if I can get the headers box by her haha)

One more thing. ..when my car is cold, it runs stupid strong. I don't beat on it when is cold, but I've had to pull out in traffic early morning around 30 degrees outside and wow. Am i getting Heatsoakmost of the time then? Lol Or is it because the car is not in closed loop and is just running it's "set parameters" and it has some issue reading data from a sensor after it switches to closed loop? Like say a lazy o2 sensor or dirty maf sensor? I have experienced this before. Like having a slow reacting o2 sensor and a vacuum leak making it run lean.
Any other ideas?

[VinnysS4]

That ashtray lid is probably being jammed by loose change that dropped behind it. You'll need to remove the radio, HVAC controls and then you can remove the ashtray assembly.

Thanks for the tip! I went out tonight and removed the HVAC controls and the RNS-E and took the ashtray out.....




and change is exactly what was stopping the lid from opening all the way. THANKS!

[q_dubz]

Cool. Thanks. No issues so far? Is it OEM? Or burn disc?

How did your s4 fair on the autobahn? Did you have the green (4) sticker for emissions?

It's a burned but no issues with it. Half the price or better than going to the dealer for one tho.

The car saw 140mph regularly LOL however i didn't feel taking the curves at that speed. It was twitchy.

[Gosser]

and change is exactly what was stopping the lid from opening all the way. THANKS!

dont spend it all in one spot.

[Gosser]

Nice carbon fiber trim too! Looks OEM and not o-carbons. Did B7 ever have an options for CF from the factory? I thought it was only RS4s and DTMs.

[VinnysS4]

dont spend it all in one spot.

I'm throwing the change into the headers fund! i have half a mason jar so far with some loose bills in it. (it will put a dent in it atleast lol)

Nice carbon fiber trim too! Looks OEM and not o-carbons. Did B7 ever have an options for CF from the factory? I thought it was only RS4s and DTMs.

Yup its factory. Shows on the original sticker price the upgrades the car has and carbon is on there. i'm surprised because my RS6 had developed some cracks in the carbon fiber. this stuff looks nice

[marcmo60]

What product did you use to condition the leather? This is on my personal to-do list, I also need to pull up my seats and look underneath them as well...

[VinnysS4]

I used Mothers Leather conditioning cream. I didnt buy it from here...but this is the same stuff: http://www.autopia-carcare.com/mothe...B#.VrVCrCorLWI
I also used the leather cleaner from the same company, once again i didnt buy it from here but this is the stuff i used: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/mo...C3JRoCa8vw_wcB You would be surprised at how dirty the steering wheel and the arm rest get over time! I haven't tried other products so who knows if the stuff i have is any good or if there are better products out there, but it works for me and i've used it on all my cars with leather and have been pretty happy.

[VinnysS4]

Got the latest spending problem results in haha just a little sneak peak as to what is to come ;)




A little neo action next to my headers fund lol



Counter productive from going fast, but it's got to go in...

Tonight I was on the freeway and I saw HID bulbs coming up in my mirror. Had the Fog lights on. I thought to myself..that looks like my headlights! up next to me comes a silver b6 s4. It's nice to see other S4's in the wild

[Gosser]

More info and pics on that sub please.

[VinnysS4]

FI BTL N2 I'll throw up some more pics in a bit

[richB7S4]

Got the latest spending problem results in haha just a little sneak peak as to what is to come ;)




A little neo action next to my headers fund lol



Counter productive from going fast, but it's got to go in...

Tonight I was on the freeway and I saw HID bulbs coming up in my mirror. Had the Fog lights on. I thought to myself..that looks like my headlights! up next to me comes a silver b6 s4. It's nice to see other S4's in the wild

LED interior?

[VinnysS4]

yessir. i ordered an LED interior kit to go with my licence plate lights (pics to come). I'm also going to so a little to the stock stereo system. It sounds ok.... but i would like it to sound better. I wont give away all the details of the install, but put it this way...I had all my equipment in my last audi and it sounded phenomenal.i was actually told i "could not fit that in my trunk and have it 1. work 2. sound good and 3. be removeable. I proved them wrong last time and will be doing it again soon!

[richB7S4]

Looking forward to your updates

[marcmo60]

Thanks for the info on the leather products!

[VinnysS4]

Thanks for the info on the leather products!

No problem! Like I said, I haven't tried other products so I can't give a comparison. But it seems to work ok for me. I'm sure if I spent a lot more money on some better products, I will end up with better results. Which I might do in the near future, test a couple and see what looks better and post the results. If anybody knows of a very good leather cleaner and conditioner, please feel free to share your thoughts and leave a review. I will pick a few and do a comparison and post results.

So I received my LED license plate lights, and the LED interior package. I installed it today and took a couple quick before and after photos. I was very skeptical when I ordered them, because so many people have issues with error messages, flickering bulbs and having to deal with resistors. When I installed a set on my Mercedes, I had to turn around and order a set of resistors to get rid of the error message and the hyper flashing. So the set I bought claims to be error-free. And as far as I'm concerned, they work very very well. I was very surprised that the output of the license plate lights and the interior kit. My fiance is tells me it's actually too bright and she tries to turn them off every time I open the door. The kit I got was a 21 piece kit. It did the entire interior of the car including the lights on the bottom of the doors and under the seats by your feet. The only bulb it did not include that I can tell is the trunk bulb but I'm not too worried about that. Ill order one or two just to have spares in case one of these goes out anyways. There is also a bulb in the ashtray, but I pretty much never open that thing so I'm not too worried about that.
Here are the dome lights before just looking pitiful:




Here are the new bulbs. In the daytime I wasn't too impressed, but come night, holy cow they were bright:









Somebody had asked for more pictures of the stuff that's going in so I took a quick picture of it today. Many people may not know what it is, but the true audiophiles will recognize this...




Here is the amp that I plan on running my door speakers with. Nothing crazy, just a little guy.




I plan on taking trips with the family and anytime we go on a long trip, or take the kids up to the mountains, I'm going to need my trunk. So the system will be set up to be removable. I'm going to make a custom fiberglass enclosure for the trunk. In effort to cut down on weight, Ill just do this instead of using heavy wood. There is no point in adding 200 pounds to your trunk for a daily driver. I have built some decent systems, but this one isn't going to be too crazy. ;)

[Concavitor]

Why light up your license plate so brightly? I can see putting LEDs that are not warm white, but not LED's with 1000 lumens. C'm on.

[VinnysS4]

I didn't know how bright they were going to be before I bought them. At least I'm not one of those guys who puts blue lights in the back. And besides, a lot of brand new cars like Mercedes have license plate lights like this stock. I happen to like the look of led lights over incandescent bulbs

[VinnysS4]

Well it has been a while since i've updated my progress. Things are getting kind of crazy at home. I'm getting ready to buy a house so most of my money is tied up in that. I have lots of things i want to do to my car, but unfortunately i have no garage at the moment. Sister needed the storage space, so now my garage is packed with her stuff.

There are a few things that need addressing on my S4 like the control arm bushings. I want to buy a nice kit with adjustable control arms, but right now i need the downpayment for a house, so i went cheap on suspension for now. The age old motto of "do it nice or do it twice" comes to mind. For right now i don't mind doing it twice if it means owning my own house lol. SO! i ordered some cheap control arms and a set of lowing springs. My GTI was dropped on a koni cup kit with race springs and i'm trying to avoid that type of setup. As awesome as it was being so low, it scraped everywhere i went and rubbed on the fenders on full lock....even after i rolled and pulled the fenders and cut away the fender lining. The ride was so harsh as well. I like how my S4 rides and i want to keep it as close to stock feeling as i can at least until i throw some coilovers onto it.





Another thing that needs addressing is the audio. I just bought a new stereo and will be installing everything shortly.




I have a friend that works in the HVAC field and he was telling me about this sound deadening material he can get ahold of. I quizzed him on it and from what i can tell it is very similar to Dynamat brand sound deadening material or "Damplifier". It is a butyl rubber material that has a layer of foil on it. They use it to seal HVAC ducts and add mass to the metal to reduce vibrations and lower the Resonant Frequency of the metal. Perfect. He got me a few rolls of the stuff along with some other material such as 1" thick closed cell foam sound deadening material.



So i went ahead and lined my trunk with the sound deadening material and am putting in a lot of the closed cell foam. I have a goal in mind, and a reason why i am doing the stuff i am doing. Most, and i reiterate, Most, people would not go to the extreme that i am going on my stereo build, but its one of the few things in life that i get pleasure from and it is going into my car which i love to drive. Audi from the factory thought it to be a good idea to only throw a few pieces of deadening material to the trunk:



There is one piece on the back where the bumper sits, one piece on each of the wheel wells and one piece on the rear quarter panel:





They were nice enough to throw a large piece above the rear axle, but in the end im covering the entire trunk. Part of why i am doing this and ignoring the "25%" rule is due to how my subwoofer setup will be. I had originally intended to build an 8cf ported enclosure out of fiberglass. It was going to be removable as my S4 is my DD but i was told that it "was not possible" and to "sell the sub and buy something that fits"
Well there it is there. Internet "experts" telling me i cannot do something that i am already in the middle of doing. so i kindly replied "well on that note, ill go ahead and make it work". I hate peope not having an open mind and saying something will not work because they cannot do it. I do BGA repair and ic chip replacements on logic boards for a living. When someone tells me i cannot fix something that i know there is a way of fixing it, it makes me want to do it just because. Here is some of the things i do:




This was a PMIC (Power Management Integrated Circuit) replacement. It is a BGA chip that has a corroded contact pad that needed replacement. It was told to me that this is an impossible repair on this ipad. go figure.

Either way..... I am building my trunk into a subwoofer enclosure that will be removable with just a few screws. I will post up more details and pictures of the install in the future. Yeah im sure i could have gone down to the local stereo store and said "build me something" but i have been building/designing systems for many years and cannot for the life of me pay someone else to cut wood and glue it together. That AND the fact that i want it to be light and not take up much trunk space. Good luck getting a decent non pre-fabbed enclosure that has any decent output.
so here are some more pictures of the trunk as im going along:

[VinnysS4]

So to add a little insight as to why i am laying this stuff in the trunk......
One of the reasons why guys with horrible sounding systems that rattle beyond belief, is because the stock vehicle panels have a resonant frequency that they vibrate at. You can demo this by simply knocking on a body panel. that hollow ringing sound is the panels resonant frequency. If this frequency is in the audible range and the speakers play this frequency, you will hear the panel vibrate. This vibration causes a loss in Decibels. They say that a 3 DB increase is in effect the same as doubling the amplifier's power. I'm sure that is not a 100% exact statement, but either way, im trying to preserve the DB's that i will achieve. The reason why people use thick MDF or Birch for their installs is because the wood is very strong and doesn't tend to vibrate. We utilize bracing inside enclosures to help further eliminate the walls from flexing and losing some output. By adding mass to a panel, you can slow down the panel's flexing and create a stronger enclosure, which will in effect up the Decibel output of the system. I am adding the mass to the panels for this reason. Not so much to eliminate the sound coming through the panels as some would assume the reason for adding sound deadening material. Its more of a function of stiffening up the inside of the enclosure. And since my enclosure will be the actual trunk, this is why i am doing what i am doing. I have removed the stock subwoofer and completely sealed the cabin from the trunk. My reasoning will be come more apparent as i continue with my install.

One of the reasons why i am doing what i am doing, is i want the vehicle to retain that "stock" looking appearance when you pop the trunk. I will be losing a little trunk space, but i will have almost the entire trunk to use for my DD setup and when i want to go on a trip somewhere, i will be able to remove the subwoofer and have my folding rear seats and pass through. I have a DB goal in mind and i think i will be very close to achieving my goal. As i stated before, this is my DD and not a competition vehicle, however, i do want to have a nice stereo system geared towards SQ. Something that strait gets down on any tracks i throw at it.

Someone once asked me why i installed a larger alternator cable and am running dedicated amp wires to the trunk. well this is why i replaced the stock battery wires:




They just look small in comparison. The stock alternator is a Water cooled 190 amp unit. Most people pay good money to have a 200+ amp alternator, so im fortunate that my car has a newer alternator. I'm running 2 runs of 1/0 gauge wire (all OFC, some tinned in silver) from the front battery to the trunk and connecting into a xs power cell:


keep in mind that this was a test fit picture and not a final instillation.

I am going to keep the stock door speakers for now as they sound pretty decent....but for the stereo....that's probably the only thing left untouched. I am running all new wires for the speakers. (the stock wires are sufficient, but i don't want to use the stock wiring harness for this install. I plan on throwing some deadening material into the doors as well.

[VinnysS4]

So i finally got the Radio installed. It's funny how i used to have as much time as i needed to do stuff. Then i grew up and that is a thing of the past. I only really get about an hour every other day to work on my car, so this is all i have to update today:

So i soldered up some battery cables. I have both the KnuKonceptz 1/0 ga "oversized" OFC wire, and some 1/0 ga 100% OFC welding wire. Both were like 4 bucks a foot, so either way, its not cheap. i have about 100 feet of it( yikes! don't tell the lady i spent that much!) Some was left over from my A4 before it was totaled, but the rest of it i bought afterwards. So to show how wires SHOULD be soldered/put together, i put these together. The only real thing i would change if i did it again, would be to heat shrink over the ends of the tech flex for a little cleaner install, but whatever. It's good enough for now:



here are the ends soldered and heat shrunk...ignore the dirt...haha :



and then a layer of Tech flex:



and you're left with this:



I have 3 fuse holders going in under the hood for now. One of them is to protect the upgraded alternator wire and the other 2 are for the 2 runs of battery cable that go from the front battery back to the rear battery:






I bought 100 feet of the tech flex and am wrapping most of the wires for a few reasons. 1: a much cleaner install and 2: much safer. The tech flex adds a layer of protection just like wire loom would. This just looks much better! and here is the battery all wired up and ready for more!:


Here is the radio after installation:



I have some pictures of the wiring of the new radio but its only a few wires. This is what it looks like behind the radio before i cleaned it up:

and here is what it looks like during and after instillation:





Since i will be getting rid of everything except for the stock speakers, i only needed a few wires from the stock wiring harness such as positive and negative. Everything else has been wired independently except for the stock wires (thinking about keeping them for simplicity sake)
When i add a little bit more i will update this thread. until then, enjoy the nice sunny weather!

[VinnysS4]

Well it has been a few since my last update. I took my car down to a friend's shop and did some work to her yesterday. I loaded up my new springs and control arms and headed south. I was very fortunate to have access to a lift, otherwise this would have been a bad experience. lol. it still took a while to do, but i ended up getting everything installed without too much hiccups. I didn't take a TON of pictures, but i figured id upload a few things just to show what i've been up to! enjoy!

So i loaded up the new parts. I planned on doing piggies and fixing one of the cv boots, but i didn't have enough time:


i didn't want to pack all my tools down, so i grabbed what i could fit into one of my spare tool boxes and headed down. My friend has every tool imaginable, but i didn't want to get caught without something important, so i brought my tools anyways


So we got it up on the lift and started pulling parts:


here is a few photos of the shop i was at. They produce some nice stuff, and i thought you might like some eye candy ;)





and we took a break for some burnouts: enjoy!



here is a quick shot of one of his other projects. The exhaust is a custom set of headers to a strait pipe back. this thing was sooooo loud i had to capture it. The video doesnt do it justice as to how loud it was:

http://s1039.photobucket.com/user/vi...dbhue.mp4.html

So i'm on a budget right now, so i ordered some lowering springs for my S4 instead of coilovers. I considered this a "just cuz" upgrade. I bought them ... 'just cuz' i was changing the control arms and the struts needed to come out, so might as well change them while im at it. I ordered the REV motoring drop springs ($170). They lowered the car about 1.5" . i did not take a FTG measurement beforehand, so i don't know exactly how much it lowered my car, but i can say this... it looks much better! They got rid of that monster truck gap in the front fender and made the car sit much better. almost with a slight rake from front to rear. here are some pictures of the install:



old coils are black, new are silver:







And this is why i was changing my control arms!






So here are the before and after pictures:

BEFORE:





and AFTER:







Just wanted to give a little check-up on my progress. The car seems to handle ok now. I know my alignment is off a little bit, but i'm buying new tires (possibly doing rims not sure yet) and i will get an alignment then. My tires are already worn down due to the control arms being so worn out so i don't think i can do tooo much more damage then has already been done (have steel belts showing on 2 tires). Thanks for taking the time to look!
Vinny

[VinnysS4]

I took her to get tires and ended up getting some wheels to go with it. I like the look. One of the tires isn't balanced correctly so I'm taking it down. Probably threw a weight on my 60 mile commute. What do you think?