New Member and New S4 owner

[IntJetSet]

Ola

Bought my first S4 a couple of weeks ago after doing loads of reading on here (was going to buy RS6 saloon but glad I didn't, the expenses sound incredible).

Took it out today for first proper blast, drove round Oxfordshire with my mates M6. Had a great laugh and I absolutely love my S4. Through the corners there is so much more grip than I was expecting. Also the sound of a V8 is epic, made his V10 sound like a diesel.

I think an enthusiast must have had it before me as there's loads of receipts; RS4 roll bars, more modern sat nav etc. Am going to post some pics and ask a bit of advice over the next week or so as there's a few bits I bet I could get answered on here no bother without Audi charging to 'look' at stuff.

Only done 44k miles on a 53 plate with all audi service history and specialists for upgrades etc. Looks brand new really. Dead chuffed!!!

[IntJetSet]

Hi Guys

There were 4 things that are mainly bothering me about my car. Can anyone help with some advice? It's a 53 plate if this helps with aging some of the parts.

Sat Nav - this one took me ages to work out. I was putting the Nav disc in the drive in the boot of the car and the head unit wasn't recognising the disc. I went to Audi and they said that the head unit has been replaced with a more modern one and that the disc needs to go into the DVD drive in the front. This is OK although it means I can't listen to CD's at the same time as having the disc in which is a shame. Couple of questions on this, the drive in the boot and the nav controls by the handbrake now appear to be redundant. I think I'd like to find a 'blank' plastic plate to take the nav controls out so the interior is neater. Are these easy to come by? who, where should I be looking for these kinds of things? With my updated sat nav is it easy to do things like gain ipod connectivity, tv functions and phone set up or is it a matter of buying the right head unit for the right functions? Is there any use for the drive in the boot or is it something I can now remove and sell/chuck?

Roll Bars - at some point in it's life the rear roll bars have been changed twice. I have two invoices, one for a normal set of bars and one for RS4 bars. Sadly on one invoice the date isn't printed well so I can't work out which is now fitted to the car. Is there anything I can look for myself that will help me establish which of these is currently fitted? I'd like to know this for sure one way or the other as I understand that the RS4 fitting is slightly wider and can rattle loose.

Tracker - The car has a tracker on it but when I spoke to my insurance company they wanted more premium if the tracker was activated!?! Has anyone else had experience of this? I'm with Admiral.

Rattle on start up - I read on here recently that the rattle on start up is due to the tensioner chain. I'm fairly satisfied that I don't need to do anything regarding this although if I wanted to have it checked, what should I be asking the garage to do specifically so that they don't 'fault find' something that I'm not asking them to do? It's not that I don't trust them or anything, more that I want to keep a lid on first year costs as best I can.

Any help greatly appreciated.

[grizz]

Hi , welcome to the forum ... Give the car a good oil change and use a flush first ..That should help with the rattle ..
As far as the roll bar goes try to measure the one fitted to the car ..

Grizz

[CliveH]

Roll bars - the front is the same as RS4 B7, and if you have sports suspension then the RARB is the same as the B7 RS4 sports RARB (20mm). If you want a bigger RARB, then you need the RS4 sports suspension plus one which is 22mm, along with the RS4 fittings - easiest thing is to get under the car and measure it.

Tracker - that's a strange attitiude, as they are effective and Tracker have a policy of not putting stickers in the window advertising the fact that it has a tracker fitted

Rattle on startup - this is quite normal, as long as it stops after a few seconds. An engine oil flush should resolve any prolonged rattle. Take it to an independent specialist who knows these cars


EDIT : Grizz's version is so much more concise!

[grizz]

LOL

[IntJetSet]

Nice one, I'm going to take it to RSD in Daventry next week and sort the oil out.

Whilst it's there I'll ask him to stick it up on the ramp and see what's what with the roll bars. The guy there really seems to know his stuff. I think he used to rally for VW back in the day.

The tracker thing has something to do with the likelyhood of recovery. If a tracker is fitted then more often than not they have to administer all the repairs, deal with the police etc etc. In the case of non recovered stolen cars the insurance company only has to either pay out for total loss (no doubt a disputed current value) or argue the toss about paying out at all. The person I spoke with at Admiral was uncomfortable talking about the reasons why, it all felt very shifty. I was personally pleased it had one.

Anyone got any thoughts on the sat nav bits? The car has nearly every option but the lack of a proper CD player and separate sat nav is a bit annoying. That said I tend to turn the radio off so i can listen to the exhaust note!! Sad, I know!!!

[HYFR]

use the SD card slots behind the motorised screen to play your music

[IntJetSet]

I am and will but I'd rather use CD's. Is there a way to remove the drive in the boot and put a multi changer in without having to change the head unit?