chestlock

1. Alu-Kreuz - best $350 you'll ever spend

2. If you track, BBK. Better to stop fast than to go faster. If not, go to #3 and 3a

3. Exhaust/Intake

3a. APR Tune&Pulley

FatalBert

Protection: clear bra w/Lamin-x, winter wheels, floor mats.

Performance: tune (APR), Alu-Kreuz, intake/exhaust.

Nice to have: Dipstick, short shifter, interior LED replacements?

BobbyJim

What's that? Starting the engine before you get in the car?

Muray

Hmmm I want to add the remote start too. I thought it couldn't be done on our cars.

adbender

To no surprise, I definitely would say:

1) tune - really puts you in the "supersedan" league
2) Alu Kreuz - surprised how nicely it tightens up the front end
3) exhaust - still loving the APR RSC

Evlengr

Hmmmm, interesting. I wouldnt think people would want to tune it right away as there seems to be a good amount of power to play with and get used to.

And steering suspension would have been my first guess.

Ok, it seems tune first. Why? I am used to the hard tight control of a BMW, and reading the boards everyone seems to say the S4 is a great vehicle, but just is missing that little tweek of control in understeer.

hinckley

I've had an S4 for a week and had the Alu-Kreuz and JHM short-throw installed this morning. The Alu-Kreuz is a definate plus and worth the money, but the short-throw is crazy good.

I've been driving MTs (legally) for over 35 years and am a bit of stick-shift snob, and I think that the JHM is almost as good as the factory short-throw in my 911. And that car costs twice as much!! I liked the S4 a lot before today. I LOVE it now.

socfan12

To the OP, seems like you're interested in performance mods. Here's my top 3:

Performance Mods:
- tune/pulley
- Wheels/tires (lighter, stickier)
- BBK (especially if you intend to track - the first 2 you will feel even with street driving)


If you are also into cosmetic mods, these are the 3 I would choose:
- Wheels (transforms the car IMO)
- Exhaust (I consider this a cosmetic mod first, even though you do get some modest HP gains)
- Thicker steering wheel (flat bottom or not, the feel of a thicker steering wheel is addictive!)


Good luck with your choices!

Evlengr

Performance mods are more my style. I am stuck with a BMW X3 that I cant do anything with, not even a CAI. Absolutely mindnumbing.

I was a little dissapointed at first that the newer S4 requires the prestige pkg for the titanium wheels, but from what you all seem to indicate I will end up dumping them anyway?

I am definitely a MT type so a short throw will be in there at some point.

The Alu kruez seems like an inexpensive mod I can do on a weekend (my first job was working at a import body shop at 12 so I have always been a DIY type).

The tune/pulley: When they indicate second stage tune, does that mean I must pay for the first and second or can I jump right to the second and pulley (I'll let the pros handles this, I am an engineer, but want a good warranty and no experience with this).

Wheels? Are you saying wheels and tires? I will track this maybe once a year for fun, but mostly a DD. Will it really give me a good ROI?

And yes,the less flashy and faster the better (we used to call them sleepers when I was a kid).

helix139

There seem to be a few people that are being told the Ti package is unavailable for the remainder of MY2012 so you might want to check before you go prestige. Personally I like the Ti wheels.

It's needed, you won't regret it.

Absolutely, and the change in feel is definitely noticeable. Do this before any suspension mods.

You can jump right into the Stage II pulley and tune. Don't expect warranty help with your powertrain though. IMO, wait a few thousand miles before doing any mod that will potentially void the powertrain warranty, as there have been a couple of cases where engines have had some sort of manufacturing flaw and grenaded, however the chance of this happening after the first 10,000 or so miles is fairly small. After that, I feel pretty confident in saying the Stage I APR and Stasis/APR tunes are safe, and almost as confident that the Stage II is safe also.

Agreed here. These cars are at their best when modded in an understated manner, IMO. WRT wheels and tires, I'm running stock 19" Ti wheels and Michelin PSS. Lighter wheels would be nice, but are not essential in my book, and the OEM tires are plenty sticky summer tires.