Chips

Could be many reasons, but certainly causing a engine to put out significantly more power than as shipped by the manufacturer raises the possibility of some engine components failing earlier/more often than they would have.

I've yet to chip my S4. No particular reason, I guess I'm just satisfied with the stock performance. But as I understand it, the chips raise the turbo pressure and remap the fuel management to accommodate the increased boost. They also, I believe, raise the engine rpm limit.

So it's not hard to see where the performance increases are coming from. The acne and women things are, however, not resolved with a chip ;-)

/daytripper '00 s4 6spd

It would help to know what engine / transmission you have to make any comments.

If you have a non-turbo the chips will have only minor effect.

If turbo the chips can be anywhere from putting a smile on your face to a real impact. But just like with any performance mod there are trade-offs. High performance chips require other changes like higher capacity injectors, upgraded turbos ... all which come with their associated reliability issues. Performance costs money and high performance costa a lot more money.

I have an '04 A4 1.8 TQ6M and have chipped with a stage 1 APR (91 and 93 octane programs) which increases the performance very noticeably and seems to be a good trade-off of performance and reliability for my purposes. No other mods. Cost a bit over $600.

What ever chip you consider will probably operate somewhat leaner than the stock program. The factory program is a bit richer than needed over the fuel / air map than is needed to be conservative and minimize the risk of warranty repairs. I do a lot of highway driving and the leaner map results in better mileage. On a 1,500 mile trip several weeks ago I got 34.5 to 35.5 mpg on all tanks calculated and computed on the display. This is partially due to the six speed being geared over 1:1 in top gear.

YMMV

I also had an APR stage 1 in my former '98 1.8 TQM with similar results but mileage was about 29 to 30 on the highway.

I haven't had any reliability issues with either car but the Stage 1 chips are fairly conservative and don't stress the engine much with max boost at about 17 PSA and sustained at about 14 or 15 compared to the stock boost max at about 10 PSI and sustained at 7 PSI.

With a turbo engine, go for it.

On Wed, 29 Aug 2007 17:09:22 -0600, against all advice, something compelled Tony , to say:

I don't have one yet, but I'm leaning towards a TT coupe, 2004 or newer, with the 225 engine.

I don't have a need for street racer performance, but if I could get another 25 HP for five hundred bucks and no other mods, I'd probably go for it.

Thank you.

Audi and all manufacturers balance reliability and consistency of EPA results vs. performance every engine and car is slightly different. One of the goals is to ensure that every car can gets out of manufacturing sucessfully meeting EPA and reliability standards. reworking cars is a not good engineering and costly to profits.

performance benefits can be dramatic, again varies a bit car to car, and other parts like transmissions, clutches, turbos, injectors, cams can be affected if mods are pushed to the limits.

i met a 911 turbo owner who had chipped his turbo and blown 2 tranmissions ....(;

Yeah, but imagine the fun he had doing that :-)

I've got an APR on a 03' 225 TT. The gain isn't very noticeable to me. I think its partially because its a quatro and I can't make the wheels burnout from a rolling first gear... like on my '01 1.8T Jetta. I've also added an APR intercooler and for a month had the 3" APR full exhaust, those did add a lot more juice but the intercooler and exhaust are pretty pricey.

BTW, if anybody is interested, my exhaust is now for sale. I've got pictures and info at

However, if you want a really fast car, I understand you won't be able to get to far unless you use a 3" exhaust. I was hoping to get a larger turbo but the larger exhaust was too much noise for me so I guess I'm kind of at the limit of what I can do.

- Miguel

Another reason; In Norway - a chipped engine from ex 150 to 200 hp, would cost about 10.000$ ... extra tax.

With a speed limit of max 100km/t (62 mph), quite a few would prefer the same car with less power ...

I have recently sold my re-mapped Fiat Stilo deisel and bought and Audi A4 deisel which I am intending to get re-mapped.

The effect on the re-map was quite noticable and for =A3250 was well worth it. The map was to inc the power from 115 to 155 bhp and a similar increase in torque. 0-60 time was cut, I never tested it properly but I would estimate it dropped from 10.6 (manufacturers figs) to around 9 secs. Other owners who tested similar cars got

8=2E5-9secs. The extra torque made a lot of difference in gear improving pickup between the gears noticably. Driving around a tight bend on a steep dry road in yourshire, I booted it and the extra torque caused the traction control to kick in, something that never happened before.

There was also a noticable increase in economy, possible as high as 5% most notciable on long motorway cruises fully loaded (i.e I wasn't booting the car). The only downside was a noticable increase in smoke under heavy acceleration. That said it passed the stringent annual MOT emmissions test every year.

I ran the car for 40k miles after the re-map with no problems at all though I never really took the car to it's limits.

I've never heard anyone regret having a professional re-map, you do have to expect extra wear and tear on clutch and tyres though.

Mike

The 'P' Philosophy is to race it & break it and then build it better!

My buddy who designs some turbo systems creates collectors right behind the turbo and places the high flow cats further down the exhaust. I have to drive one of his monsters one day! lol He wants me to modify my newly acquired '97 Audi 1.8tq auto.

Good info, Tony. I have the same car as you - is yours Dolphin Grey by any chance? ;-) - and have been awaiting the imminent arrival of the end of my warranty (less than 1,000 miles away) to do this....... Is the APR an actual chip, or do they just reflash the ECU? I have heard of one manufacturer (can't remember who it was) that gives a 30-day trial on their 'chip'. I assume they reflash the ECU with some sort of timer that resets it after 30 days.

What is the actual horsepower/torque bump with the APR? I would be very happy with 200 hp...

Dan D '04 A4 1.8Tq MT-6 Central NJ USA

Most of the chip people, GIAC, APR, and I think Revo might, offer a 30 day money back deal. APR also has a short demo you can do, but that's silly when you can get a 30 day demo :-P

APR is just a flash, you can switch between stock and other fuel maps (93,100,etc) with the cruise control stick.

GIAC is also a flash, but you switch programs with a flashloader.

Both of those you have to pay extra to support stock and a sporty mode. I have APR 93 octane, stock, and security lockout on my 06 A4 2.0T Quattro.

GIAC doesn't need a securtiy lockout because you can't switch programs w/o a hardware device they call the flashloader (again, costs more $$).

I don't know too much about Revo, so I'll just not say anything about them.

I loved my A4, and when I chipped it, I fell in love with it all over again. It is a whole new car. The APR has a nice smooth power increase across the board.

-Russell

Mine is the lighter blue (I think it is called denim). It also has the sport suspension and '17 wheels that seem to go with that.

I think you have the option of sending in your ECU for a different chip or having it flashed as a local APR dealer. I chose to have mine flashed.

The timed demo is real. In fact I have heard that the demo is effective for only 24 hours or so.

With APR you will have the option of two programs. I chose 91 and 93 octane. I could have chosed one of these and the stock one. I think they have a 95 octane program for track use but that is probably not useful unless other mods ar done in addition to the software.

The programs can be selected by a combination of switching the key and holding buttons ( I have it written down in the car).

I like APR but you may want so consider others that may have dealers more local to your location.

I've been soldering and flashing GIAC software into vehicles for years. I've yet to see anything fail due to the chip as of yet.

S4 chipped.. you will be glad you did it. Trust me it is *very* noticeble in that car.

I just had my recently purchased 03 A4 1.8T flashed with the Neuspeed Optican flash. Its a tiny bit choppy but wow...it's like an entirely different car. Does anyone have experience with this flash? I'm wondering if there's anything else simple I might consider to augment the yumminess of the tuning: pullies, injectors, pipes (quiet ones), cold air intake? I don;t want to go as far as a K04 or anything...just want to support the chipping. I'm in Ontario Canada where the emissions criteria are certainly not as stringent as they are in California.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

- J

I have an '04 1.8 TQ6M with the APR stage 1 chip 91 and 93 octane. It works very well for me and I have stopped at that.

If you are interested in pushing further the steps you mentioned are the right ones. You may want to check on of the forums that are more oriented to performance tuning such as AudiWorld Or AudiZone. Either have posters with a lot of knowledge and willingnes to share the information. The AW B6 forum:

will also find a list of other AW forums one of which will be devoted to tuning.

Generally, the injectors are probably the best next step. Most people move to the TT injectors that flow more to meet stage 1 + needs.

A cat back free flowing system is a good compliment to the SW and injectors but there are a lot of choices and as many opinions.

Most everyone will tell you to skip on the cold air intake. The stock system is well engineered to be able to handle far more power. Most after-market intakes actually reduce performance in exchange for a bit of bling.

I would suggest talking to Neuspeed to get their thoughts on the 'choppy' issue and at the same time ask their suggestions for additional steps that seem to work well with their software.

Have fun.

Thanks for the information Tony. I took a nice long road trip to Quebec from Toronto and it handled like a dream. I will look into these other threads and forums.

- Justin

New to the Audi but not the VW arena. I just picked up a 2006 A4 avant s-line and am trying to figure out if it has had a chip upgrade. It behaves very similar to my '02 337 GTI which had a GIAC 91 octane program. I bought it used from a dealership and the vehicle was an ex-Quebec car lease return, so they would know nothing about it. Can anyone tell me if there is a way to see if the chip has been upgraded. I have an OBD2 reader but doubt that will tell me anything.

I doubt if someone would leave their chip in it! But you never know! lol I have worked on a Passat with a chip in it and the owner was selling it with the chip still in it. ;-)