An Audi A4 Car Blog by Nick Roshon
I just finished installing LEDs on my B7 Audi S4 and wanted to share some pics and a quick DIY if you want to do it yourself. Above I’ve pictured the before & after, as you’ll see you get rid of that yellow-ish halogen with a super bright & clean cool white color from the LED. It takes about 10-20 minutes to install and luckily you don’t have to remove the bumper or headlights to install, you just have to wiggle your hands a bunch.
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I’ve owned the car just over two months, and as you might imagine I’ve wasted very little time in putting my personal touches on it and installing both aftermarket and OEM parts to enhance its looks and performance. I was lucky that a few of the aesthetic mods swapped over from my B7 A4, such as the Spoonfed Tuning Cupra R lip and the RS4 grille. I also did the (nearly free) clear corner mod, then I had my favorite body shop, Phoenix Collision and Custom Paint, match the trunk strip and paint the lower valence and filler plate matte black. I took some photos and will share more detail on each coming up…
I recently did the clear corner mod for my newly acquired S4 and now that I’ve done this mod four different times (twice for myself, twice for friends), I felt it was long overdue to write-up my process and share some tips. It’s not a tricky mod per say, but it does require you to take the bumper off so it does take some time and patience to line up everything back up when you’re done.
The basics are pretty easy – remove headlights, use a hair dryer or heat gun to loosen the glue, pull the headlight lens off, remove the amber reflector, replace with a clear reflector (optional), then put the headlights back on & reset the glue with the heat gun and reinstall everything. The devil is in the details, so we’ll get on to that next…
This is a REALLY cool mod submitted to me by a reader and all-around cool guy Richard Edwards (aka BigRich). He did this on his car and was nice enough to write-up the process and share it with us. This should work on any B7 including the non-s-line version, but is pictured above in the S-line/S4 bumper.
I was going to wait until after I got coilovers installed, but I got the itch to install my 19″ BBS CH Black Editions wheels this weekend and went ahead and gave it a shot. Normally I strongly recommend doing suspension before wheels, as it will make the wheels look 10x better, but at the same time it was killing me to just have a set of 19″ wheels sitting in my house unmounted. I also saw this thread on Audizine and saw a few cars on stock suspension but 19″ aftermarket wheels that didn’t look too bad, so I gave it a shot.
I just finished installing HID/Xenon Fog Lights on my B7 Audi S4 and it was super easy! The only tool you need is a T25 Torx bit and a pair of hands and you’re ready to go. I was worried I would have to remove the front bumper to do this, but luckily that was not the case. It took about 30 minutes to install the HID kit and is something that even a beginner DIYer should be able to tackle.
The HID kit I chose for my B7 (2005.5-2008) Audi S4 is made by XenTec and uses “slim” ballasts which makes them super easy to mount. The kit is about $40 which is pretty affordable, and you can pick a variety of colors depending on how bright you want them. I went with 6000k which is a nice, crisp white like the OEM bulbs. You can buy the kit from Amazon using the link to the right.
Below you’ll find a step-by-step guide on installing the HID kit on your B7 Audi A4 or S4.
Note: This applies to any B6 or B7 Audi cars including the A4, S4, RS4 in both sedan, avant and cabriolet forms. Coding changes should be the same for European cars although your starting codes/numbers may differ slightly.
Upon purchasing my 2006 S4, one of the first things I noticed was all of the annoying chimes! I had eliminated them through VAG-COM on my A4, but moving to a new car meant all of my VAG-COM mods were gone. This annoyance didn’t last long, as I plugged my handy VAG-COM cable from Ross-Tech into my car’s OBDII port and started changing codes. If you don’t have a cable, try to find a friend with one, invest in one yourself, or see if your local Audi/VW tuner can change these settings for you. The cable is a little expensive $300 to purchase, but also comes in super handy if you ever retrofit anything (like Recaro seats, navigation, bi-xenons, or any other parts your car didn’t originally come with) or you need to diagnose any check engine lights, reset the service light, or otherwise alter your cars’ settings.
As you know, I have custom carbon fiber trim by oCarbon installed on my Audi A4, so when I went to trade it in, I put the factory (OEM) trim back in so I could keep my carbon fiber trim for my S4. I took pictures of the whole process so I could create a trim removal guide. This applies to any B6 or B7 Audi in sedan or avant format (cabrio/convertible is different) including the A4, S4 and RS4. I used this guide as a basis (also worth a read) then elaborated on a few areas that needed a little more detail. By the way, if you want a new look for your trim, I highly recommend oCarbon – they are experts at what they do and can let you customize the carbon fiber color, weave & pattern to you’re liking. I went with a custom pattern called 5HS which you’ll see pictured below, and I think it came out awesome, just slightly more aggressive looking than OEM for that OEM+ look I know and love.
Today was a big day! I’m now the proud owner of a 2006 Audi S4. When I first saw her, I knew I had to buy it…she was everything I was looking for and then some. The vitals:
I knew looking for a red S4 in manual was going to be tough, then when I found one with ridiculously low miles, I acted quick. A big thanks to Brian McCauley at Audi North Scottsdale for an amazingly easy & hassle-free transaction.
Well, the time has come to move on from my beloved Audi A4. She was a great car and I’m really going to miss it – I learned a ton about modding, and really dialed in the car to where I wanted it. I had a ton of fun in the car too, from track days to shows to daily driving to and from work every day. My A4 was my first Audi, and it was such a great car I fell in love with the brand – my next car (and many more after that) are going to be Audis for sure.
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