Going to AmD for de-coking, should I...

[sutts]

..have a Miltek fitted and remap done while I'm there?

They are offering 1/2 price on the remap and free fitting on the exhaust, and I'm thinking it would make sense to have it all done at once, particularly as the de-coke includes rolling road runs. Car is completely standard at the moment, has just ticked over 60,000 miles and was serviced with new plugs in April.

I'd be interested in any comments or thoughts anyone might have that have had this done. I was thinking of going for resonated non-valved as I seem to spend most of my time in sports mode anyway to hear more noise.

Basically I am looking for some reassurance that it will be worth it I think! I expect to keep the car for at least three years and have room to store the original exhaust.

[AdrianD]

Yes!

[HYFR]

No point in a remap unless ur getting sports cats at the same time imo

[klauster]

I would say yes to the exhaust but if u want noise go for the non res Valved version I'd say the remap is a waste unless ur having other work done in addition to the exhaust and decoke

[HYFR]

Yes no point changing the zorst for anything less than non res then go valved if u really need it quiet sometimes

[kay]

Ask for pre cats to be removed, shouldn't cost much, then a remap will be necessary and worth it!

[sutts]

Thanks for the replies. So I gather you don't think the remap would be worth it (even at £250) without other work as well - presumably no discernible increase in power/tourque from it in isolation (plus the Milltek).

What effect would removing the pre-cats have - better breathing/much louder? Kay, you say this would then require the remap? Does this affect the latest MOT regs?

I had read back over a lot of the 'which Milltek' threads and thought I had decided on resonated non-valved as the best option as the car is my daily driver and will also be carrying my newborn about. I understood there was a bit less drone at low revs over the non-res, but still a good improvement over the OEM noise? Basically I don't want it TOO loud for these reasons.

I realise you can drive round the drone to some extent, so would the valved non-res be the better option? This is not an easy decision...

[kay]

Going by what I've learned on here, Oem exhaust has some small cats before the main 400 cell cats. These "precats" cause a very significant restriction in gas flow and thus bhp/torque. They are only operative in the 1st few mins of start up, just to quickly warm up before the main cats do their work. Removing them (gutting) causes a significant change in gas flow and the oem map may get confused and give fault codes out. The remap Wil account for the change and help u gain a very significant bhp increase which won't be that far off from if u had replaced the downpipes (which have the precats and the 400 cell cats) with a 200 cell only miltek downpipe . Because the main cats are stil present, MOT won't be a problem at all (provided u warm up the cats beforehand).
Apparently noise levels will increase a little, so u personally might want to stick with ur resonated pipes. As for me, I would welcome that increase in sound despite already having a non-res milly. U best go for a valved milly, and if the resonated pipes are too quiet, u can easily swap for non res cos they are relatively cheap, and if by doin that its too loud, then keeping valves closed Wil make it quieter. Hope that helps

[sakimano]

No point in a remap unless ur getting sports cats at the same time imo

serious? the stock tune is kinda crap. There's tons left on the table (provided the tuner knows what they're doing)

Something as simple as opening up the throttle to allow direct input using pedal position vs. the highly restricted and smoothed out stock map would be a big gain. (stock throttle is restricted to 52% below 5250 RPM...which is annoying)

Not to mention a slightly better AFR for making power, and a bunch of other dynamics...even a simple tune should wake the car up.

[ASH555]

Interesting thread

[kay]

Actually what sakimo says is kinda valid. The throttle is restricted in the first 3 gears I think, and some say this is to protect the powetrain and others say its so that it doesn't better the R8 (which doesn't have the restriction). The remap can remove this restriction. You could also request ur tuner to arrange power delivery such that the 5.5k kick is more pronounced plus other little tweaks. You won't gain much horses, but certainly u Wil gain a better sharper more responsive feeling. I personally still wouldn't bother with a remap at full cost but at £250 ......hmmm maybe. But I would definelty get the pre cats gutted and the remap would be so so cost effective.
Beware though, when u get ur car serviced at audi, and if there are any software upgrades to be done, it may override ur remap.....but I'm not too sure about this.

[sutts]

Thanks all, particularly Kay. I think I will speak to Ben at AmD and find out more about the remap, but it sounds like the de- coke followed by resonated Milly, pre-cat removal and a remap could be the way forward.

I am booked in for early July (think their de-coke offer is getting popular) and will report back with whatever I get done.

[PJC]

Have you had it on a rolling road ?, I had mine done at AMD, well worth the money.

[HYFR]

^^^^ all your comments re remap

yes,maybe with a custom stage 2 map

but not with a £250 off the shelf map

[kay]

...that's a point, surely its not gonna be a generic map is it?!