BlueCat_A6_allroad

After reading in this forum about aftermarket engine tuning results I decided to investigate. The idea of boosting my S7 to 550HP is appealing. There appears to be several choices available. I pasted them below. There could be more but I stopped at that point. The top three are most appealing to me and I am close to deciding on APR.

In communicating with a local APR dealer I learned that Audi dealers often flash new ECU software during routine service. This, of course, erases the APR (or other) aftermarket ECU software. My local dealer charges 1/2 hour of labor to reinstall.

I am concerned about voiding all or part of my factory warranty and the extended warranty after that. The APR dealer describes the risk as low but would not state conclusively that the Audi dealer cannot detect the tune. There is some risk. The important thing is to set the program to factory mode when taking the car in for service. The APR dealer is also an independent Audi service center that honors my extended warranty. That is a perfect solution once the factory warranty expires.

The APR site has me confused about factory specs for the 2014 S7. The site lists 480HP at the crank and 420HP at the wheels. Audi lists 420HP without qualification. I thought manufacturers always listed HP at the crank. The APR site also lists 0-60MPH timing at 4.0 seconds while Audi lists 4.5. These specs are using 93 octane fuel. Any info about this?

Tuning Products
------------------
APR
APR Audi S6/S7 4.0 TFSI V8 ECU Upgrade

GIAC
GIAC|Software for Audi ® 4.0 Turbo

Revo
REVO Stage 1 Software for a AUDI S7 4.0 TFSI | REVO, Race Bred Adrenaline

SKN
SKN Tuning ChipTuning EcoTuning Turbo Kompressor MILLTEK Auspuff Fahrwerk Bremse CHIP & ECO

Sportec
http://www.sportec.ch/page9995.html

ABT
Engine technology

Unitronic
(S7 product under development)
Performance software for Audi S7 4.0L TFSI stage1 by Unitronic

Stasis
No S7 product
Engine Tuning | STaSIS ::: Race Bred Adrenaline

jasonlitka

Audi dealers absolutely CAN detect that a tune is installed on your vehicle. They MAY be able to tell whether or not a tune was ONCE installed and that your car has now been flashed back to stock.

If you are not willing to potentially give up your warranty then do not even think about modifying your car.

As to your other questions, manufacturers do list crank HP numbers. They also sometimes lie. The 4.0T in the S6/S7 is underrated, a lot.

The 0-60 numbers posted by Audi are true 0-60 numbers, plus a little padding for safety. The 0-60 numbers posted by APR are likely from a drag strip and include 1ft of rollout. This drops the time by about 0.3s because you're really doing a run from 3-60, not 0-60.

jkwelsh

If an Audi dealer detects any modifications to the engine software, then its flagged on the vehicle service register (held on the central car database in Germany and linked to the chassis number) This will invalidate any OEM drivetrain warranty you may have. It could also make it difficult to trade you car in to a dealer for a new vehicle in the future, as the dealer will automatically check the vehicle history.

I dont know of any vendor upgrade where they will give you a replacement non OEM warranty for the drivetrain (inc gearbox) after you have upgraded to their product.

We all know the engines are virtually bullet proof, and can certainly handle additional power, the question is whether you want to carry the risk yourself or not?

treeznbreez20

APR tuning is the way to go if you are trying to unlock some extra hp and torque, its quite a significant amount according to the APR website. As far as warranty concerns go, the dealership I go to has its own in-house performance shop where customers can go for tunes, exhausts, wraps etc. They offer an APR flash tune for the S7, before a maintenance you just go by and they uninstall it and after the maintenance they put it back on. The flash tune goes undetected because you are just adjusting the computer settings, if you get component upgrades like pulleys (APR stage 2) you'll have issues with your warranty. One last thing, hp numbers listed by Audi are the lowest possible hp output in the highest drivable altitudes. Decreased oxygen levels in higher altitudes offer less performance and Audi definitely does not want their cars to underperform their listed values, so as a safe guard they give you the lowest possible hp output. So no matter if you're driving in the desert or the mountains, your output will never go under the listed value. My S7 is on order and should be here in a few weeks, I plan on APR flash tuning the car after the 5000 mile service.

Scooby_S7

I am also thinking about the APR tune let me know how it goes, I get my S7 in I November. I plan have it installed At Griffin motorwerkes
in Berkeley.