hey guys, i am new in here. have few questions to ask. read a bunch of your forums, but still have few. i orgiginally leased the car, but decided to buy it out. it is in great condition, low millage. i still have a year to go on warranty from Audi. i also may want to buy extended warranty after, the question is if i chip the car what problems i may encounter with dealers? they will completely woid the warranty on engine and tranny?
i am only thinking about chipping/exhaust modification. do not want to go more then $3K-3.5K
i want to get a chip either APR or Giac (what is better?) and exhaust.
does it worth getting the full exhaust, or cat-back is enough for this simple modification? i mean the price difference is preatty big, does it worth it?
last question - i want to get a bit less body roll, i was thinking about sway bars. i do not want to go into suspension modification, since roads in NY are horrible, and car is already stiff. how much stiffer do sway bars make car?
responses are apreciated.

PS: S4Kick, u know that it is my license plate? :-) "S4KICK S"
love the car. want to get a bit more out of it.

 

Welcome to the forum alex verve!

This is a great site. We keep the dialogue friendly and the attitude positive. The info is well received by all and we are here to help anyone with the need. I hope you find it to your liking as well.

If you're not familiar with this forum, please click the START HERE!link. There you will find a forum vocab list, an Audi forum terminology list and an Audi lexicon list. They should be very helpful to you if you're not familiar with the jargon.

Please feel free to ask any question, but double check the archives first. Many questions have been archived and, quite often, the answers are comprehensive.
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These topics (your questions) have been discussed over and over again - search the archives.
In short...
The chip and cat-back will give you plenty of increased power.
You should only swap out the rear sway bar for a stiffer one or you will severely change the suspension dynamics of the car.
The warranty issue is fairly complex... yes, it could void the warranty, but it is difficult for the dealers to prove that the chip caused the damage in question. It's always a matter of context... If the turbos blow after it is chipped, the dealer might have a strong argument and you'd be out of that warranty coverage. Bear in mind that there is no policy that invalidates your entire warranty just because you did some mods.

 

what do u mean by "severely change the suspension dynamics "? what is the full effect of the front sway bar? my friend just put a full set on Infinity G35, he saith that car is not much stiffer, and has a lot less body roll. he has adjustable sway bars, and he put into middle setting (3 out of 5 being the stiffest for racing). like i said before, i want to keep original suspension, just reduce the body roll a bit, cause on some turns car does move a bit, gives a scary feeling. ofcourse going a bit too fast contributes to that too...
the reason why i asked about cat-back or full exhaust is because APR chip with cat back cost about $1550, the downpipes set cost another $1500... that it twice the money, how much more power will i get from that? i understand that if i was putting K04 turbos in, that is reqiured, but if i keep my old turbos, does it really needed?

 

You will get an increase of hp with downpipes, but, unless you are seriously tracking the car, it may be too much money for the gain - the gain is not very big.
The rear sway bar is all that you need to stiffen the system. Neuspeed makes a very popular rear that has two settings.

 

i read that u have GIAC chip, i was serching on the net for it, and their website does not have actual pricing for them. i think it is $595. where did u get yours? i live in NYC (i think u r in LI), do u know any authorized dealers who can chip this for me?
according to forums, GIAC is a better choise then APR, correct?

 

First of all, I'm not in L.I.
Secondly, AWE and PES are the closest GIAC tuner/dealers that I know on the East Coast. You will have to overnight the ecu to either of them for the work to be done.
Lastly, GIAC is a very reputable chip maker. So are APR, Neuspeed, MTM, and a few others. APR and GIAC are just talked about more often because they have a huge customer base and they have very good service with their products. Popularity is winning this race, but they are popular for a reason - they work well. APR is known for their smooth power curves in the remapping code and they were the first to add a few bells and whistles to the software (valet mode, etc.). GIAC is known for squeezing out every drop of performance in their software remapping code - they have their chips in some of the fastest cars in the U.S. right now. GIAC has recently developed some bells and whistles, too. So.... it's a tossup between the two makers. That's why most of us recommend that you go with a tuner who is cl;ose to you that is an authorized dealer of one of these two makers. You will be happier knowing that, should something ever need to be serviced, you can count on someone local handling your needs.

BTW: Yes my X-chip is GIAC and its from AWE.

The following links are for GIAC tuners:
AWE
PES

 

interesting question, what is the millege u r getting with the chip? on the stock, i get about 18 mpg, average between city and highway driving... and i like to push it a bit. how much more fuel it burns with the chip under normanl driving conditions?

 

I'm getting better than you. I average 22mpg with mostly highway driving - about 30%/70% (city/hwy).

 

question about swaybars. Neuspeed rear sway bar (or many others for S4) have few settings. on is for "sport" one is for "racing". does anyone experinced the different between the settings? what is better choice, and what are the actual results from installing the sway bar? does the handling of the car changes dramatically? understter/oversteer?
thanks.

 

Either setting will bring the car back to a more neutral steering (with a shift toward oversteer) - the car has a lot of understeer that was deliberately engineered by Audi (for safety reasons). The stiffer swaybars reduce the understeer down to practically zero. The more agressive setting would give a slight oversteer, but one that is manageable by a skilled driver.