Doug at MRC told me when I had a Stage 2 remap done that when they did the health check prior to the Stage 2 remap they typically found that problems with the vacuum system would cause a power loss of around 60bhp but a carbon clean would typically only cause a loss of around 30bhp - which rather discredits the line that a carbon clean is a "huge performance gain" and that vacuum system problems should be the first thing investigated (and corrected if necessary). That's NOT my opinion but what Doug at MRC said to me... and he's seen more RS4s than most people.jonytek wrote:Well I didn't realise that this was such a hot topic around here. The reason that I was thinkimg about the clean first was for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it wouldn't have any impact on my insurance and secondly from what I've seen it can be a huge performance gain. Although with this gain only being short lived it does seem to be a bit of a waste of money. I don't really want to have to be doing this each year.
I think the first stop for me is going to be a run on the dyno for a full health check up and a good chat with the guys at MRC, from there I can look another option such as the remap, maybe an exhaust.
Out of interest what sort of prices are uk insurance companies charging for the stage 2?
Stage 2 made no difference at all to my insurance premium, neither did having a Milltek exhaust fitted - yes I did tell my insurance company as failure to inform them of any "performance related" modifications will give them a reason to invalidate any future claim, so not a risk worth taking IMHO.
IMHO a Stage 2 remap makes the RS4 perform like it should have done in the first place, it comes alive and increases the Cheshire Cat factor massively.