# 2008 Audi TT 3.2L VR6 :: Build Thread of Sorts :: Photos & Videos!



## Shaka (May 20, 2001)

While replying to another thread on these forums I came to realize the only posts I had really made on the Vortex here lately were items for sale. All of my tinkering with the TT we bought my wife in the spring time was happening on my local VW/Audi club forums. So it seemed like as good a time as any heading into fall that I post up a little recap of what we put together. Here goes!










We came across a 2008 Audi TT 3.2L VR6 Quattro and my wife loved it, so we traded in her barely half-year-old 2012 VW Beetle 2.0T Launch Edition. Both cars are DSG, but somehow the DSG trans works nicer on the VR6. FWIW, the TT was 4-years old but only had ~8k miles when we got it (as of today, 12k miles). This is pretty much how the car looked in stock form. At this point the only real cosmetics were the tint already on car when we got it, and the front plate delete OEM piece. This is being dropped off at my buddy's shop ( Global Garage - www.globalgarage.biz in Akron, Ohio) to have suspension installed. Just some H&R springs over the stock struts/shocks.










Once lowered the local Audi dealership did an alignment. At this point the car had the springs, and a sprinkling of other silly mods: iPod Adapter, SAT radio tuner, monster mats, yellow fog bulbs, heck I even updated the NAV DVD that was a few years old. But of course the big item the car really needed to transform it was wheels/tires.... 



















So naturally I bought some! Found them on eBay for a great price. They are 19x9 ET35 (est) Kinesis K59 wheels, 5x112 and HB 57.1 so bolt and go ready for a nice fit on an Audi. Picked up some 245/35-19 Sumitomo HTR ZIII tires and had them mounted/balanced .... and this is how they turned out:














































(Special thanks to Jason @ www.ftmimages.com for his amazing work on these photos!)

Although I was REALLY happy with how the car looked at this point, there was something missing. The car was a bit too quiet and just didn't have that aggressive nature that I wanted. Although it took some convincing (since this is the wife's car but the "family toy"), we finally agreed on a few go-fast bits to make the car a little more exciting.










First things first, we took the car to C2 Motorsports ( www.c2motorsports.net ) to have them do a chip tune. They put the car on the dyno and got about 10% gains in HP/TQ to the wheels. Check out the video below....






Once we got the car back home it was a night-and-day difference. Drive-ability is super improved with better MPGs, excellent throttle response, and a smoother and more linear driving experience. And the extra power between 2500-4500 rpm is VERY noted around town when driving. Per the dyno graphs that they showed me this made sense as the torque area under the curve in those ranges was just amazing. Overall VERY happy with what C2 can do .. and strongly suggest them for chip tuning your VR6 vehicle!!!

After that, we decided the car needed a bit more growl so we did an Agency Power cat-back exhaust for the car. You can see the photos I sent them and info here:
http://www.agency-power.com/blog/ag...customer-installs-ap-exhaust-on-audi-tt-3-2l/
^^^ good install photos there, and a link to exhaust when it first went on

We did note that the exhaust had a tinny sort of noise at first that went away after "Broken in" -- it sounded much better after. Although I didn't re-take the free-rev video, I did get a FEW videos in after that of the car driving around. My favorite below:






You can search from that video into my other vids and you'll see others of the car driving around. It isn't quite as good sounding as an R32 for sure, but it sounds great, deep, throaty. It doesn't drone bad, but around town windows down if you hold a low gear it will. Luckily for me the DSG tends to put me in 5/6th gears around town so it never drones. If the car was a 6MT then perhaps that would be different but you can still choose your own gear. We drove the car to Ocean City MD and back and even my wife, who doesn't like noisy cars, said it was okay. So if it passed the wife-test, it is okay!!!

While doing the exhaust I did a motor mount red torque mount insert, as well as a used Neuspeed Rear SwayBar from a friend of mine (who sold it to me via Vortex, too!). Really love the sharper turn-in and more instant steering response the RSB allows for at-speed. I hope to maybe track the car next year so I'll have better reports back on the RSB but it gets great reviews. I have it set to tighter/stiffer of two options, FYI.

Just before heading off we decided to upgrade the brakes. I did a FULL write-up that you can read here:
http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?5850511
^^^ tons of info/pictures of the brake upgrade there too!!!!

With the brake upgrades done, it was time to head to H2O. We took 2nd place for MILD in the Audi TT category, and quite happy with that. My wife LOVES the car (Although she complains all the time I get to drive it more than her, haha). But hey, as long as she enjoys it one way or the other we're happy. It is a great car, one of the first "projects" I've had in a while that makes me smile every time I drive it.

Sadly, I'm out of mod ideas... boost would be nice next, but that just doesn't financially fit the picture. Oh well .... anyhow, enjoy!!


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## manuel (Dec 4, 2000)

Great looking car! Also, you did a great write up. Which kind of software upgrade you had? I just had a TTRS front grille installed and the car looks mean. You should consider it to complement your awesome looking TT. 

Keep posting pictures and lets keep this thread alive! 

Thanks


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## Shaka (May 20, 2001)

manuel said:


> Which kind of software upgrade you had? I just had a TTRS front grille installed and the car looks mean. You should consider it to complement your awesome looking TT.


Thank you for the compliments and suggestions. I like the grille setup as is but the TTRS one is awesome too. Appreciate the thoughts. 

Software is from C2 Motorsports and was done on my car both as R&D for a mass available program but also specific to our car. It is a 93 octane NA street profile type program which saw ~20 whp added in FWD mode. Overall the estimated crank power is 275 now. Hope this answers your questions. Cheers!


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## xBassi (May 26, 2011)

nice post especially since its a 3.2.. i definetly have been thinking about this c2 ecu tune but there are no dealers in nevada. it is cheaper than the apr tune as well..


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## Shaka (May 20, 2001)

xBassi said:


> nice post especially since its a 3.2.. i definetly have been thinking about this c2 ecu tune but there are no dealers in nevada. it is cheaper than the apr tune as well..


Call Chris @ C2. He might have a dealer who will be at SEMA in a few weeks. And if so, they could chip you there perhaps? Just throwing out ideas. 

I'm a HUGE APR fan. Had their stage 3 kit on my 1.8T and loved it. But when it comes to VR6 performance that's where I still think C2 shines more. And like you said better price!


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## manuel (Dec 4, 2000)

Any dealers in South Florida?


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## xBassi (May 26, 2011)

great idea.. sema is on the way to vegas.. ill def find chris number to see how we can get this done!

update: they said they wont be doing ecu tunes at sema.. lame!


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## Shaka (May 20, 2001)

Bummer they can't tune at SEMA. Like I said I've been happy with tune so hopefully you can get it too. 

For the person asking about Florida dealers, call C2 direct. I don't work for them, not sure what shops they use down that way. Cheers!


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## manuel (Dec 4, 2000)

I'm planning on going to Fixxfest. I'm hoping that either C2 or UM would be present at the show.


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## RFKenny (Nov 17, 2010)

Thanks a lot for this write up. :thumbup:

How satisfied are you with your exhaust note? How do you think it compared to others in the price range (Magnaflow and Megan)?


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## Shaka (May 20, 2001)

RFKenny said:


> Thanks a lot for this write up. :thumbup:
> 
> How satisfied are you with your exhaust note? How do you think it compared to others in the price range (Magnaflow and Megan)?


Exhaust note is really nice. I've never heard the other ones in person only online videos. I'm sure the Magnaflow sounds better but wasn't worth twice the price to me. I opted for this one based on price. Compared to Megan those weren't in stock anywhere. So the Agency Power was in stock and was the right price for me. Hope that all made sense haha...


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## RFKenny (Nov 17, 2010)

Shaka said:


> Exhaust note is really nice. I've never heard the other ones in person only online videos. I'm sure the Magnaflow sounds better but wasn't worth twice the price to me. I opted for this one based on price. Compared to Megan those weren't in stock anywhere. So the Agency Power was in stock and was the right price for me. Hope that all made sense haha...


It did, thanks for the response.

I'm on Ebay and it looks like this:
$485 Megan
$550 Agency Power
$707 Magnaflow

It looks like I might be following in your footsteps


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## Shaka (May 20, 2001)

Yeah I called the eBay sellers. Anyone who listed the Megan wanted 3+ weeks lead time. And I was not sure how I felt about the funny blue tips. So instead bought direct from Agency Power and got $575 shipped for their exhaust. Fits perfect and sounds great. I'd buy it again. Cheers!!


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## Ritt Der Walkuren (Mar 30, 2016)

Acquired one of these fine rides last week, 109K. Wondering what, if any, performance mods anyone has done beyond a Stage 1 tune. I have looked at VR6 turbos and they look interesting.


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