I've read all these messages about boosting the horsepower of a stock A4 with a chip.

As a novice, is this simple to do? Or must it be installed by authorized technicians.
What is involved and does this void Audi warranties?

it does void warrantees, the installation i don;t know much about though

They will try to blame everything on aftermarket stuff. At least "chip-unfriendly" dealers will. I had a Miata with aftermarket stereo and fog lights and when I would take it in to fix some rattles, they'd always blame it on the aftermarket stuff when it was obviously not that.

Every dealer that i have talked to, also Audi directly, has said that it does void your warranty

Well,
as far as I understand OETTINGER in Germany is offering a chip tuning kit at approx. 1300USD
with 100 000kilometer warranty. You might want to check with them:-)
Peter

It's quite simple, I haven't done it myslef, but at a recent A4 meeting in NC, Dave P. changed his a number of times...took him about 5-10 minutes to make the change. I think there's a FAQ on this. Basically, you just open up the ecu box (using a socket wrence) and disconnect the ecu (Audi used a cool plug that locks everything into place and easily connects and disconnects). Then hook it back up. There's also some voodoo involved when starting the car up for the first time. Like turning the key on, but not starting the car for something like a minute, then turning it of and starting it, then letting it idle for a bit. Probably got that mixed up, but all that is described in instructions which would acompany a chip purchase.

For the rest of your questions, I posted a good primer on chips this morning on the performance forum in response to someone else's question. My post is a response titled "Some Answers...(long)", probably more than you ever wanted to know, but a meer drop in the bucket compared to the knowledge of other forum posters.

Regards,
Rodney

'99 A4 1.8tqms

not sure if it's still available. Check their site.

Regards,
Rodney

'99 A4 1.8tqms