Featured Rides

Charlie’s Bagged RS4 on 20″ Rose Gold Rotiform SPF Wheels

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I discovered this month’s featured ride when the owner, Charlie Dunn (aka @charliedunnn on Instagram),  contacted me on my Facebook page to show me his RS6 grille mod that he did following one of my DIY guides. While Charlie suggested I add a pic of his car to the RS6 Grille DIY to show another example of what the end result looked like, I decided it was worthy of its own post all together, which brings us here. When I look for a car to feature I tend to seek cars that are unique and pack equal parts show and go, and this car definitely fits the bill.

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While the grille is certainly cool, the first thing you’ll notice about this car is the wheels and stance, so let’s start there. Charlie is rocking a full Airlift Performance air suspension with Accuair eLevel Management, combined with some breathtaking three-piece Rotiform SPF finished in Rose Gold Copper finish with Black lips and Black barrels in 20×10.5″ all around. They’re definitely attention grabbing, and the finish on the wheels works perfect with the otherwise understated all black exterior. The rest of the car follows a more subtle touch of modifications including the RS6 grille with a gloss black surround, blacked out headlights, and clear corners.

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Not to leave anything good enough, Charlie then added a handful of performance modifications allowing the RS4 to reach its full potential including a MRC Stage 2 tune, Tubi Exhaust, H&R rollbars, and more. This is not just a show car despite what the rose gold wheels might suggest, Charlie actually takes the car to the drag strip and has a 12.6 second personal best in the quarter mile. His favorite mod by far is the Non-Rumore Tubi exhaust plus the piggie pipes done at MRC, producing an absolutely savage V8 sound. Charlie says the sound of this system is not just his favorite on the RS4, but pretty much any other car in the world, and the exhaust note of the RS4 in general is what convinced him to buy the car in the first place.

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Like many of us, Charlie has always had a deep love for cars, and even wanted to be an automotive engineer since as a kid, although somewhere along the way he discovered computers and  ended up with a career in banking and financial analytics instead. The spirit of playing with cars carried on inside though, starting with his first car, a 2003 1.6 Mk4 Golf, which he’s had since his 18th birthday. While it was a great daily driver for nearly 10 years, by 2014 Charlie was looking for a more fun car, which is when he first heard a RS4 drive by at a car meet and fell in love with the sound (and I’m sure fellow RS4 owners know exactly what he’s talking about!). After some searching, he finally managed to find the perfect example;  an immaculate and completely unmolested 2006 Audi RS4 Saloon in Phantom Black, with only 29,000 miles on the clock. After the long drive taking the car home, he sat down in his living room and realized his RS4 had quadruple the horsepower of his previous car!

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Charlie has some future plans for the car including a complete interior makeover. As you’ll see Charlie’s car is a UK model, which means he already has the Sport Seats us Americans go crazy for, and he plans to eventually have the seatbacks wrapped in carbon fiber to make them even more drool-worthy. And since this isn’t just a show car, Charlie is considering going for the Stage 3+ APR supercharger kit, along with a beefier clutch/flywheel combo and BBK to support the added power.

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Charlie would like to give a special thanks to the following people for their help with the build:

  • The Fourinstance crew (IG: @fourinstance) for all their support and propping me up when I needed it the most (and ripping me a new one at every opportunity – cheers boys & girls).
  • Doug and his crew at MRC Tuning (IG: @dougatmrc) for his great job on the Stage 2 map work + mods, plus finding and fixing all sorts of issues that he didn’t need to.
  • Sohabe (IG: @shamstarpaint) for putting the custom grille together and helping me with its install. Unbelievable job and couldn’t be more pleased with the result.
  • Olly (IG: @olethalb) for installing the uprated anti-roll bars & air ride suspension in very short order.

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Photo Credits: G&G Photography, EdKeating Photography, and AviB Photography.

Nick Roshon

Nick has been an Audi owner and fanatic for the last 10 years, and started Nick's Car Blog in 2009 to share DIYs and pictures of his A4. Currently he drives a 2012 Audi TT-RS, and has previously owned a B7 S4, B7 A4, and an 82 Audi Coupe (GT) LeMons race car. In his day job, Nick is a digital marketer and lives in San Diego, CA, USA.

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