Where to start
 

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I have a 04 A6 S-line. I have no idea where to start. I would like to give the car more hp and better gas milage. I have looked for performance parts but cant ever find any. Are there any cold air intakes for the car? What about exhaust? I took it to a muffler shop and the guys there said they couldnt do anything. If anybody could help with any ideas that would be great. I'm not a big car guy, I can change breaks tires tie rods bearings and stuff but when it comes to ecu's and piggies and db's I have no idea what is being talked about.

your best bet for performance would be to have a tune or chip. apr does a ecu tune for 500 which pumps up the horses to 320 and torque to almost 400.

cold air intakes arent worth a darn in this car. dont get any either because the fluid used to clean the filter contains oil that get stuck to the MAF which makes the car transmison act wonky.

best exhaust you can do is piggies which basically removes the filters from the cats which makes the turbos spool faster without the restriction of the filters. but if your state has inspections or emissions you will probably not pass them unless you get the CAT code P0420 and some other one coded out of the ECU or use spacers.

also im not sure if local muffler shops will do this job because messing around with catalytic conveter is a felony because of federal emissions laws. you might have to DIY.

I read somewhere that the chips have to be unsoldered and the new ones had to be reprogrammed. Is that true? What brands of chips are good?

im not too sure about the soldering question. On apr's website i read that you have to take the car to an APR registered store and they do everything for you for the 500 dollars.

as for the chips there are bunch of threads out there that can answer that better than i can. Do keep in mind that when you chip you are putting extra strain on the transmission. especially the automatic. the tranny goes from handling your 280ft-lbs to 400ftlbs. you may want to start saving for a new torque converter just to be safe. also you should get the audi TT diverter valves (710n theyre called. 40 a piece)

Do you know how to find an apr registered store? I live in a small town.

It should be on aprs website