Newbie RS4 purchase

[lynchy]

on the second car maybe the maf is shot it makes a big difference in performance also the dvs might be the old 710a

[lynchy]

i would go for the yellow rs4 ,its totally standard and if you feel the need for more speed 2k would cover it H and R arbs,remap ,b7 brake upgrade. maybe £2300

[ollys]

[quote]

yes come to think of it, the way inconsistent power delivery felt could have been down to some sort of overboost problem (so not good then?!?!?)....

[cole32]

rs4,s that have been tuned are driven hard alot of the time probley done track days aswell take that in to account when buying. ask your self why do they need more power for the road [apart from beating m3 knobs] i would buy standard it has i guess had an easier life then a tuned rs4

[lynchy]

i have a black rs4 which i love .its a pain in the arse to keep clean .i went to mrc last saturday and had the maf changed and the dv,s upgraded to the 710n,s and what a difference it made ,go with the yellow car i have seen only 3 yellow rs4,s in 8 years a rare sight

[S4INT]

Well - to give an update I drove this car today. Seems fine on boost - fairly rapid - and I liked the handling: not so much as hint of understeer. As I have not driven a standard car (without Konis and H&R stiffer Anti Roll bars) I will be interested to see, when I do, the difference.

A couple of quick ones; I noticed braking heavily from a highish speed some vibration in the brake pedal. This car has the B7 brakes- anyone got any ideas what this might be.

Also noticed a couple of rattles, one from the rear, sounds like parcel shelf and another from highish up on he drivers door. Are these easy fixes?

Also wipers were extremely slow (so slow in fact I would not like to be in this car in anything more than a drizzle). I have seen this problem on here and noted some have done a repair job themselves - Is it pricey if somebody professional does it?

Finally, car veered slightly to the left on flat road at speed when hands taken off the wheel - tracking perhaps??

Many thanks for your help. I like this car, it has the spec I am looking for, but the above are concerns. If I could change anything it would be the colour - I love the imola! Yellow is most prob the fastest colour IMHO.

Olly

Vibration under braking is unlikely to be warped discs, more likely to be pad deposits. Was it actually a vibration or more like a droning noise? The car has got ebc red stuff pads on the front at the moment and they were more noisy than the standard B7 pads.

The parcel shelf rattle is common on all B5 avants - the slots in the plastic trims either side of the boot wear and squeak, the cheapest fix is to wrap some foam tape or cloth tape to the bar ends on the cover. Problem solved.

The wiper thing is common again. I lubricated the moving parts when I had it (not because they had got slow) just to try and guard against it. You can strip it, clean and re-fit fairly easily and cheaply, although a main delaer will charge you to replace the whole mechanism!

The pulling to the left is a strange one, it always drove really straight when I had it and it had a four-wheel alignment done at QST after the new suspension was fitted. Its possible the current owner has clouted a kerb or a pothole, but it could be something as simple as tyre pressures, or worn tyres.

Hope that helps,

Paul.

[ollys]

Paul, thanks.

It was a vibration, a bit like the abs kicking in, although it couldn't have been the abs. Still pad deposits?

Pulling to the left may be something simple it wasn't that serious and the care does need four new tyres!

The only other thing that slightly concerns me having now driven several further cars was how heavy the clutch was. It way appreciably heavier that all the other cars (which all felt about the same) so much so my initial thought was that the wife would complain about it? Any ideas?

I'm still interested in this car as it has all the right mods. The only thing I would be tempted to add would be a Milltek.

Olly

[neckarsulm]

Pulling to the left may be something simple it wasn't that serious and the care does need four new tyres

Did you take the road camber into account? Most roads drain water to the nearside and a car set up to run straight and true on a flat road will drift slightly to the nearside.

With regards to a stock car feeling quicker than a modded one, I'd guess the modded one has some fault (MAF, EGT, Lambda) - if you aren't used to the power it will still feel quick and likewise a good stock example wont feel slow either.

Next time I have some time to kill I'm gonna pop up to Nick Johnson and test drive loads of RS4s - AND ITS FREE!

[ollys]

Yes - it wan't camber it was on the A3.

The stock car you refer to was quicker than the MTM 460 (Nick Johnson), which was quicker than the MTM 420 (S4int's old car), which was quicker than the Imola yellow standard car. It certainly was not standard, but NJ did not have a clue what was done to it, and the way the power was delivered didn't fell like anyone would map it that way.

Nick Johnson said to me I could go back and do it all again.....tempting but I just want to buy one now!

[neckarsulm]

The stock car you refer to was quicker than the MTM 460 (Nick Johnson), which was quicker than the MTM 420 (S4int's old car), which was quicker than the Imola yellow standard car. It certainly was not standard, but NJ did not have a clue what was done to it, and the way the power was delivered didn't fell like anyone would map it that way.

Unlikely all the others are sick I guess, weird, how sure are you that the car is on good fuel? Or maybe the slow ones have been standing and the fuel has lost some octane?
I know that many cars get remapped and the next owner will have no idea unless like you they compare a few or like me someone, on this forum remembers the car (even though the Audi Centre had no idea!).

[SLC Detailing]

What about Clives one in the classifieds. Looks like a good example

[mikeyquattro]

What about Clives one in the classifieds. Looks like a good example

It's sold

[S4INT]

Paul, thanks.

It was a vibration, a bit like the abs kicking in, although it couldn't have been the abs. Still pad deposits?

Pulling to the left may be something simple it wasn't that serious and the care does need four new tyres!

The only other thing that slightly concerns me having now driven several further cars was how heavy the clutch was. It way appreciably heavier that all the other cars (which all felt about the same) so much so my initial thought was that the wife would complain about it? Any ideas?

I'm still interested in this car as it has all the right mods. The only thing I would be tempted to add would be a Milltek.

Olly

Yes, could still be pad deposits. A few good hard stops should sort it out.

I don't think the clutch has ever been replaced, so it may be getting close to needing to be done.

Cheers,

Paul.

[derdle]

As for performance - if you tested one on a cool day it may feel quicker than one tested on a warmer day. There have been some surprisingly warm days lately....but can't imagine that this alone would account for a "460" bhp car feeling slower than a stock car. However, I wonder how the 460 car is mapped - might be loads of turbo lag and designed just to give top end performance?

Paul

[JohnW]

to me, if you want yellow, buy yellow.
you can do all the mods afterwards such as brakes, chips, pipes etc. It would be a bugger to repaint a car though

To my knowledge there were only 8 imola yellow cars (might have been 16, but think that is world wide).
I only ever had details of 3 yellow cars in the register.

I'd rather have a low miles unmolested car over a heavily modded car too, but that is just my preference.

Happy hunting