LockOut

Hello everyone!
I recently purchased a brand new 2001 Santorin Blue Audi S4, and now that I have broke the 1000 mile marker, i wanted to invest in a chip. The problem is i know nothing of them. I only know that I have been told taht the APR is the best. CAn anyone give me any advice or imput? I would like to konw waht is the best type, how much it costs, if it's worth it. How much and what it does for my speed and acceleration, and how i can hide it from the dealership, to maintain my warranty. Thank you all very much. Oh yeah, by the way, I am from Pennsylvania.

Thank you for the help,

LockOut (Dave)

cdagza

top brands right now are GIAC which gives you raw power and APR which gives you smooth power.........one thing about the APR it gives you ecms controls..go check them out at goapr.com.....and giacusa.com or awe-tuning.com.......as for hiding it from the dealer it's either get a spare Ecu....but for the APR you can use the ecms control to put the car back to stock and the only way the dealer can find out about it is if he opens up the ecu...and since you can swtich it back to stock with cruise control the dealer might not now your car is chip........but try search around in the performance forum there is a lot of answers...

cpayne

I would suggest both MTM and ABT over APR...I believe that GIAC is the fastest, MTM and ABT the smoothest and safest for engine...

The R

LockOut, you can't go wrong with any of the chips suggested. I can sit here and tell you that APR is the best, the fastest, smoothest because that's what I have......but I won't.

You'll be happy with any of them.

LockOut

Thanks for the advice. I am currently planning on getting the APR. Are there any things you want to tell me about it? like about price? I am planning to go to a guy around here and he said ti will be no more than 800 dollers installed. I think it's a good deal and he is very good, i have seen other S4's he's done and they fly. He said that it does NOT void my warrenty. How do you get around that? The guy told me that it's possible to say i unhook my battery to get around it. Or i can simply turn my chip off. He said it comes with options. Anyone else with any helpful information please help me out too!

Any input will help,
LockOut (Dave)

cpayne

I have yet to see any other reviews besides the europeanspeed.com review. Based on these reviews the dyno graphs clearly show that GIAC pulls the hardest and highest in the higher RPM ranges...the MTM and ABT drop off at 5500 and the APR is somewhere in between. When I am looking for a chip I look for 3 things:
-1) Smoothness/Match to "stock" ECU powercurve
-2) Top-end torque and HP
-3) Reputation of the tuner (MTM/GIAC/ABT) all very well known

So does this mean that APR does not make "great" software? I dont think so...I just prefer to go for the sure thing and the tuner w/ longevity and long term track record.
As for my "facts" I never stated they were facts...as I say "I believe that...." in the previous post.

Just my 2 cents..take them as you wish...

Cheers

cpayne

Hey Dave...If you are going to get APR...I would suggest that you dont spend your money on some of the EMCS options...specifically the Stock Mode, Valet Mode. KEEP YOUR SPARE ECU for service..do not turn in your stock ECU. For service appts put your spare back in..clear Powerfault codes and confirm Readyness Codes. With all the Warranty Issues going around..you dont want to waste your time arguing w/ the the OTS on your chip.

Again just my 2 cents....

LockOut

Thank you very much for the help. Is it hard to install and take it out each time? I have read in Max Power some breif instructions. This month's issue covers the APR and the S4 in detail it appears. Does this affect the car in any way by constantly switching ECU's?

LockOut (Dave)

cpayne

It really is a piece of cake...just do it in clean way not goobing up the screws or the 5th screw which can be pain in the ***. Change the ECU on a constant basis does not effect the car in a negative format. However you do loose the information that is stored on the ECU after running the car for some time..thus in needs to "relearn" the information each time you replace the chip. However my concern w/ the EMCS is that any "knowledgeble" dealer will know how to access the EMC features via your crusecontrol and know you are chipped regardless if you are in stock or mod mode...when the password prompt comes up....

The R

That test was so fouled up. They had more problems than a little bit. I mean the dyno didn't even work right on the day the tested...then they retested the GIAC on a different day. I wouldn't use that test to judge anything. From your post someone would think that APR is not well known in the Audi community or has a bad rep which we know is untrue. That was the main problem I had with it. I am not trying to flame you so I hope you don't take it that way. I just want others with less knowledge to have all the facts so they can make quality decisions on what's best for them. I like seeing what a chip does in the real world....and my APR runs good. I mean 13.4s @ stage 1 on pump gas and down to 13.1 now at Stage 2 on race gas....that's the proof I like to see.

I honestly don't believe there really is any significant difference between the four best respresented chip brands (APR, MTM, GIAC, AMS/ABT).

There's my 2 cents now Lockout has 4 cents to play with.

Rob