sendmeone

I have read this in another forum DIY - Link and thought I would make a step by step visual guide to help anyone in need of this functionality. I take NO credit in this besides making the guide. Thanks to all who have contributed.

I have attached the PDF for your review, I performed this mod in my vehicle which is a 2012 S4 (B8) Prestige with S-tronic. Good luck and I hope it helps someone out there

zulujams

Great job on this sendmeone! I have been thinking about trying this since I don't have ADS. You've covered everything for enabling ADS for the engine in MMI and even warned users about how to count bits from right to left, well done.

Have you tried this for setting ADS on the steering too? Byte 8, bit 2 is for enabling the engine, while byte 8, bit 3 is for steering according to those other posts. The posts got confusing at times, but I think adjusting channels 63 through 66 cover all four components: engine, steering, suspension, and sports diff. I don't know which ones do what though. Anyone know if steering and suspesion adjustments on a non-ADS car would do anything or was the hardware different too when ADS is added with the factory dashboard switches? I don't have the sports diff (lame, I know), so that part won't do anything for me.

sendmeone

Thanks! I did not enable the steering option, but I assume I can. I can tell you this, when in Dynamic mode my throttle response is WAYYYY better and the steering is much stiffer than in Comfort mode. I was testing it yesterday night on my way home from work and I was able to notice the changes.

The comfort mode has a bit of a lag on the throttle and the steering wheel feels more loose, as if it was being over powered/steered.

I am going to try to make the change you have stated and see if I notice a difference in the MMI. Will post my findings.

sendmeone

zulujams, do you know what changes if you modify the Charima under the CarMenuOperation menu from 1 to 5?

I have read on some posts that in some vehicles it needs to be at 5 and other in 1. I did the change this morning and didn't notice a difference between one and the other.

ezveedub

First off, a car without ADS does not have the variable steering column, so maybe only the steering assist for the Servotronic is being increased and decreased. Also, you don't have electric variable rate struts/shocks that change their dampening rate like on the actual ADS option. What these leaves is only the driving program for engine and transmission and maybe on S4s, a change in the Sport diff. So in reality, your just doing the same thing as switching from "D" to "S" mode on the shifter.

sendmeone

Thanks for the clarification, but from my experience I did not notice the tightness in the steering when I was switching to "S" mode. It is noticeably different to the point that one who drives my vehicle can notice the difference.

ezveedub

Yes, the changes you made are possibly designed to work with the changes to the variable steering rate in the column. If you've driven an ADS car, you will notice the steering wheel takes rotation in a left or right turn than a non-ADS car. With your changes, it would have lighter steering in Comfort and heavier steering in Dynamic if assume correctly based off my experience using the system. In general, speed affects this also. Lighter steering at low speeds, heavier steering at highway speeds. The variable steering column also changes it rate also on ADS cars with speed.

zulujams

Sorry, not sure on that! Some other changes in the hidden menu such as ambient lighting and battery meter need to be set to 5, but I don't know why '5' and not just 0 vs 1. It is probably ok to try it out and just make notes of where you started from in case you need to go back. I ignored this change early on but then started reading up on it again here and at AZ and printed out some details to try soon. Hoping to try some of it this weekend.

Thanks ezveedub. I wasn't sure if the overall hardware was the same and buyers had to 'enable' added functionality by buying the ADS switch and cabling installed or if the hardware really did change.

sendmeone

Ok I have enabled a couple of more Bits and all it displayed was the Steering and Suspension, which does not make a difference to me since I dont have the hardware installed, but maybe ezveedub can elaborate a little more on it if needed. (Picture Attached)

ezveedub, thanks again for the knowledge

zulujams

Cool! Early posts on this said you could only make hard changes with vagcom and would have to go back in with the cable every time you wanted to change it. Glad to see you really can set it up in MMI. I'm guessing that you did things correctly with the question about a 1 versus a 5 in the hidden menu. If you didn't do it correctly, I don't think it would even show up right in MMI. I had a hard time with ambient lighting for awhile...got it to show in MMI so I did the hidden menu right, but I messed something else up so the option was grayed out in MMI. All fixed now. Sendmeone, now we just need to trade up for the missing hardware ;-) Did I see that you may be doing something like that b/c of issues? I'd love to trade up but for now I'm facing home repairs/upgrades and possibly a new vehicle for the wife very soon.