a4 mods most bang 4 the buck?

chip

Chip.

Cheers,

Pete

WAIT!

Which model A4 is it?

If you have the 1.8T then yea - chip all the way...

But if you have the non turbo 3.0 6, then the chip isnt that great. At most it gives you a little better throttle response...

On the 3.0L it might be after market exhaust, or better suspension.

Good luck,

Adam

Unless you already have at least three under your belt, driver schools.

Audi Club NA offers good ones, although I personally think the BMW CCA club schools are better in some subtle ways. Shop around.

-- C.R. Krieger ACNA, BMW CCA instructor

hey mr. geiger oh sorry he's the guy that designed the "alien" , kreiger, r u implying that i have less than adequet driving skills? correct me if im taking your post as an insult. but the post is a question of modifications of the car, not the driver. and 4 your information im 30 and have been driving since i was 14. my first sports cars were irocs and 5.0 mustangs then a 86 corvette. as i became older and a bit wiser i came to the realization that american cars for the most part are junk. this can be argued and flamed but im sure you agree the japs and germans have got it over us yankees when it comes to auto engineering. i then had a stock 90

300zx naturally aspirated 5spd and regulary beat 5 liter mustangs of the same year/s. im not saying im a mario andretti or anything but i can hold my own. not saying that a good driving school would not be beneficial but that brings us again to the post. my next cars were bmws, (am i redeemed?) 92 325, 94 325, and finally a 95 m3 which i can say was overall the best pure sport car i've ever owned, the 300z a close second. i had mainly bolt on mods, dinan air intake, strut brace, came across a larger maf from a 7 series which i adapted with the help of some plumbing supplys from lowes, yes im a good fabricator. and a turner chip. estorial blue black gut beautiful car, r-title unfortunatly but that didn't bother me. but unfortunatly i live in northeast pa and we have some nasty winters and with limited cash available a second winter car was not possible. so i traded it in on a 99 a4 1.8t quattro tiptronic auto. which i can honestly say is the best combination of sport and practicality i have ever owned. its winter here now and im running bridgestone blizzacks on the stock rims and i can go up steeper hills than some suvs! it dosen't have the raw power and handling of the m3 but i still love the car, i just want to add a little more pep and stiffen up the suspension a bit. i admit i am a newbie to audis and a turbocharged car in particular but im learning. i had to have the frame pulled on the m3 and it needed a door and a quarter, so i stripped the car down to a shell almost and put it back together including the entire interior, glass, driveshaft exhaust and fuel tank. gimme an old 3 series in a box of parts and i can put it back together with my eyes closed. i just had the unfortunate experience of a hit and run while the car was parked, i ended up replacing the rear passenger door, it could have been repaired but i got a complete door for $350 in the same color of the car so i just bolted it on. this was my first endevor into taking apart the interior it was necessary to gain access to the bolts which secure the door to the pillar. after making some shims and splicing the vacume line for the lock i got it back together and looks like nothing ever happened. the bmw's were definately more user friendly and easier to dissasemble but getting back to the subject i've decided on a bypass valve, cold air intake, and i guess from what im hearing "chip" but from what i've heard it is not more less a chip replacement but removing the ecu and sending it out to be reprogrammed, correct me if im wrong. so there you have it. p.s. mr krieger i have a lot of spare bmw parts laying around, 2 mafs in particular a quite expensive part from the dealer. let me know if your interested or maybe we could trade for a few driving lessons?? cheers....

"C.R. Krieger" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com...

news:...

You may have "adequet" driving skills, but your writing skills can improve a bit ;-)

My experience on a '98 A4 1.8TQ.

Difference is really obvious if you do the following:

1.- Get a reputable chip - or if you get a repro make sure you keep the stock program in a safe location. 2.- Stay away from replacing your stock DV valve - unless defective. I compared stock to 710N and stock provides way more boost in my car - now apparently this is different with the latest 1.8Ts. 3.- Get a J N75 - big improvement on smoothness and strength of boost delivery - no more hesitation when flooring in 5th gear at 2,000 rpm..

Before I had those mods done I felt ashamed of my 1.8T low performance. Now the car feels decent.

If I wanted bigger gains, I'd go the K03 sport turbo route, maybe K04 and reprogramming. Of course, you can get nearly as many HP as your wallet wishes for with this engine.

As far as brakes, a few kind people here suggested using the A8's OEM rotors, which I'm considering when I have to change mine, especially as they'll probably be cheaper and better than many combinations.

My two cents.

JP Roberts

"dave smith" escribió en el mensaje news: snipped-for-privacy@adelphia.com...

It's 'Krieger' (German) and no, I'm not implying your skills are less than adequate. I'm suggesting that they might be less than *optimum*. As an enthusiast and club instructor, I firmly believe that no one should be modifying any car one normally drives unless and until one can demonstrate the skill to safely and reliably exceed the car's limits. Sure; you can probably safely handle more acceleration, but what happens when you gotta *turn*?

I'm sure you are. A lot of guys have been insulted. At the same time, a few have taken my advice. Ask *them* if they're still insulted. A few have proven to already have the background I suggest and they fully understand why I suggest it.

Understood. However, you wanted the "most bang 4 the buck". That's driver school. Everybody who's been through at least one knows why. Among other things, long after the A4 is gone, you'll still have the knowledge and skills you acquired while driving it.

I was 37 when I finally got into my first school and it was a total revelation. You know how some Christians get 'born again'? That's what a good driver school will do for a 'good' driver. You'll suddenly realize how lousy you were up to that time; how many things you could do better; how many things you're just flat out doing wrong.

Yeah; and I drove old Hemis, Chrysler 300 letter cars, and assorted other Mopar B Blocks followed by years of Toyotas, Audi Quattros, and BMWs. *What* you drive has no bearing on *how well* you drive it. I've told the story of 'The Corvette Brothers' here in Usenet before. A couple of 'Vette club members who'd gotten a pretty good reputation among their peers (who apparently didn't place a lot of emphasis on

*education*) and who came to a BMW (Audi?) club school at Blackhawk Farms Raceway in Illinois where I was helping out. I got assigned to the one with the '72 454 5-speed. He was absolutely clueless about how to get around a race track in that car. It took quite awhile to get through to him, but we finally did. I hear he's improved a lot since.

Mario isn't known for drag racing. He *is* known for getting bunted off the Esses at Mid Ohio by Bobby Rahal in an IROC race Mario was

*sure* he was going to win - at least up until overconfidence, a slightly 'open' line, and a driver who knew that track well got the better of him.

After you can *drive* them, sure.

Had you known and listened to some of the people I know, you might not have bothered with the intake mods before seeing that the head can flow more. You can slap all kinds of expensive or low-cost fabricated stuff on the *outside* of a BMW engine without having much effect. As for the strut brace, well, you're new here. You haven't seen my lengthy exchanges with the guys who were absolutely convinced that, because they'd spent all that money on a shiny accessory, it *had to* make a difference in the car's handling. No one has yet shared any data from instrumented tests showing *how*, although I've asked frequently. Not that they're useless; but you have to have skills like Hans Stück to realize the benefits.

Not quite as nasty as the lake effect snows in northeast Ohio where I grew up.

The very first thing to stiffen up the suspension would be 'dump the Blizzaks'. I've been there. The biggest influence on your suspension will be tires, not springs, shocks, antiroll bars, or strut braces. It's why there haven't been Blizzaks on *any* of my cars in several years. This is the stuff you'd already know from a good driver school.

I'm wondering about the theoretical effect of a cold air intake for air that's going to get passed through a *hot* exhaust-driven turbo and then ... doesn't the A4 have an intercooler? If you knew more about physics and chemistry than about auto parts, you'd be wondering, too.

So do I, but nothing as new as an E36; and your MAFs won't do much good on a 3.5l E28.

If you have a matched pair of Webers for my 3.0 Bavaria, I'd talk trade. Otherwise, like everyone else, you gotta pay for it. In your location, you have two of the best tracks you can find for schools: Watkins Glen and Lime Rock. I've driven both and enjoyed them immensely. So should you.

-- C.R. Krieger (Been there; done that)

TBH what you are saying only really applies to OFF ROAD use, for standard driving you should never need, or be driving on the limits anyway.

A chip will increase throttle response, reduce turbo lag, and improve the

0 -60 a bit, if he asked how can I take my car faster in the bends then your post would have been relevant, I think TOP GEAR in the uk summed up driving Audi's very well, a quattro vs a BWM M3 which was rwd was laughable watching the guy driving it round the track, the Audi driver had his stereo on listening to classical music while the BWM guy was back ending it everyhwere doing power slides into corners and the times were equal. The reason you buy quattro is that it can make a bad driver good and a good driver better, but I doubt you can teach someone whos been driving 10yrs anything "amazing" that he can use on the road.

The M3 on the other hand is a different ball game, and it takes skill to drive one, and balls of steel to drive it fast, this would be a great car to have an instructor to teach you.

Ron

Mr. Kreiger, and buy the way I am almost 95% German myself. I admit that your knowledge of autos and driving are far above mine. I also apologize if my post was insulting in any way to you. I agree with you that everyone can benefit from learning some good driving skills, and if we were ever to meet i'm sure you could teach me a thing or two about driving. I do not want to argue with you or anyone else, like I said I am a newbie when it comes to Audis and by posting I am attempting to improve my knowledge of the car and mods, not to be flamed. And for the person who commented on my "writing skills" I graduated with high honors from my high school, and attended the University of Scranton. The post was written quickly and I used unorthodox abbreviations, R ,U, etc to get the point across quickly. Can you figure out this abbreviation, GFY. Getting back to C.R. "*What* you drive has no bearing on *how well* you drive it." I agree with you, I was just giving a bit of background info on myself. I forgot to include the many sport bikes I have also owned, so im no newbie to mind blowing accelleration. In addition to the A4 currently my two wheeled baby is a 95 Honda 900RR. Now as for the blizzacks they are by far the best snow tire available, I do not care what any one thinks thats the truth. And, I'm not a complete idiot I am well aware that you are not going to get any type of handling or conering from snow tires on stock rims, but like I said it's winter time and they are necessary. When the weather breaks I plan on getting a slightly larger rim than stock and a good set of performance rubbers. I'm not trying to make the A4 into a 10 sec car, I just want a little gain in acceleration while keeping the inherent reliability and smooth ride of the A4, I just miss the raw power of the M3. As for driving the car to it's limits, you are right I dont know them, but pushing a any car to or beyond it's limits on public roads is not only dangerous but foolish. This area has an abundance of ignorant young punks that have seen the Fast and The furious one too many times. They go out and pick up a Honda Civic and then run up to Pep Boys as fast as they can and buy those big ugly aluminum wings, bolt them onto the trunk, then cut off the muffler and put on the largest diameter exhaust tip they can get and drive around like Vin Diesel ha ha.. I regulary whipped them with the old M3, and I still do with my little stock A4, maybe its the window tint that makes them target me, who knows. But I toy with them till i prove my point and then let them fly off like idiots to most likely wreck around the next corner or two. As for my M3 mods, The Dinan intake was free from my buddy at active foreign auto parts, for screwing up my order, the large maf was "donated" from a vandalized 7 series at my buddy's garage which came from New York, some drug dealers car which was in limbo for months. and the strut brace was a cheap but quite durable model from cosom racing. The Turner chip was the only expensive mod, and although you can disagree I did see a noticable performance gain from the maf/chip/intake upgrade. But for most applications the car in its stock state was by far fast enough. Im looking for some mods to gain some straight line accelleration. So again in your opinion what mods would be affective for achieving this? And I am considering driving school. please send me some info on your school if you wish, snipped-for-privacy@adelphia.net . I have been humbled by your post and if I were a k9 I would be walking with my tail between wy legs ha ha. "Forgive me Father, I am a worm....." Kurgan, Highlander 1. When money premits it I plan to aquire a 94 or up 540 stick. As for the Webbers, let me check my spare parts box in the closet, you may be suprised what I have in there. Thanks, Dave

"C.R. Krieger" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com...

news:...

Yeah; well, it happens in the best of families ... and you're still using the English spelling. Remember: 'I' before 'E', etc.

I appreciate that, but I'm not looking for humility or admissions. I'm trying to get *you* as pumped up about this as I have been for some 20 years now. I'm a driving enthusiast and I would *love* it if everyone *did* know as much as my Audi/BMW/SCCA friends and I do about driving and vehicle dynamics. I don't want to be superior in any way; I'd rather be *average* in a much larger group of enthusiasts, as I am in these clubs.

No offense taken. I've been insulted by some true masters of the art.

So go out and find the resources to learn. I'll be just as pleased if you're good enough to show *me* a thing or two when you finally get out here to the 'Great White North' of Road America.

This isn't even in the neighborhood of an argument by Usenet standards. And, until the words 'moron' and 'idiot' crop up more than once or twice in my posts, it's not only not a flame, it's not even warm. If all you got was "use this chip" - "buy it here" answers, this place would be too boring for anyone to bother hanging out, so I not only sell my philosophical approach, I try to make things interesting.

None of us is above asking about weird usages, but as someone who makes a living with the written word, I'll at least ask you to try to learn how to:

1. Break your posts into paragraphs. Big blocks of uninterrupted text are boring and difficult to read, especially if the capitalization and punctuation is somewhat neglected (yours is). White space is your

*friend*.

1. Trim out the extra stuff from previous posts you're leaving at the bottom. Just block it with your mouse and delete it. Better yet, interleave your replies by moving your cursor to where you want to respond and typing the response, like I'm doing. Delete as much extra stuff as you can.

2. Get used to ignoring a lot of abuse. We all dish it out. If you can't take it or ignore it, you'll have to leave or 'lurk' (reading without writing).

And I ride a '95 Shadow VLX because I'd rather *look good* on two wheels than be a blur (that has to stop every 50 miles/15 minutes because my ass hurts and my knees are cramped). My/our standard instructor spiel about going fast at Road America, as the novice students drool over the stupendously long straights leading to Turns One (over the crest of an uphill) and Five (*downhill*!) is, "A well-trained chimpanzee could go as fast as you in a straight line. You've gotta *turn* at the end." I've seen instrumented graphs showing that my cornering speeds in my old 110-hp 4000 Quattro with street tires on stock wheels were faster than a guy in a 350-hp Sport Quattro on race tires that could pull 145 mph (compared to my ~112 - on a downhill - with the wind at my back) on the straights. In the same car, I kept up with a pair of students' Mitsubishi 3000GT twin turbos through RA's twisty sections from Turn 5-14 and then watched them disappear uphill as my tach went retrograde. So who's the 'faster' driver?

Well, I set you up here, and there are a few regular readers who know this. The Blizzaks are a real step up from *regular* snow tires, but they're not the be-all and end-all of winter tires. A short drive in my wife's AWD Jaguar X-Type on its Dunlop Winter M3s would convince you instantly. I've been through 3 or 4 sets of better winter

*performance* tires since I decided that Blizzaks were too squishy for my taste. Pirelli, Michelin, Nokian, and Yokohama all make winter tires that actually aren't bad on dry roads. The Blizzak might be *slightly* better on glare ice, but that's about the only place.

Then *don't* use bigger wheels unless your total wheel/tire diameter is the same or *smaller*. Your acceleration will be *worse* if you do. At the same time, with a shorter sidewall, your ride quality will deteriorate. If English composition wasn't your strong point, then math & physics should have been. You can figure this out yourself or you can do a quick Google search on the topic.

Having higher capabilities than almost everyone else on the street isn't a hazard; it's your safety net. I've slalomed around deer at night on an interstate. I've swerved just enough to drive a narrow, snowy shoulder when a woman who "didn't see" me pulled out in front of me in the snow. I've threshold braked to avoid countless incidents, and I've modulated my own braking a few times to allow someone behind me enough room to stop before hitting me. I've modified my lines within my cars' handling capabilities to avoid dozens of clueless motorists doddering into my path. I drive out of slides instead of aggravating them; heck sometimes, I purposely drive *into* slides just for the fun of it.

In most of these cases, the average driver would slam on the brakes - and slam into a collision. While my normal driving includes things a lot of people might *perceive* as dangerous or foolish, if you can do the same thing ten times out of ten without fail, I'd consider that safe. Remember that a lot of people perceive a smoky burnout as dangerous and foolish, but you and I know better, don't we (OK; ignoring tire wear, which *is* foolish.)? Remember your tail-happy M3?

So how does that make you much different? It's usually better to ignore them totally, secure in the knowledge that you're a better driver. It's easier to do that after some formal training.

Ahhh, poetic justice. Doesn't happen nearly enough. While I don't hold out much hope they'll purge themselves from the gene pool, I'm not above baiting one as we approach a heavily monitored speed trap ...

I'm still not going there. For one thing, other guys have already answered you. Second, I don't have any direct experience with the A4 turbo. Third, and personally most important to me, I don't want to be the guy riding in the right seat when the 'little extra boost' you've dialed into your car spins us into the walls in The Kink. I've done that and, thankfully, walked away. Instructors are much more comfortable exploring the *stock* limits of your car with you because they're more familiar, usually easier to reach, and quite often, they're more forgiving than the sudden breakaway characteristics of, say, the E36 M3. We've snap rolled more than one of those in our schools, but rarely a regular E36. We even have a *special* lecture for *experienced* M3 drivers, because it isn't the novices who crash, it's the advanced guys.

Our schools are all at

but those are all no closer than Michigan or Illinois to you. I mentioned Lime Rock and Watkins Glen. Audi Club NA and BMW CCA both have schools at both venues. Check their websites; join one, and get out there.

-- C.R. Krieger (Been there; done that)

C.R. Krieger,

I have a question for you. From reading one of your posts, it has become apparent to me that I ride the clutch sometimes and would like to figure out how to get away from it. I'm not new to manual transmission, but every car I have had before my A4 has been old. Can you give me some instruction on how to transistion from a stop without putting too much wear on the clutch plates?

Rob

Sorry, my name is not Krieger.

Try driving away without touching the gas pedal for some time until you get the hang of it. Don't put your left foot on the ground but use it free air.

Ronald

agreed, dont apply throttle while your about to release clutch pedal, the faster the flywheel is turning the more wear will occur, so slowly lift clutch and when you feel it "bite" gradually increase the engine speed while smoothly and switly releasing the remaining clutch pedal travel. never rest your foot on the pedal, this will increase wear not to mention reduce the life of the release bearing. the sooner the clutch is engaged the sooner the clutch will grind to a halt against the flywheel and stop the wear process. another good tip for long clutch life is dont change gear unless necessary and always choose the appropriate gear for the conditions, EG: dont try and negate a steep hill at slow speeds in 5th gear. regards. steve uk.

Don't apologize. We can't *all* be Kriegers. Not even the 'Kruegers' that *call* themselves Kriegers ...

That will usually involve significant slippage.

I'm not sure *what* that means.

Here's what I usually suggest:

Try to get your 'starting out' clutch engagement done in under a second. Experiment with 'blipping' the throttle so there's a little engine momentum when you release it. Getting the right amount for each car is different, so you need to learn it for *your* car. Once you do, you should be fine. Learn to be decisive about it, as well. Once you start your movement up, make it smooth and continuous and then get your foot off the pedal. If you stall or buck, remember that next time and try a little more throttle application. It simply takes practice and experience in *that particular car*.

Going between gears, try to get your clutch engagements done in less than a half-second. That doesn't mean you need to *shift* in a half second, just release the clutch pedal from fully depressed to fully released in a half second.

-- C.R. Krieger (A *real* Krieger)

Sorry...but am i the only one inhere which grew up using manual tran´s? I had problems adjusting to my A4´s automatic...for crying out loud! *gg* I thought manual transmissions were like...you know, THE most common.

And seeing Krieger asking how to use a clutch, is like asking how to walk....the most natural thing of all ;-) (no pun intended...really!)

To be realistic: percent-wise...what is the most common way of shifting a gear worldwide? Manual or automatic?

Not much, any car will roll when just releasing the clutch without using the throttle. It's meant to get the feel of it.

Just move your foot on the clutch without resting it on the floor.

Ronald

This is how shifting gears is taught in motorcycle safety courses, and very effectively, too.