B8 S4 Ownership

[mrdanbartlett]

Thanks all, trying to go standard. A local specialist quoted £440 which is not really much cheaper than Audi.

Had a look online at a Parts supplier and they seem to be £264 (£214 with a discount code). A guy here said they are made by 'ATE'?

Are the front pads ceramic?
http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/Audi_S4_3.0_2010...

Discs here
http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/Audi_S4_3.0_2010...

That sounds about right if the dealer price is £450.

[daveydees]

mrdanbartlett said:

Thanks all, trying to go standard. A local specialist quoted £440 which is not really much cheaper than Audi.

Had a look online at a Parts supplier and they seem to be £264 (£214 with a discount code). A guy here said they are made by 'ATE'?

Are the front pads ceramic?
http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/Audi_S4_3.0_2010...

Discs here
http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/Audi_S4_3.0_2010...

That sounds about right if the dealer price is £450.

I think they're made by TRW. Certainly the calipers are anyway. I'd presume that the discs and pads would follow suit, but I could be wrong...

[Adrian E]

daveydees said:

I think they're made by TRW. Certainly the calipers are anyway. I'd presume that the discs and pads would follow suit, but I could be wrong...

Yep, discs are TRW-Girling - pads I'm not sure on, but will almost certainly be the same

[mrdanbartlett]

Thanks guys, confusing as on the TRW site they list many discs and pads for the S4.

On TPS they have this
https://tps.trade/part/braking/brake-pad-and-disc-...
£285 for the kit.

On euro parts they don't list TRW.

[mrdanbartlett]

Ah that is a rear kit, no fronts listed!

[daveydees]

Found them here:

TRW pads: http://www.buycarparts.co.uk/trw/2192400
TRW Front discs: http://www.buycarparts.co.uk/trw/2189920

Never used that site so couldn't comment on how good they are. Seem cheap enough though.

[theboyfold]

My first service is coming up, what's the cost likely to be from our good friends at Audi?

[silentbrown]

theboyfold said:

My first service is coming up, what's the cost likely to be from our good friends at Audi?

Mine (last month) was a fairly shocking £294 incl, for what was intended to be 'just' an Oil Service.

They actually did (and attempted to bill me for) an Inspection Service, despite the car being 12 months old with 11K miles on it...

[theboyfold]

silentbrown said:

theboyfold said:

My first service is coming up, what's the cost likely to be from our good friends at Audi?

Mine (last month) was a fairly shocking £294 incl, for what was intended to be 'just' an Oil Service.

They actually did (and attempted to bill me for) an Inspection Service, despite the car being 12 months old with 11K miles on it...

300 for an oil service? Nice. I'll wear the appropriate trousers to help them...

[daveydees]

silentbrown said:

theboyfold said:

My first service is coming up, what's the cost likely to be from our good friends at Audi?

Mine (last month) was a fairly shocking £294 incl, for what was intended to be 'just' an Oil Service.

They actually did (and attempted to bill me for) an Inspection Service, despite the car being 12 months old with 11K miles on it...

Audi tried to get me for an inspection too when it was only due an oil service (which was clearly on their records!) Got to watch them like a Hawk!

(For anyone that wants to know general costs): For cars over 3 years old Audi offer fixed price servicing. Oil service is usually £199 and inspection £445.Not sure about newer models though.

[mrdanbartlett]

yes mine was fixed price, around £200. To be fair the service was first rate, this was at Stansted Audi end of last year.

- Took car in, someone had a quick chat with me and took the keys, asked if I was waiting or coming back (I was waiting)
- Got led to a nice seating area with magazines, coffee/tea being made for me, some basic snacks etc.
- Once finished I was sat down with a rep who explained how the service went and answered any questions I had.

Given a specialist is still about £100-150 I'd imagine I thought this was v good, and gives the important audi stamp in the book.

I have the full service next though which at £450 might force me to a specialist. It's dune on age rather than mileage though as I only do about 6k a year.

Thanks for the links re the brakes! £264 seems ok, probably £100 for someone to fit them etc works out a £100 saving on audi.

[Tuscan Wil]

mrdanbartlett said:

yes mine was fixed price, around £200. To be fair the service was first rate, this was at Stansted Audi end of last year.

- Took car in, someone had a quick chat with me and took the keys, asked if I was waiting or coming back (I was waiting)
- Got led to a nice seating area with magazines, coffee/tea being made for me, some basic snacks etc.
- Once finished I was sat down with a rep who explained how the service went and answered any questions I had.

Given a specialist is still about £100-150 I'd imagine I thought this was v good, and gives the important audi stamp in the book.

I have the full service next though which at £450 might force me to a specialist. It's dune on age rather than mileage though as I only do about 6k a year.

Thanks for the links re the brakes! £264 seems ok, probably £100 for someone to fit them etc works out a £100 saving on audi.

Don't be fooled by their nice seating area, coffee and so call professional appearance. I took my car to audi services for the first 4 years and then decided to try a reputable tuning specialist. Yes the cost was comparable, but the specialist could tell straight away that the car has been looked after by Audi, as they said all Audi did is a visual check and oil changed - nothing else. The spark plugs were well over dued and the air and pollen filter were blocked up. Did Audi tell me any of that...nope. I would expect a proper inspection or service would at least advise me if any of those item need to be changed. I accept I would have to pay for it, but at least Audi should inform me.

[Up4AfrillNeil]

Hi Guys

New here and I am a little concerned that Audi service is maybe not the way forward after reading some comments. I have just bought an S4 2010 saloon with 40k on the clock and full Audi service history. I have to say I love the car, its my best ever. So my concern is will an Audi service history make much difference in selling cost against service costs along the way for 5 years of my HP deal ? Book will still get stamped by a garage but not cost a premium....

Also, I have squeaky front brakes and my warranty is with a dealership in Manchester (i'm in Northampton) so EBC two streets from me will fit anti squeal shims for a tenner... will that be an issue if I have to call on a warranty 3 hrs away for failing calipers when I have had someone else but Audi or them fix the annoying squeak?

And one last thing...this https://youtu.be/2KfMY96v_Gc Anyone have any experience in this revo sps thing that you can buy on Ebay?

41 year old builder with mid-life crisis in full swing

Thanks

Neil

[silentbrown]

Up4AfrillNeil said:

Hi Guys
I have just bought an S4 2010 saloon with 40k on the clock and full Audi service history. I have to say I love the car, its my best ever. So my concern is will an Audi service history make much difference in selling cost against service costs along the way for 5 years of my HP deal ?

If it's an 11-year old car by the time you plan to sell, a non-Audi history really won't matter. However Audi's Fixed Price servicing on some things is pretty good value, and independents will struggle to beat it by much.

I'd find a good independent and stick with them.

[mrdanbartlett]

They checked my brakes etc when I had just a basic service, overall I was happy until proven otherwise.

As for the SPS I think that is just so you can switch maps, you still need the actual remap - which I believe is £1200 from Revo, cheapest proper map I've seen is MRC at £750.

I've drive my friends mapped S4 (and had a small blat against it in mine), in the blat it seemed his DSG box vs my manual made more difference than the map, he visibly pulled a little at each gear change.
The map is good, his car keeps up with all sorts of exotica, obv its not as fun as the exotica but it's quick. I'd say do it if you aren't going to hammer the car, i.e dirve it really hard for extended periods as IMO it can take it's toll on the car then.

If you just want a bit more power for the odd blast then it's fine I'd say, quite nice knowing you have over 400hp without always having to use it .

Avoid any cheaper 'remaps' as I don't think they actually map it, they just use some weird box to piggyback onto the system, correct me if I'm wrong there! I think it's becuase the ECU needs to be hacked which took a while so the tuners that did it charge a fair bit for the map to recoup the costs. Again I may be wrong there but when I asked a cheaper remap company exactly how they get the power they were very vague about it.

[silentbrown]

Up4AfrillNeil said:

Also, I have squeaky front brakes and my warranty is with a dealership in Manchester (i'm in Northampton) so EBC two streets from me will fit anti squeal shims for a tenner... will that be an issue if I have to call on a warranty 3 hrs away for failing calipers when I have had someone else but Audi or them fix the annoying squeak?

When you say "dealership", do you mean Audi main dealer? If so, you should be able to get it fixed under warranty at *any* Audi main dealer. If not, check the terms of your warranty docs - assuming you have one.

...except, any warranty company may well say that brake pads/disks are consumables and so not covered. Quite possible that at 40K miles a set of front disks and pads will be needed soon anyway, if the disks haven't been changed.

[daveydees]

Is your car manual or s-tronic? If it's the latter and it's done 40k, check and make sure that the gearbox oil has been changed. If you look back on this thread you'll find my experience with Audi wasn't great after my mechatronic unit went. They wouldn't touch it for less than £5k as the gearbox oil was done late. I went to a VAG specialist to get it done in the end but it still cost me best part of £4k to get it sorted.

In my experience, Audi can be hot and cold. Sometimes they're great and other times really bad. One time with my previous B8 3.0tdi they put enough oil in for a 1.6 after they got their parts lists mixed up. I only noticed half way down the M1 when the oil light came on! Had to call out roadside assist who kindly dipped it for me and there was nothing in there. Turned out there was just enough to pull through the engine and little else. After a bit of shouting I got some free services out of it and a written guarantee that if the car ever showed any symptoms due to the low oil level that they'd repair any damage at their own cost.

I foolishly still take mine to Audi for service (for the stamps and nice courtesy cars mainly). Other things I take it to a specialist.

Re revo. I think they're selling the software for £750 these days, sps is an extra £100 I think.I remember looking at Harris's video with dread as my car is virtually identical to his. Looks like it has exactly the same spec and 1 letter difference in the plate. For a moment I thought I'd bought his old car... Although he did get a new gearbox so probably wouldn't have been too bad...

Up4AfrillNeil said:

Hi Guys

New here and I am a little concerned that Audi service is maybe not the way forward after reading some comments. I have just bought an S4 2010 saloon with 40k on the clock and full Audi service history. I have to say I love the car, its my best ever. So my concern is will an Audi service history make much difference in selling cost against service costs along the way for 5 years of my HP deal ? Book will still get stamped by a garage but not cost a premium....

Also, I have squeaky front brakes and my warranty is with a dealership in Manchester (i'm in Northampton) so EBC two streets from me will fit anti squeal shims for a tenner... will that be an issue if I have to call on a warranty 3 hrs away for failing calipers when I have had someone else but Audi or them fix the annoying squeak?

And one last thing...this https://youtu.be/2KfMY96v_Gc Anyone have any experience in this revo sps thing that you can buy on Ebay?

41 year old builder with mid-life crisis in full swing

Thanks

Neil

[mrdanbartlett]

His car was 'the worst condition S4 in existence' - riddled by dogs, never washed etc.

Just checked and the Revo map is £699 now.........must resist - as with 82k I'm not sure how the clutch would appreciate another lump of power.

[daveydees]

mrdanbartlett said:

His car was 'the worst condition S4 in existence' - riddled by dogs, never washed etc.

Just checked and the Revo map is £699 now.........must resist - as with 82k I'm not sure how the clutch would appreciate another lump of power.

Yeah, luckily mine is in much better nick! I did think it would have been impossible to get his car to the same standard mine was in when I bought it. It was enough to make me pause and rewind his videos until I could clearly see the reg plate though. Concerned

My clutch was completely frazzled by the mechatronic unit when it went. I think they're pretty good to handle the extra torque from the remap but the inherent reliance between the clutch pack and mechatronic is always a concern. If one goes it messes up the other and Audi recommend replacing both at once. Of course if you're a manual you won't have that problem!

[Up4AfrillNeil]

Thanks for your replies guys

daveydees said:

Is your car manual or s-tronic? If it's the latter and it's done 40k, check and make sure that the gearbox oil has been changed. If you look back on this thread you'll find my experience with Audi wasn't great after my mechatronic unit went. They wouldn't touch it for less than £5k as the gearbox oil was done late. I went to a VAG specialist to get it done in the end but it still cost me best part of £4k to get it sorted.

Its a manual plus the previous owner apart from polishing inside the engine bay also serviced the car every 3000 miles at Audi, excessive I think but I'm not complaining... and Audi also changed the clutch and flywheel with a gearbox oil change 3500 miles ago F.O.C due to poor gear selection. I do wonder why this guy flogged this car when he was so particular in keeping it mint

daveydees said:

Re revo. I think they're selling the software for £750 these days, sps is an extra £100 I think.I remember looking at Harris's video with dread as my car is virtually identical to his. Looks like it has exactly the same spec and 1 letter difference in the plate. For a moment I thought I'd bought his old car... Although he did get a new gearbox so probably wouldn't have been too bad...

Phew, I see that sps on ebay last week which had been used on an S4 and I nearly paid the 80 quid he was asking, but didn't as I had an inkling that 100 extra bhp don't come that cheap... thanks for letting me know. I won't be re-mapping, the monthly payments, fuel insurance and tax make that an easy decision

silentbrown said:

When you say "dealership", do you mean Audi main dealer? If so, you should be able to get it fixed under warranty at *any* Audi main dealer. If not, check the terms of your warranty docs - assuming you have one.

...except, any warranty company may well say that brake pads/disks are consumables and so not covered. Quite possible that at 40K miles a set of front disks and pads will be needed soon anyway, if the disks haven't been changed.

No sorry I mean the dealership I bought it from not Audi, but looking at the small print the brakes are not covered in the 3 month warranty ... standard I guess

Thanks everyone for your input