I want to know if it is worth the upgrade to the K04 over simply chipping a 1.8T Q-tip, is there a significant improvement over the 1 bar chip?
I heard the tip version of the K04 upgrade keeps the boost down to about 13 psi or so...which is about the same as the 1 bar chip...so is there a difference? is the K04 smoother or safer for the engine (better longevity) over simply boosting the K03? and what about stresses to the tip tranny?
thanks for the info in advance

<center><img src="http://131.107.68.28/a4org/impellers.jpg"></center><p>Your correct they do in fact change the program to better suit the tip tranny...or put differently to keep from shredding it's internal bits.

I personally have come from 2, "chip tuning" solutions and found them both inferior to the K04 setup. I don't claim that the K04 is the hot ****...but it's hotter than any chip upgrade you're gonna find.

Basically most of the chips seem to give a slingshot like effect. Turbo spools up and makes a fair amount of boost...you get off the line in a hurry...but find that the car just seems to run outta steam in the upper rev range. It's really quite easy to see what's happening...displacement is bore times stroke...and if you stroke slowly then the volume of air you suck up every minute is smaller than if you stroke quickly. Now imagine that you don't simply want to suck up air...rather you'd like to pressurize it...you've gotta be able to move as much air as the volume the engine displaces in a minute in order to stay above vacuum. Ohh you wanted boost...well that's even harder...now you've gotta move tons of air. Well the K03 seems to have no trouble keeping up with the demands of the motor at low speeds...small volumes of air...but in the higher rev range it just runs out of steam because it's bore and impeller dimensions simply don't work at the flow rates required to keep boost up at high engine speeds.

The K04 does quite a bit to address that problem by having exhaust and compressor impellers that are better optimized for higher flow rates associted with higher displacement engines...or low displacement high boost applications. Well what does all this boil down to? The car doesn't sling shot...it just keeps pulling in a linear fashion...it's much smoother and far more tractable than a high strung K03 that's forced to spin at rates that would have its designer running for cover. I'm sure I don't need to tell you what would happen if the impeller went out of balance and shattered...you can kiss your engine goodbye. I imagine this broken impeller scenario is far more likely to occur at these higher rates of rotation...I'm telling you the tolerances on these things are sick...I'm surprised they even work.

Regards,

James R.

99 1.8TMS (Neuspeed K04, K&N Filter, Remus Exhaust, Neuspeed Sport Springs, Neuspeed Front Anti Sway, Bilstein Sport Shocks, Brembo Rotors, Mintex Red Box, Ronal R28's 17", Euro Corners, Clear Sides, Full Tint...and some other stuff I probably forgot)

Thanks

That was my general impression about the K04, that it would provide more power in the upper rev ranges and make the car faster at every level...my only concern with just the chip upgrades is while they boost high off the line, they fall back to stock quickly

I would still like to find anyone who has the K04 for a tiptronic, since the tip version is backed off a little, if anyone got it, how well did it work? was it worth it?

I am still assuming that a K04 at 13 psi is faster and stronger at all points than a K03 at 13 psi, am I right?

Thanks