New to B8.5

[importraceram]

Hi all,

Just picked up a 2016 Brilliant Black S4. Car is DSG, has the technology package, and peelers. I have driven it for a week and am already very eager to get more performance out of it. Coming from a B7 S4, the extra torque from the blower can be felt but want more power! Here's the kicker, its a lease... .

I have spent a decent amount of time in the B8 quarter mile thread. Seems with $2500-$3000 you can run high 11s-low 12s (intake, ECU tune, TCU tune, and pulley). That kind of performance is exactly what I'm looking for in a DD. I have google tuning leased B8/.5's but most of the threads were from several years ago, so maybe the updated versions have become more undetectable? I certainly don't want to get flagged for a TD1.

Have looked into Chipwerke because it claims to be untraceable, not to mention the cheap $ per HP gains. I know that it is highly regarded by some in this section.

Aside from performance I will be lowering (either H&R sport springs or coilovers), spacers, RS4 grille, and tint.

Curious to hear thoughts and words from the wise.

Here are a couple pics.

B7:




B8.5:

[lochs]

Welcome to the forum! Beautiful car! Im pretty interested in this post as I have also leased a B8.5 S4!
Congrats!

Sent from my SM-N915W8 using Tapatalk

[justr0]

Pay to Play buddy, you can always flash back to stock before any trip to the dealer. As long as they don't plug in your vehicle to the Audi network, you should be good. Try to stick to the same vendor for the ECU and TCU tunes. Which tuner you decide to go with is up to you!

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[GRUMPY-S4]

If you have access to E85... Stage 1 E85 is amazing!!!! And you wouldnt have to worry about pulley install and detection.

Buy beware... That was my goal when I bought the car... Now car is 6months old and 3500 miles on it... Already Stage 2 E85 with a ton of mods lol

[torinalth]

i'd pass on the chipwerke. it is cheap power and can be removed before going to the dealer but since you have DSG there is a known jerkiness with the CW use on the DSG cars. According to numerous sources the flash counter does not get taken into consideration to the TD1 process (it still matters to me though) so as long as you are flashed back to stock before taking it back to the dealer for maintenance or warranty work you should be fine. APR resets the flash counter when you go back to stock as an FYI. EPL says they CAN, but are currently not doing so. Everyone else ignores this aspect.

I'd suggest going stage 1 with TCU tune first then see if you want to mess with the pulley at a later time. Since TD1 is a concern for you, make sure you either have a flash from home option (EPL or Unitronic) or have a close shop that can do it for somewhat cheap. flashback costs can wildly range from 0 cost (super rare) to 50 per flash (fairly common) to as much as 200 each way (uncommon but not rare). the flash cables for EPL and unitronic are somewhat expensive, so you need to weigh the costs and convenience on your own.

regarding the lowering: the springs will eventually cause damage to the shock internals and make them leak. the coilovers will solve that, but if you have adjustable suspension (didnt see that in the listing) then you also need to buy KWs eliminators for the electronics system so you do not throw a cel.

happy driving.

[doug97gxe]

If you have access to E85... Stage 1 E85 is amazing!!!! And you wouldnt have to worry about pulley install and detection.

Buy beware... That was my goal when I bought the car... Now car is 6months old and 3500 miles on it... Already Stage 2 E85 with a ton of mods lol

no tech is that bored to put the car in service position to measure the size of the stage 2 pulley to notice its smaller than stock

[GRUMPY-S4]

no tech is that bored to put the car in service position to measure the size of the stage 2 pulley to notice its smaller than stock

Agreed... And thats why I did it... Likewise noone will ever notice my fuel pump...

But in his case its a lease... So maybe he wants to minimize the extra parts.

I honestly will say that the difference between Stage 1 E85 and Stage 2 pump isnt that noticeable to the butt dyno... It is noticeable on the wallet though.

[silverf0x]

Same position as you, my 2015 has 3k miles on it and, after alot of research and internal debate, I went with Stage 2+ from Unitronic with UniConnect. Allows you to reflash at home and, as stated before, the pulley change is un-noticeable unless they measure it.. so I'm not too worry. I was also told that most dealer will not make a big deal out of intakes and exhausts.. but then again, once Stage 2.. the very few performance gains from those are not really noticeable.. they are basically only "ear pleasure" mods..

Went also with H&R sports. I was unsure between these and OE since I have a kid and this is a DD.. but so far, even with 19" the confort is 99% comparable with stock. The girlfriend didn't even noticed..

For reference, I'm in Canada.

[importraceram]

So I've had the car for a month now. I've enjoyed it but must say I miss the third pedal and the straight piped V8 in my B7. Which leads me to this...time to mod. I'm torn between performance or aesthetics first. I'm leaning towards performance first to really justify the purchase. The B7, while fun to drive, wasn't very quick as you all know. I'm thinking going EPL stage 2 w/ CTS intake will help me forget about the third pedal and screaming V8 that I was accustomed to. If I go the aesthetic route I would likely be looking 19x9.5 or 10, lowering, and RS replica grille.

Pretty sure my mind is made up on going to performance route especially after getting what seems like a very good price on an EPL package. Curious to here insight or thoughts regarding the mod situation and/or the switch from manual to DSG.

[torinalth]

I wouldn't have gone DSG, just for the reason you said. But since that is already done, you might want to take a hybrid approach. go stage 1 with TCU tune, RS grille, and a nice set of wheels (19x9.5 et45 seem to be one of the best options for looks and fitment, personally am a fan of VMR). This'll get you a good start with power and looks. From there consider intake a stage 2 for power, bilsteins and springs for looks. finish up with splitter and diffuser for looks and maybe exhaust. essentially anything can be rotated to wherever you want, but for me stage 1 and TCU (for the DSG guys) and wheels with a grille is the best overall shock factor in both categories while still giving room to grow.