This month’s featured ride is courtesy of photographer Brandon Bailey (@brandonbaileydp) and is a super clean 2008 Audi A4 modified to have OEM DTM bumpers, 3SDM006 Wheels, and an Airlift Air Suspension. It’s a show stopper, but what is most impressive is the custom paint.
This heavily modified B7 Audi A4 is owned by Izzy who goes by @rallyered_b7 on Instagram. The car was originally silver, but repainted to be Rallye Red as part of his extensive list of modifications. It looks similar to Brilliant Red which is an OEM Audi color, but just a shade different and was never available as a factory color on any Audi or VW. It’s a difference most people won’t notice, but is something that sets it apart and makes it one-of-a-kind, literally.
What I like most about this car is a nice mix of OEM parts, performance parts, and “show” parts, giving it the full package – it also has great attention to detail, such as the custom matching RS4 foglight covers and RS4 grille. It also has fog lights built into the DTM bumper, which wasn’t a factory option but is something you can DIY if you take your time and have good attention to detail.
Performance wise the owner upgraded to APR Stage 2+ which consists of a tune, test pipe, intake and high pressure fuel pump. APR modifications are notoriously dangerous and known to blow up Audi motors, but sadly many people still install them on their car because they don’t know better. I hope Izzy switches to a new tune soon, or he’s likely to need an engine soon.
To round out the performance upgrades he added an AWE Quad Tip exhaust, RS4 Sway Bars, and S4 front brakes. The AWE exhaust sounds great, and the RS4 sway bars are one of my favorite mods for the platform.
While the car certainly has plenty of go, it has some nice exterior upgrades too – most notably the 18×9.5 3SDM wheels that were powdercoated vintage gold that have just the right amount of poke thanks to 15mm spacers and an air-ride setup with Airlift V2 autopilot management. They are cool wheels and in just the right color to pop against the custom rally red paint without looking too showy, either. Most importantly he nailed the fitment so that the wheels poke out just past the fenders without being over the top. As anyone who has stanced a car will tell you, it takes a lot of patience and measurements to get this just right, but he’s really dialed it in here.
Inside, the car has more modest upgrades including a boost gauge and carbon fiber trim, but the trunk was finished beautifully showcasing the polished air tanks yet retaining some functionality/storage in the rear. The air suspension looks like a work of art, and too many hours just hide the wires and tank in the spare tire compartment rather than going the extra mile to wire everything professionally and really show it off. The hard wiring also improves the performance of the system, another nice touch that makes this build special.
You can check out more photos of this car here. The owner Izzy as well as the photographer Brandon are part of MassVAG VW/Audi club in Massachusetts and the car is known to hit the local show circuit.
Mod List
- DTM front and rear bumper
- Rs4 foglight covers
- Rs4 grille
- S4 calipers
- 3sdm006 18×9.5 15mm spacers powdercoated vintage gold
- Falken 512 225/40 all around
- AWE quad tip exhaust
- APR down pipe
- APR intake
- APR stage 2+ tune
- APR high pressure fuel pump
- P3 cars boost gauge
- Airlift v2 autopilot
- Rs4 sway bars
- Interior 4d cf wrapped trim
Brandon & Izzy put together a cool video showing the car in action, including the functionality of the air ride system and how cool the wheels look while rolling:
new to your site. great place for ideas. owned a 2003 A4 avant 3.0, 2004 passat wagon and currently 2008 A4 sedan. that red was color i always thought of getting, just awesome color!
i thought you had to upgrade your engine to use a high flow fuel pump. true?
@Andre – I can answer that for him…no need to upgrade your engine, but you’ll want a new tune when you upgrade the fuel pump so it can take advantage of the capabilities, which APR calls Stage 2+ and GIAC calls something else but has a similar program.