S4 Mod Thread

**awdconnor** · 03-06-2022 07:13 PM

Originally Posted by Mops@Nemesis

Mops on the Move

My paint cracked right there from rubbing lmao. Pay to play

**will13k7** · 03-13-2022 02:06 PM

low low

**will13k7** · 03-15-2022 08:37 PM

I have been wondering why the 034 rotors make a slight whirling sound and stumbled upon this:

“The only potential drawback to a J-Hook rotor is that the passing of the J-Hook design through the pad can cause a light whirring sound that some customers might find to add character to the vehicle and braking system while some customers might find to be a bit distracting.”

http://apradical.stillen.com/brake-t...k-brake-rotors

“Adds Character”, lol, it sounds more like something is wrong with the car to be honest. It’s loud enough for passengers to ask about it or someone to hear as you pass them by at low speed. It’s not horrible, just would be nicer without.

**Trentimus** · 03-15-2022 09:18 PM

Originally Posted by will13k7

I have been wondering why the 034 rotors make a slight whirling sound and stumbled upon this:

“The only potential drawback to a J-Hook rotor is that the passing of the J-Hook design through the pad can cause a light whirring sound that some customers might find to add character to the vehicle and braking system while some customers might find to be a bit distracting.”

http://apradical.stillen.com/brake-t...k-brake-rotors

“Adds Character”, lol, it sounds more like something is wrong with the car to be honest. It’s loud enough for passengers to ask about it or someone to hear as you pass them by at low speed. It’s not horrible, just would be nicer without.

For the price they shouldn’t make any noise 🤣

**will13k7** · 03-21-2022 09:36 AM

With the car moving in the right direction again, it's time to dial it in further and address some annoyances.

The front driver's side is a squeaky mess right now, started out occasionally making noise on bigger bumps in the road, but now is nearly constant. The spherical bearing endlinks are great, but need replaced too often, 034 sells these under the "Motorsport" name alluding to refreshing them every season. All the aftermarket offerings were spherical at the time I got endlinks, but since 034 has created a middle-of-the-road offering, the "Dynamic+" offering with stiffer rubber than oem. I'm replacing the front and rear spherical endlinks with these, and I'm super curious if I'll even notice the difference in handling.

As mentioned previously, the exhaust piping rubs against the steering column once in a while, usually when taking a quick corner, but sometimes when the car is cold too. There's not much space to work with so I'm going to create more space using 034's X-Clear Driveshaft tunnel brace and see if I can get the exhaust forced into a better location with the extra space.

hopefully I can get this car to a quieter state without loosing too much in performance. It's a tough compromise, when I drive my wife's stock b9.5 s4, it is super refined, quiet, and compliant, but it's so boring to drive. A stage1 tune with coilovers and antisway bars makes this car so much fun. I'm trying to find a better balance between the two.

**will13k7** · 03-23-2022 03:29 PM

Originally Posted by Mops@Nemesis

If you pull that fastener you’ll be rub free

This worked along with the front's sitting about 320mm center-axle to fender, no more rubbing. Thanks again for the tip!

**will13k7** · 03-23-2022 05:54 PM

Dynamic+ Rear sway bar end links arrived. Front's are in transit.

**will13k7** · 03-23-2022 06:12 PM

Driveshaft Tunnel Brace, this thing’s beefy.

**will13k7** · 03-24-2022 12:52 PM

… and the Dynamic+ Front sway bar end links arrived.

**will13k7** · 03-28-2022 06:01 PM

These endlinks do feel slightly squishier and reduced road noise a little bit. A little better for how I use this car.

**Trentimus** · 03-28-2022 06:52 PM

Anyone ever try end links on a stock bar?

**will13k7** · 03-28-2022 07:08 PM

Originally Posted by Trentimus

Anyone ever try end links on a stock bar?

That's definitely a thing. It gets a little more out of the oem bars. I did that for the front of my 8v s3, while the rear got a stiffer bar and end links.

**will13k7** · 03-29-2022 03:35 PM

Up on the ramps to re-grease the front sway bar polyurethane bushings. Seemed to help reduce the loudness of the squeaking, but not completely squeak free yet. I pumped in grease until what came out the sides looked new. Maybe it needs to work its way in? I ordered some new bushings just in case.

**will13k7** · 03-29-2022 08:12 PM

A local shop adjusted the ride-height, I asked them to level the car, matching the front, they said they made it 25 inches fender-to-ground all around by lowering just the right-rear "1/8 of an inch", I guess it had a few turns left, they said it can't go any lower in the rear now.

I'm not sure if their shop floor was level or not, or they just quickly measured "about 25 inches", but it still looks off visually for me. I'm a little OCD about the ride height, but it does look very close.

I measured it in my garage again, the measurements with the car pulled-in or backed-in were the same, so my garage floor is level enough not to throw off the measurements and I got good at reproducing the exact measurements, splitting the wheel in half, keeping the measuring tape plumb. For the fender to center-hub/axle (FTC) measurement, I used the "pro" method of measuring the wheel diameter (520mm), measuring from the bottom of the wheel to the fender, then subtracting the radius (260mm), so I don't need to try and start perfectly in the middle of the hub, which is hard, especially with the Audi logo in all kinds of positions. For fender to ground (FTG), the usual method was used: keeping the measuring tape plumb and centered on the wheel.

The Front Left and Right was actually 25 inches exactly. The rear was off a little with the FTG, but much more off with the FTC, which focuses more on the fender gap versus how level the car is. The rear fender gap is slightly smaller when the car is level, the typical Audi reverse rake from factory. If you are adjusting the height for looks versus for the track (you would get it corner balanced with different heights at each corner potentially for the track), then the lesson here is use FTC and not FTG.

Where it sits now:

Front Left (Driver's Side)
FTG: 635mm (25 inches)
FTC: 321mm

Front Right (Passenger's Side)
FTG: 635mm (25 inches)
FTC: 321mm

Rear Left (Driver's Side)
FTG: 632mm (3mm lower than front)
FTC: 316mm (5mm less fender gap than front)

Rear Right (Passenger's Side)
FTG: 634mm (1mm lower than front)
FTC: 318mm (3mm less fender gap than front)

Anyways, I'm going to adjust it once more, and I'm going to go for 318mm FTC all around since I have no rubbing with 321mm up front, and I think I can push it a little lower. This will put the car 7-8mm lower than when it had PSS10's at their lowest. I can already appreciate the height different, it's going to be dope (imho at least!).

**will13k7** · 03-31-2022 02:41 PM

Got some pictures of the rear endlinks installed while I gave adjusting the rear ride height another go without removing the rear spring and perch. That was a failure, I tried getting a 10mm hex and Allen wrench in the middle of the spring to hold the perch from the inside, but there just wasn’t enough space and when I got creative and made a combination of tools fit, I just couldn’t get the needed leverage to hold the perch in place while I tried to spin the collar. Oh well, a downside to the KWv3 rear spring perch design. Luckily one rear side is perfect and I can adjust the fronts easily, so I’ll see if I can get a shop just to focus on just getting one corner to match the others perfectly, probably the custom alignment shop, they don’t seem to mind dialing in things for picky customers.

**will13k7** · 04-10-2022 04:43 PM

Greasing up the front sway bar bushings helped to remove some of the squeaking, but the front left still squeaks on larger bumps. I’m going to try out 034’s rebuild kit, probably just replacing the squeaking bushing, unless I have to unbolt both sides, then I’ll just replace both. I got the rear rebuild kit just in case I’ll need it later. I’m on a mission to quiet this suspension!

**will13k7** · 06-09-2022 08:10 PM

I haven't done much with this car lately, it drives nice and the polyurethane bushing squeaks don't bother me that much, but mostly I just fixed a bunch of suspension stuff on my s3, including alignment, and needed a break from the regular shop visits while trying to work. The S3 is dialed in now, so back to the s4.

I ended up getting 034's stage2 tcu tune, and wow, that is a fast and firm shift. So much so the oem transmission mount feels a bit rubbery now, so I also got ahold of 034's transmission mount insert.

Need to install the insert, the new front sway bar bushings, lower the front a smidge, and have a shop raise the driver's rear side a smidge, then get an alignment.

The KWv3 coilovers are awesome. I have only had bilstein coilovers before, which I still think are really good, but the KWv3s seems to absorb small road imperfections without any disturbance to the car, while the bilstein will cause the chassis to move, though in a very controlled, smooth, and quick fashion. Both are fun, but the v3's have a slight edge there.

**will13k7** · 08-06-2022 07:14 PM

Dropped the front 6mm today. It’s 315mm fender to center hub and still doesn’t rub. At the limit for my low-profile jack and pinch-weld jack-pad though, barely can wiggle it under the car now.

**will13k7** · 08-08-2022 07:09 PM

Installed the trans mount insert, new bolts, blue loctite, torqued to spec. Such a quick and easy install which takes slop out of shifts and launches. A noticeable difference with the stage2 tcu tune. No new nvh detected either.

**will13k7** · 08-08-2022 07:21 PM

Went after excessive sway-bar polyurethane bushing squeaks. Before, after about 5 minutes of driving, it was squeaking a lot at non-highway speeds. I replaced just the front driver’s side bushing, where the noise seemed to come from, greased every surface of the bushing and inside the bracket. Nearly all the squeaking is gone, still some mild squeaking going over speed bumps and driveway entrances, but not while cruising down the street at 40mph anymore!

Old bushing is on the bottom, was so noisy.

**SHCKR** · 08-09-2022 06:16 PM

Originally Posted by will13k7

Went after excessive sway-bar polyurethane bushing squeaks. Before, after about 5 minutes of driving, it was squeaking a lot at non-highway speeds. I replaced just the front driver’s side bushing, where the noise seemed to come from, greased every surface of the bushing and inside the bracket. Nearly all the squeaking is gone, still some mild squeaking going over speed bumps and driveway entrances, but not while cruising down the street at 40mph anymore!

Old bushing is on the bottom, was so noisy.

I should probably check mine...

**will13k7** · 08-12-2022 01:50 PM

New pads, I have these iSweep’s on my s3 and they are perfect for my uses. I even intentionally over-did it on the s3 to see how they stand up to abuse, they were smoking but the pedal was still firm, and no noise.

The ones on the s4 now (posiquiet) can’t deal with the stage1 tune and start to glaze and make noise after just a few short pulls. I had those on a stage2 b8 s4 before, it came with a stop tech kit, and they were decent on that car, so I tried them on the b9, which was fine until I went stage1.