This has been long overdue since I intended to start this post when I joined two years ago!
I was a bit reluctant to purchase this car over three years ago dumping my mint condition nogaro B6 S4. I just loved the S5 a bit more noticing it was a bit faster being lighter with the 4.2 FSI and significant better handling. The S5 also was much more stable at high speeds; the S5 was completely planted at 165mph whereas the S4 became squeamish over 140mph.
I know many of these modifications are known since they are listed in my sig. however I thought giving more detail may be relevant.
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My first addition were the KW V2’s I purchased from Eurocode. I needed the car at proper ride height to be able to tell how much of a spacer I would need for the wheels. I had these installed and aligned by a VW service tech as a side job I paid him $400 cash at the dealership!? I went this route because local shops were quoting me $800+ for install + alignment.
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Next were the brushed aluminum Forgestar 19x9 ET38 F14s. I built these to be as aggressive as possible for the B6 S4 but still able to fit the S5. They never went onto the B6 since they took almost 12 weeks to receive them from the time of order. They all ended up being between 24-25lbs per corner (~5lb less than stock per corner). When I first mounted them the car looked like shit like it was rolling around on donuts they were so tucked in!
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So then I went to the H&R DRA 15mm and 20mm bolt on spacers to achieve a much more aesthetically pleasing stance. However this was not nearly enough to cover my crater-like gap. I sent the 15mm back ordering a 25mm. I ended up with H&R DRA 20/25mm on the front and rear respectively, which worked for me aggressive enough without any poke.
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20% llumar tint Luckily a friend owns a tint shop, so only $120 cash
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AWE track non-res downpipes, catback and GIAC tune installed with about 6 hours of labor at Streamline ind. I loved the way it sounded but soon regretted the drone at 1500-3000 rpms when any sort of gas was applied. I learned to keep the rpms up above 3k to avoid this annoyance. Overall I was happy with the exhaust being slightly larger piping than stack. The touring version with the increased diameter to 2.5" was not available at the time of purchase and only came out a year later. From a performance standpoint I believe I will be looking at an upgrade to 2.5" in the future likely from FI. I had the exhaust installed at the beginning of the week then tune at then end of the week to assess the upgrade. I did notice a little more power after 3500 rpm, however the GIAC tune was shit, fucking robbery. Basically all they did was remove the accelerator delay. I was told it would adapt to race gas if I choose to run it which I did after noticing the tune was shit. Even after a full tank of race gas and aggressive driving there was no difference or adjustment. In fact I think the car was slower ??? I notified Streamline and they contacted GIAC as did I. This was John Voss’s response
[quote]Thanks for the e-mail. The 4.2 motor, being naturally aspirated is very limited on power gains through software. You can only adjust air, fuel and timing to bring out more power and as you know you can improve throttle response. Unlike a turbo car which you can also increase boost pressure. All naturally aspirated motors are the same in this respect, you are limited with gains with software alone.
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Then came the JHM short shifter! This was the second best mod I have done to date. Shifting became precise, clean, crisp, and faster.
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Added the JHM light weight rotors front and back with hawk street pads. At first I was unhappy with it, had to depress the brake much more to get the same effect, was soft, unresponsive even after the bedding process. However after a few weeks (~300 miles) it all came to life and brake pedal more responsive, brakes grabbed harder, and livelier. After the Forgestar F14, JHM rotors, and michilin PSS i dropped a total of 14lbs per corner compared to stock!
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At the same time as the JHM rotors were going on Eurocode was also doing a free APR TVS1320 supercharger install subsidized by APR! This was the best mod by far I have done to date. Transformed the S5 into a BEAST! Previously the fastest car I had driven was a M3 or 911 carrera S. Eurocode performed the install in one day with a carbon clean. They also guaranteed the carbon would not build up promising to clean it again if it does, otherwise I would have not cleaned it since it was a mild-medium build up. I had 23k miles at the time, 20k of which I clocked on. I am up to 32k miles now and everything is still running well. Had a faulty aux supercharger coolant pump that was recently replaced (hope APR ends up covering it since it was still under warranty at the time of the issue). I do get occasional misfire that set up my check engine light (7 times in the last 10months) probably due to shit gas or altitude? Not sure but Arin said I could log the fault codes and APR will adjust the tune for me.
What should I do next?
- JHM stage IV clutch and light weight flywheel
- JHM test pipes
- JHM headers (not sure if these are something they are selling or proven with gains)
- APR TVS 1740 (RS4 and S5 are suppose to be launched real soon first week in Nov. then R8/RS5) + JHM light weight crank pulley
- JHM supercharger (may be a ways away…) + JHM light weight crank pulley
- JHM intake spacers (may not fit with the APR charger)
- OZ racing superforgiata 5 fori (17.6lbs for 19x10s cutting another 7lbs per corner from the F14s!)
- Any 2.75" exhausts for an S5? Maybe Danny can cook some up ;D
Im leaning toward the OZs and then all the other light weight mods before going for the bigger forced induction. This car is not going anywhere soon since there is nothing on the market I would consider (closest thing would be a nogaro RS4 with low miles), so im planning on all of these mods! Any other suggestions?
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Then I decided to change to my favorite color…
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Dipped satin red! I’m happy with the end result especially now that all of the S5 lines are much more pronounced. So easy to clean now by just spraying it down with the hose then wiping dry with a towel. Im contemplating taking everything that is aluminum,graphite, silver and dipping satin black. Brake calipers also need some love…not feeling the ronald mcdonald theme so much 