[BiturboS4] Re: New to list, a little long

[Ti Kan]

Al Adler writes:
>     Thanks for the replies. I got the car jacked up today and got a good
> look at the tie rod problem. It turns out the dust boots are completely
> shot, and the tie rod joints are dry and loose. Not only that but a
> couple of the dust boots on the upper control arms are tearing open as
> well.  The tie rod ends are shot thats for sure, does anyone know if the
> dust boots for the upper control arms are available as a seperate part
> or should I be control arm shopping as well?

If you're talking about the hub carrier side of the control arms,
I don't think the joints are available as spare parts.  You will
probably need to replace whole control arms.

>     I have to say the throttle response and tranmission programming are
> very different from my A4 30v V6 Tip. The S4 seems much more sensitive
> to the same amount of movement in the gas pedal, more than just the
> turbos would account for - I've driven before and after turbo setups so
> I have some experience with that. I guess with the drive by wire they
> just programmed it different from the A4 which in my case actually has a
> real throttle cable. Also, the S4's brakes are touchy compared with the
> A4 as well. The rest of the car drives the same about the same allowing
> for the stiffer suspension. At the end of the day the S4 is a lot of
> fun compared with the A4.

Yeah, the S4 is simply tuned more aggressively from the factory than
the A4s.  I used to have an A4q 2.8 manual 5-sp as well, and the S4's
steering and clutch are higher effort, in addition to the stiffer
suspension.

>     I do have one last wheel question - does anyone know if any of the
> S4 AVUS clone wheels are any lighter than the stock wheels? The stock
> wheels  are heavy buggers, 28lb each, and I'm sure the handling would be
> improved with less unsprung weight. I like the appearance but they're
> just too heavy.

I've never measured the replicas but given that they are made from the
same material and construction, I'd expect them to weight about the same
as the OEMs.

-Ti
2003 A4 1.8T multitronic
2001 S4 biturbo 6-sp
1984 5000S turbo
1980 4000 2.0 5-sp
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