My Milltek

[W8PMC]

So i've now joined the club, followed Graham's lead (cheers for all the advice etc.) & i have myself a Resonated & Valved Milltek Cat-Back system, supplied & fitted by Awesome GTI.

Firstly, we hooked my car up to their diagnostics system & the computer threw a couple of codes out that i'll start a seperate thread on to find out what they mean??, but nothing major so the work commenced.

Took just over 2 hours to remove the old system & install the new one & upon the 1st fire up with the new system in the workshop, it was straight away obvious the sound was quite different. The rasp is more throaty & defo a few decibels louder (not by too much though). I took the car out for a quick look around & noticed the exits (they are alot bigger than the stock system) were a tad too close to the inner surrounds, so i got them to adjust further for a balanced & possibly safer distance, as i suffered a melting rear valance on my RS6 & didn't want a repeat on the RS4.

The system looks stunning & it doesn't look at all out of place even though my OEM system was an Optics Pack & therefore my car has no external chrome. What is quite funny, is that now it's all chrome, i can clearly see the internal flap & the valve system etc. whereas being black i couldn't see anything on my stock system (looks much more agressive)

The sound alterations are again a little strange, as in normal mode the difference is very noticable, however the difference between normal & S Button does not appear as great as it was on my stock system, however i need a few miles & days before it settles down & i can make a fair judgement.

On road performance gains are noticable, but it's only marginal & more so in the lower gears where if does feel like the car is a tad more lively.

Money well spent? i'd say yes but at £1500 it aint cheap & better value would be had from a re-map as the gains are far more obvious. As a compliment to a re-map & a 2nd option for tuning, then defo yes.

All in all i'm very pleased & can't wait for it to settle down (man the exits are alot bigger than stock). No doubt with my RS4 schedule over the next 4 weeks (VMAX on Sunday & Scuderia Hanseat in 3 weeks) the system will have fully bedded in.

One point i checked as someone raised it on here, Awesome said that it's unlikely any further adjustment will be required in say 500 - 1000 miles, as the system dynamics will not alter by very much, however if i do notice any movement, knocking or the balance of the exits alter, then i can take the car back & they'll re-adjust without issue or charge.

As a final point, i can fully recommend Awesome GTI, as they really do know stuff, have an excellent set-up, the phones never stopped ringing & their passion for tuning & customer service was obvious, so i'd defo use them again & recommend them fully.

[Love_iTT]

Nice one Paul and pretty much what I said. Glad you're pleased with it - I know I am with mine

Graham

[W8PMC]

One thing i did notice though Graham, the exits expand & protrude from the rear valance when hot, far more than my stock pipes did. The stock pipes always seemed to remain a constant distance protruding from the rear valance, no matter if they were hot or cold. Without an exact measure, i'd say the Milltek protrudes by at least an extra inch when hot.

[Love_iTT]

This what I wrote on my Milltek thread Paul:

I wasn't told it would need adjusting at a later stage but I will keep an eye on it. I knew that it would expand and contract from hot to cold as I had a Milltek on my TTR which did exactly the same thing so I wasn't supprised about that. The Milltek does stick out the back a bit more than the stock item when cold and grows at least a further inch when hot but when these are installed they have to be located about 15mm further forward so the rubber hangers are actually pointing towards the engine when cold rather than just hanging down vertically.

Graham

This is why they install it with the rubber hangers pointing forwards so that when all that Stainless steel expands it doesn't stick out so much as if the hangers were pointing straight down. I don't know why the stock one doesn't expand so much as the Milltek as I thought the stock exhaust was also made entirely from Stainless Steel, maybe the linear expansion of the two items are different i.e. two different grades of stainless.

Graham

[I-want-an-RS]

Different sort of SS

[W8PMC]

This what I wrote on my Milltek thread Paul:

I wasn't told it would need adjusting at a later stage but I will keep an eye on it. I knew that it would expand and contract from hot to cold as I had a Milltek on my TTR which did exactly the same thing so I wasn't supprised about that. The Milltek does stick out the back a bit more than the stock item when cold and grows at least a further inch when hot but when these are installed they have to be located about 15mm further forward so the rubber hangers are actually pointing towards the engine when cold rather than just hanging down vertically.

Graham

This is why they install it with the rubber hangers pointing forwards so that when all that Stainless steel expands it doesn't stick out so much as if the hangers were pointing straight down. I don't know why the stock one doesn't expand so much as the Milltek as I thought the stock exhaust was also made entirely from Stainless Steel, maybe the linear expansion of the two items are different i.e. two different grades of stainless.

Graham

I did read that Graham, but TBH i forgot Good to know it's not an oddity & totally normal, which i expected as the Milltek on my RS6 had the same characteristic.

Did you notice a big difference between exit sizes?? Someone on your thread said they were the same, but mine looks monster in comparison to stock. I guess the different colour does give a slight illusion of greater size, but it doesn't even look close to the exit diameter size of my stock system. Awesome did say the exits are larger.

[MarkB]

Strange you say the exit pipes are bigger on the Milltek. Some time ago when Daz first got his Milltek fitted on his Cab we compared his exhaust to the standard exhaust on another car and they were the exact same size.

[W8PMC]

Strange you say the exit pipes are bigger on the Milltek. Some time ago when Daz first got his Milltek fitted on his Cab we compared his exhaust to the standard exhaust on another car and they were the exact same size.

As said Mark, the difference in colours with my OEM being black. could have been masking the size difference somewhat, but the exits look at least 25% bigger now

Also odd i can now see all the internals such as the twin pipes within the single exit, the flaps & even the valves sitting adjacent to the exits just behind the rear valance.

Gonna wash the car later, so i'll take a horizontal & vertical measure of the exits to compare if someone could do the same with a stock pipe??

[W8PMC]

Just measured & at the widest points the exit is exactly 6 1/4 inches horizontal & 4 inches vertical.

How does that compare with the stock system??

[I-want-an-RS]

Did you not keep your old system?

BTW I didn't get to go over to Awesome after.

[W8PMC]

Nope, the old system is in a single section so virtually impossible to transport. It's of no real value so i let Awesome keep it.

[I-want-an-RS]

If you want I could stick in in the RS4 when I'm there as you only live 30 minutes away from them

[W8PMC]

Cheers for the offer, but i doubt it would quite fit in your car as it can't be broken up into sections & the cats on a B7 are very close to the engine so it's a long bugger the cat-back system.

It would only take up more room in my already crowded garage & has no real 2nd hand value, so better Awesome scrapping it or whatever they want to do with it. However many thanks again for your kind offer:)

[W8PMC]

Worth noting, that even after only 500 miles with the new Milltek on, the sound is getting louder & deeper as it cokes up. Loving it.

[Jezzer]

Any rear end pics with you kneeling at the same height as the tips please Paul, interested in seeing the size of these.