MENUTuning the Audi S5
"Ta for reading this Audi S5 tuning guide."
A high performance version of the A5, was very well setup and provided with some choice engines and equipment.
The larger wheels, and brakes and sportier body styling add up to make this an impressive car but you can still tune it and improve it further.
2010–2012 years the models had different power plants, namely the Coupe with it's 4.2-litre Fuel Stratified Injection (FSI) V8 engine 350hp and the Cabriolet and Sportback 4.2 FSi V8 350hp & in 2010-2012 Cabriolet and Sportback with the supercharged 3.0 V6 329hp.
Engine versions offered in the S5
- 3.0 L CAKA/CCBA V6 TFSI EA837
- 3.0 L CWGD V6 TFSI
- 4.2 L CAU V8 FSI
Model designations for the S5 from 2007 to 2017
- S5 B8/8T (2007–2012)
- S5 B8.5/8.5T (2013–2017) This was a mild facelift version with some subtle styling changes and interior equipment tweaks.
- S5 B9 (2017–present)
The S5 is a brilliant project car to execute. Plan ahead and research S5 tuning to save yourself making the usual costly slip ups we see.
Handling/Suspension upgrades
Handling modifications are the thing most do first for the S5.
Good suspension tweaks that usually enhance handling for the S5 include a couple of degrees negative camber and 1-1.5 degrees of toe in or out on the front wheels. Toe in for stability, or Toe out to improve cornering. It would also pay to improve the brakes, by adding larger discs and or higher friction pads..
We would go to a maximum drop of 30mm - 35 mm. on most models. You risk grounding out if you go lower than this.
Don't just look at the peak power figures, you need to see the whole torque curve when determining if a mod is right for you S5.
Smaller engines do not provide much of a return in terms of power so start with a bigger engine. Engine swaps are a good option if you have a small engine size.
Tuning modifications.
These mods modified upgrades are usually fitted by our members, decide how far you wish to go in your tuning project before you get going.
Coupé
- 2007–2012
4,163 cc V8 (CAUA) 349 hp at 6,800 rpm 325 lbft at 3,500 rpm - 2013–2017
2,995 cc V6 supercharged (CAKA, CCBA) 329hp at 5,500-7,000 rpm 325 lbft at 2,900-5,300 rpm
Cabriolet, Sportback
- 2009–2016
2,995 cc V6 supercharged (CAKA, CCBA) 329 hp at 5,500-7,000 rpm 325 lbft at 2,900-5,300 rpm
Cabriolet Sportback and Coupe
- 2017–present
- 2,995 cc V6 twin-scroll turbocharged (CWGD) 2349 hp at 5,400-6,400 rpm 369 lbft at 1,370-4,500 rpm
Getting the right motorsport modifications for your planned usage of the car is essential. Stage 3 (competition) mods just won't work well on the road and will make the car undrivable.
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How to tune your car
- Improve the handling
Focus on Suspension improvements, such as coilovers and make sure the bushings are in good order and that the alignment is correct. Then focus on improving the brakes, with a big disk brake conversion kit and fast road brake pads.
- Remove restrictions
Focus on the intake and exhaust with filters being the common point of restriction in a tuned car. Intercoolers may also become restrictive on turbo engines so this may also need to be uprated.
- Burn more fuel & air
Increase the fuelling so it matches the air coming into the engine. The ratio is important so you need to improve the fuel pump and injectors, so the head mods, big valve conversions, fast road camshafts and forced induction upgrades extra supply of air is adequately met.
- Test and replace any weak parts
Weak areas are commonly the clutch, the turbocharger and pistons and crankshaft in a highly tuned engine. Makes sure these components will cope with your power aspirations.
- The Tune or Remap
A cars ECU controls the fuel, timing, spark and even the turbo in some cases, so to fully extract your gains you should remap the car last and this will fully release the power. Some cars are easy to map, and others require piggyback ECU's or aftermarket ECU's but this is the most vital step of your tuning project.
Modifying to Stage 1:
Remap, Lighter flywheel, Alloy wheels, Panel air filter, Sports exhaust, Suspension upgrade (drop 30mm - 35 mm.).
Modifying to Stage 2:
Power/Sport clutch, high flow fuel injector, fuel pump upgrades, Fast road cam, Ported and polished head.
Modifying to Stage 3:
Competition cam, Adding or upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Internal engine upgrades (pistons/head/valves), Engine balancing, Sports gearbox.
We saw a 3.0 TFSi engine pushed to 700nm of torque with some of the following choice parts
- AWE Supercharger Pulley (57.55mm)
- Kustom Imports LW Crank Pulley 200mm
- Tampa Autosports Ported & Polished Blower
- Porsche 997 Throttle Body with iAbed TB Adapter
- AEM Stage II Meth Kit with Snow Solenoid
Peak power is nice in motorsport but for a drivable and fun car you need a long torque band and perhaps extending the rev range.
In this article we shall give a little insight into the world to the best mods for your car, but we'd encourage you to spend some time on the site looking into the details of each type of performance mod.Fast road cams offer one of the biggest performance gains for your money as far as a bolt on motorsport parts goes on a NASP engine.
It maximises the intake and exhaust flow and increases the power if done right. Ideally you'd add other mods and finish up with a performance chip. TorqueCars would caution you not to go with a motor sports profile cam as this affects the engines idling and general town driving characteristics.
You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so will need to pay attention to the fuelling. Flex Fuel LPFP + Walbro 450 lift pump have been used to good effect on the S5.
Frequently power losses, and erratic idling after tuning modifications are done can usually be traced to fuel delivery or timing issues. To get sufficient fuel you may need to uprate the injectors on your engine.
If you've uprated your fuelling with bigger injectors you will also need to get a bigger fuel pump to supply it.
Intake and Exhaust Tuning.
Now we move on to the intake and exhaust and ensure proper flow through the engine. Induction kits will only help to increase power if your air intake is struggling! Adding an induction kit to most standard engines will see NO LOW END POWER GAIN AT ALL. If you have heavily modified your engine and it's need for air INCREASES DRAMATICALLY then an induction kit is the answer and will help remove this restriction.
Induction kits can work well on turbo engines and larger engines (if supplied with a suitable cold air feed or air box), generally though we'd just recommend for S5 engines you should just fit a performance panel air filter preferably made from cotton.
Sports exhausts can usually air flow from the engine but do not go too large or you may end up will reduce the flow rate. Stick to 1.5 to 2.5 inches as a rule of thumb.
Head work including a head port and polished and 3 or 5 angle valve job will really help to release the potential of the engine. A good heavy duty fast road sports clutch will help to keep that power going where it should. Never make false economies or expect your standard OEM clutch to cope. The best mods in our opinion for your S5 are fast road camshaft, remap, induction and exhaust, suspension.
A remapped turbo will give big power gains and fully release the potential power of the engine. Despite the large cost involved adding forced induction to a NASP engine will give large power gains. Superchargers are generally easier to add than a turbo. It is difficult to map fuelling with a turbo as the boost comes on exponentially with rpm.
It is simpler to map a supercharger because the boost is proportional to engine speed on a linear curve. To cope with forced induction you will usually need to decrease the compression ratio of the engine .
Alloy wheel upgrades.
Because alloys are lighter they improve performance and they can help to cool the brake disks. Don't forget that your choice of rubber greatly affects your cars grip and handling. It is not worth compromising performance with cheap tyres when you can buy directional tread pattern performance tires.Large S5 alloys can decrease performance. If you get big alloys you will be changing your final drive ratio.
Although some people have installed larger rims without problems we would restrict ourselves to a 19 inch rim size as the maximum although if we are honest we much prefer the handling feel of 18's on this chassis.
For more information on Tuning your car please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss S5 options in more detail with our S5 owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased Audi tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.
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We love to hear what our visitors have got up to and which mods work best for them on each model of car. Comments are used to improve the accuracy of these articles which are continually updated.
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