OE Tuning

B8 S4
#1

Was talking to a new local shop in VA about a possible GIAC or APR Stage II tune for my B8.5 later this year and they mentioned they have an in house developed pulley (2.3mm smaller than OEM) and work with OE Tuning on the west coast to do custom tunes with their in house mustang dyno in the local shop. They apparently have a 2013 S4 they are using for platform development and as a side note are working on developing headers to offer as well.

I tend to lean toward the established proven reliability of the bigger names since their tunes have been out for quite some time, but thought I would post this up for discussion and see if you guys had any experience with or heard of OE Tuning doing any work on the B8/B8.5 platform.

#2

Stick with the top players, these guys are unproven and learning. It’s also impossible to re-invent this wheel, if they did do better than let’s say APR, which is doubtful, it will probably be a minuscule amount better.

Also, search headers here…pointless, end of story so don’t waste your money.

#3

Clever name for a tuning company…

As said, APR or GIAC!

#4

They are big in the merc community, wouldn’t go with anything other than the top guys for the s4 right now though.

#5

I’d almost say the fact that they’re talking about making headers shows they’ve not been doing any homework. I’d say if you had a need for a custom tune OE has been around for awhile in the merc community. However there’s no need for a custom tune. We’ve watched as a few less successful companies have fumbled with tuning the B8 S4s. The majors already have something out that has been doing well for so long it’ll be hard to justify why to no go with them.

#6

yeah, it’s kinda funny. Assuming good conditions (DA under 1000 feet)

A stock B8 S4 runs on average around 13.0 @ 106. Some are quicker, some are slower. That’s a comfortable average though.

A 93 octane APR or GIAC tune + pulley + open intake B8 S4 runs on average around 12.3@112. Some are quicker, some are slower again.

What do people think they’re going to get out of a custom 93 tune? 11.4 @ 120? Not happening. We already know that on pump gas, the capabilities of the TVSr1320 on a 4000 lb car isn’t going to push you much past barely sqeaking into the 11s @ 116 or so with a 3.0T, and that’s with a great piece of driving, a thorough modlist, and great density altitude. We have already seen that happen with APR and GIAC. A custom tune isn’t going to push you past physics and the blower’s maximum headroom. A smaller pulley will teach you about jumping or slipping belts. More aggressive parameters will teach you about the cost of new Audi crate engines.

So you have 2 choices in this game - go with a proven recipe, or push a rock up a hill and be different.

#7

Or go with a bigger blower. Hopefully it gets released sooner rather than later. I won’t be getting it, but I look forward to seeing how it performs.