Tinkering with an S4 Cabriolet

[elhashbrown]

I bought my Audi S4 Cabriolet 4 years ago as my daily driver but having recently become a father it has become a garage queen while a lazy Lexus SUV takes up the daily duties. The Tiptronic S4 was a great everyday car, fast and comfortable with a great exhaust note. Now as a weekend car it feels a little bit too refined. With the option of swapping it for something smaller and lighter considered, I have decided to stick with that lovely V8 but try and make the chassis a little more responsive for enthusiastic driving. As it is a convertible I don't want to make it too hard and rattly so the aim is to improve steering response and generally tighten things up without making it excessively firm. Despite the doomsayer's remarks that any Audi understeers, this car handles very well indeed and is a well composed GT but as a weekend runabout I would like a bit more feedback and to be a little less numb.

Things I have changed so far:

Milltek Non-res exhaust
Remapped for above
19 inch RS4 alloy wheels
22mm RS4 rear anti-roll bar

Some things I could do:

Fit stronger tie rod ends and replace suspension bushes
Poly bushes in selected areas
fit stronger/adjustable upper control arms
Replace active engine mounts with solid ones and a poly snub mount
Replace transmission mounts
Change the quiet Dunlop Sportmax tyres for Yokohama Advan or Contisportcontact 5
Bilstein B8/Koni FSD/Sport shocks
H&R springs (which would lower it a further 10mm)
Coilovers

What do you think? Would any of these have a much of an effect? Is there anything I have missed? Would any of these be a terrible mistake?

[BUG4LIFE]

Kind of unrelated but is the S4 cab totally useless at carrying the little one and all their stuff around?!

[rb5er]

Use it or sell it and get something fun. They are nice cars but not fun cars.

[ManOpener]

You're going to be fighting a losing battle trying to turn an S4 cabrio into anything particularly engaging to drive. You'd be better of selling and replacing with something with a bit more handling finesse. I have no doubt you could make it handle better and feel far more responsive, but the financial outlay for doing so would be pretty large, and at the cost of quite significantly increased NVH if my experience with polybushing is anything to go by.

[elhashbrown]

BUG4LIFE said:

Kind of unrelated but is the S4 cab totally useless at carrying the little one and all their stuff around?!

It would be but I have extended family to cater for. See here: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

rb5er said:

Use it or sell it and get something fun. They are nice cars but not fun cars.

ManOpener said:

You're going to be fighting a losing battle trying to turn an S4 cabrio into anything particularly engaging to drive. You'd be better of selling and replacing with something with a bit more handling finesse. I have no doubt you could make it handle better and feel far more responsive, but the financial outlay for doing so would be pretty large, and at the cost of quite significantly increased NVH if my experience with polybushing is anything to go by.

You may be right gents, I had toyed with the idea of a Boxster but have become rather attached to the S4, it feels worth a lot more than I could get for it on the used market. It's well maintained and free of problems but no-one is prepared to pay extra for my word that I have never revved it over 2500 when cold! I also have to worry that if I sell the Audi, the funds might get commandeered for other uses before I get chance to splurge them on an even less practical sports car. Chassis enhancements on the other hand, are nicely invisible...