TT mods in WA

[bigal]

:lol: Finally bought myself a TT (2000 quattro model with 45,000km for $66,000). What a car. My next project is to modify the beast with a power chip and exhaust. All the articles I've read deal with eastern states based retailers. Does anyone know of any good (if any?) dealers in Perth, Western Australia - both with chipping and exhaust.
Thanks guys

 

[Aussie Audi Guy]

APR Dealer will be set up in December in Western Australia, otherwise drop into Audi Centre Perth - they can help steer you in the right direction as well..

 

[bigal]

Thanks guys. Might wait until APR setup here in December; not in a hurry. Might have a chat to Drew at the Audi Centre who sold me the car.

 

[OzeTT]

I've never had problems with Audi dealers/Service centres and chips. They have always been very fair. However, while admiring the RS6 at the Sydney Motor Show, I turned to my better half and said words to the effect of "imagine the power output with a chip if its already 331kw". Immediately the gorgeous model in the Collette Dinnigan dress standing next to the car turned around and smiled at me I looked at my wife as if this was a daily occurence :lol: The model trotted out "You can't do that, that will completely void your warranty". When I enquired politely if that would be the engine/driveline only, she repeated her first sentence. She didn't have any deeper grasp of warranty issues other than that line. I overheard a similar conservation around the 140kw A4 1.8T.

It was obvious that Audi had prepped their models on the stand to highlight their opinion against chipping, and I wonder if this is a deliberate change in attitude. Previously a blind eye was the prevailing mood at most service centres. I therefore find it interesting that a dealer in WA would be actively promoting chipping.

 

[XXX-1.8T]

I love it how Audi brainwash these models into what chipping is - they have no idea.

To confuse her u should have said ' so eating chips voids my warranty '

 

[Aussie Audi Guy]

I dont think any dealer would actually "promote" chipping, but they do like to sell cars, and keep customers happy!

It was interesting the comments at the motorshow!

I have heard a lot of stuff about anti chipping, the Can-Bus 9 electronic system being introduced, the resin filled ecu's which can not be pulled apart, but I think the biggest one is cars with no turbo's!

 

[Lima]

When I was at Audi Centre Sydney last week they told me that they will not trade/sell a car if it has been chipped. Now, I wasn't too sure that you could actually tell, but I spose soldering could give it away. Hmm, maybe that is one benefit of the piggy back Unichip. Looks like APR's technology is on to a winner there.

For the record I have told my local VW dealer that I have the Unichip fitted and they have never given me any grief.

:wink:

Liam

 

[Lima]

Oh, bigal, congrats on the TT dude.

I'd look into a few other products before you settle on PowerChip too. I've never had one, but I have heard they are not the best. Likewise with Unichip, only I figured that out the hard way! :? Having said that there is an PowerChipped A3T that lives near me and it seems to go okay.

 

[sv8791]

TT Chips

Congratulations BigAl.

I too was looking at chipping my TT, but decided against it in the end (I was satisfied with car's performance and I couldn't be bothered with all the hassles of a dealer...it's hard enough to get them to a do a service properly).

I spoke to three Audi dealers about chipping. Here is what they had to say (without publicly mentioning names):

Dealer 1 - Told me to forget about it. They said the car maintains a log of chips being removed, replaced or reset. If there was any warranty issue, Audi would ask for the log and would not allow repairs to be carried out under warranty. The guy was pretty upset that I mentioned the C-word. I thought he was going to send Audi my name and rego to dobb me in. :lol:

Dealer 2 - Told me it's not looked upon favourably, but is a grey area. He went on to say that I should only buy MTM, nothing else! He gave me the retailer's name, a contact, and phone number.

Dealer 3 - Told me if a problem occured with the car with an aftermarket chip fitted, and if the same problem was still experienced with the factory ECU then he would carry out the repair under warranty. Though he told me to avoid Unichip, but look at Oettinger, Wett etc as they work cloesly with the factory.

It seems Audi is spreading the word, but it still seems to be a matter of personal opinion.

 

[bigal]

Thanks for the welcome guys. The problem I have now is that my wife wants to drive it all the time. Funny, couldn't get a drive of her BMW before!!!
Anyway, my car is out of warranty so chipping/exhaust modifications isn't a problem. The reason I'm looking at doing this is that the turbo doesn't really kick in until 3000rpm and when taking off slowly the engine can feel quite sluggish.

Finally, I was on the APR website looking at the exhaust modification. Their exhaust runs from the catalytic converter onwards. Would there be much power gain by running the exhaust from the engine/turbo. ie 2.5" all the way through (with or without the catalytic converter - yes I am aware of the legalities of this)

Thanks again everyone. :wink:

 

[Aussie Audi Guy]

Hi Al,

Good to see howw much information you can get out of here - and views from people all over the country.... All you have to do is wade through it all!

On the Cat Converter issue, if you have a look at the S4 exhausts on the website, they sell their's with a "test" pipe that removes the cats, it good for an extra 15-20hp, but is for "testing" purposes only. If run on a race track, (or non highway use) APR have a program which ignores the warnings from the Cat sensors (which on this model, only bring up the check engine light). Apparently a few US oeners forget to put their cats back on when they are finished at the track. If they ever got caught in a roadside emmisions test they would be in trouble.

On the TT, the cat is an awkward one to replace - not sure if anyone has done it here yet. Hope this info helps!