New A1 Owner here

[Tink]

Hi All

Just thought I'd join the forum and say hi .

1st time Audi owner here. Got a lovely little A1 a few weeks ago.

Its a 1.4 TFSI 150bhp S Line Black Edition. Nice pan roof, came with full Audi dealer history, its on a 17plate originally it was an Audi garage demo car and was sold onto a little old lady who put about 500 miles on it a year. When i picked it up it had 6800 miles on the clock so did under 1000 miles a year on average.

I've joined a few FB Audi groups but they all seem to be very quite.

So far I've swapped out the grill for a honeycomb grill and put 4d number plates on it. Black badges are on their way. Looking at a remap which should put it up to around 175/185bhp and possibly putting a lowline kit on it but cant decide yet about the kit.

Once thing I've noticed is that I think due to it getting so little use the discs a a bit scored and taking a while to get some bite. I'm thinking about possibly getting the discs skimmed and new pads put in. Hopefully this will cure it the other option is to put in some new discs, if I go that direction I may get some grooved ones from EBC or M-Tec (suggestions appreciated )

 

[Magnet]

Welcome Graham, 

Glad to hear you are pleased with your recent acquisition, and that you are looking to personalise it to meet your requirements. 
One question before moving on, when was this 7 year old car last serviced ( except for perhaps the service-before seller hand over service). Can we take it it has been serviced annually, since low mileage cars do not operate under the best of conditions? 
If it were mine, I would be treating it to at least an oil and filter (I use VAG’s recommended Quantum brand oil and Mann etc. filters). I would also renew the air filter, since Audi’s recommended service change is daft. 
Brakes? In my book, it defies any logic as to why you would want to add performance enhancements, and then think of skimming discs rather than replacing them. Sorry, but…….

Kind regards,

Gareth. 

 

[Tink]

Was given full service as part of the handover with new oil & filters etc. However, I intended to get an oil change done when it gets its remap and also thought I'd get the Liqui Moly Cera Tech ceramic treatment put in the oil at the same time. 

Discs have only covered 6800 miles hence my thought of getting them skimmed as opposed to new discs as even with a skim there should be loads of life left in them ...

[cliffcoggin]

3 hours ago, Tink said:

Once thing I've noticed is that I think due to it getting so little use the discs a a bit scored and taking a while to get some bite. I'm thinking about possibly getting the discs skimmed and new pads put in

 

Light scoring should not affect braking effect once the pads have bedded in. Are you sure you don't have a soft pedal caused by air? Or perhaps a faulty servo? It would be worth taking it back to the dealer who sold you the car for rectification before the guarantee, such as is, runs out.

If you are concerned about the degree of wear you could measure the disc thickness.

Edited July 22 by cliffcoggin
omission

[Magnet]

Thanks Graham, 

So first bit first - I did suggest it would have had a handover service, but did enquire about its service history over the preceding 7 years. 
When you say ‘oil and filters’ we take it you meant filters in addition to the oil filter, so do you know whether it’s had its air filter renewed with a quality branded one, before you spend good money on trying to get more power out of it.

Re. Skimming brake discs? Have you found someone who will make it a really economic proposition to remove your discs, store the car in its immobile state for couple of days? while someone skims the discs - then pay to get them refitted? Perhaps a simpler question would be ‘Have you found someone who will actually skim them? - at a price which would make the hassle worthwhile, rather than spending < £100 ( probably far less) on a pair of quality branded replacements off the shelf? 
Kind regards,

Gareth. 

[Tink]

13 hours ago, Magnet said:

Thanks Graham, 

So first bit first - I did suggest it would have had a handover service, but did enquire about its service history over the preceding 7 years. 
When you say ‘oil and filters’ we take it you meant filters in addition to the oil filter, so do you know whether it’s had its air filter renewed with a quality branded one, before you spend good money on trying to get more power out of it.

The car  had 6800 miles on it when I picked it up with a full Audi service history the previous owner used it approx 500 miles each year and got it serviced at her local Audi garage prior to that it was an Audi dealers demo car and serviced by them. All receipts and service history to back it up.

With regards to skimming discs theres a company not too far away from me that use the Pro-Cut on car lathe system so discs can be skimmed on car not sure on price as yet as not had opportunity to go see them for a quote.

Was looking at M-Tec or EBC discs as replacements but not sure if I need 288 or 312 mm discs

I did notice that on one of the service sheets it had new brake fluid possibly last year or year before.

[Tink]

16 hours ago, cliffcoggin said:

Light scoring should not affect braking effect once the pads have bedded in. Are you sure you don't have a soft pedal caused by air? Or perhaps a faulty servo? It would be worth taking it back to the dealer who sold you the car for rectification before the guarantee, such as is, runs out.

If you are concerned about the degree of wear you could measure the disc thickness.

cars only done 6800 miles in 7 years so looking through the full history I can see no mention of discs or pads so I assume that they are original discs it has had a fluid change though. ( 6800 miles means they should just about being bedded in 😉 )

[Magnet]

Thanks Graham, 

Not that it actually concerns me, but from a point of clarification, how many Audi dealer services has this car had during its 7 year life? 
The on-car disc skimming sounds interesting, and it would be good to hear how they actually skim the access-restricted inner face ( I guess it must be possible) and what the cost per disc works out at. 
Have you considered Brembo discs? 
Kind regards,

Gareth. 
Oh, forgot - was the air filter changed? 

[Tink]

2 minutes ago, Magnet said:

how many Audi dealer services has this car had during its 7 year life? 
The on-car disc skimming sounds interesting, and it would be good to hear how they actually skim the access-restricted inner face ( I guess it must be possible) and what the cost per disc works out at. 
Have you considered Brembo discs?

Oh, forgot - was the air filter changed? 

Theres 6 or 7 service sheets in the folder with all the cars history. So I'd assume that the air filter has been changed as required.

This is the company that skims discs they have places nationwide http://www.skimmydiscs.co.uk/

I had EBC discs on my Jag and given what a big heavy car it was their brakes and pads (think I had the greenstuff on it) really improved the braking so I think I'd probably stick with those. I'd also like drilled or slotted discs (personal preference) but I've not seen those in the Brembo option.  (any idea on disc size for mine ? It lists 288 & 312mm) Thanks

[Magnet]

Thanks Graham,

VAG recommended air filter change is a daft c45k, so I certainly wouldn’t be assuming anything ahead of tuning the performance of this car. 

re. Disc diameters-? Stick your reg. no. into Parts in Motion’s website and see what comes up, and/or try LLL parts for the original Audi part number - which should suffice for your sizing. 
Perhaps you could let us know how you get on Graham. 

[Tink]

15 minutes ago, Magnet said:

VAG recommended air filter change is a daft c45k, so I certainly wouldn’t be assuming anything ahead of tuning the performance of this car. 

re. Disc diameters-? Stick your reg. no. into Parts in Motion’s website and see what comes up, and/or try LLL parts for the original Audi part number - which should suffice for your sizing. 
Perhaps you could let us know how you get on Graham. 

45k !! thats crazy. Will source a new air filter

 

As for those links, they aren't sites I've come across before so now bookmarked 👍

[cliffcoggin]

5 hours ago, Tink said:

cars only done 6800 miles in 7 years so looking through the full history I can see no mention of discs or pads so I assume that they are original discs it has had a fluid change though. ( 6800 miles means they should just about being bedded in 😉 )

Which is precisely why neither pads nor discs should need to be changed. If you have a delayed response when pressing the brake pedal I suggest the fault is elsewhere, such as an air lock, a partially seized caliper, a defective servo etc. Be sure what the cause of the problem is before throwing money at the car.

[Tink]

11 minutes ago, cliffcoggin said:

Which is precisely why neither pads nor discs should need to be changed. If you have a delayed response when pressing the brake pedal I suggest the fault is elsewhere, such as an air lock, a partially seized caliper, a defective servo etc. Be sure what the cause of the problem is before throwing money at the car.

The car is stopping just fine the pedal is firm and not spongy at all.  Its just the pads arent wearing evenly across all the disc and even after 500+ miles they havent cleaned up properly around the outer edge of the disc

[cliffcoggin]

Perhaps I am misunderstanding what you meant by "taking a while to get some bite." Please explain.

[Tink]

3 minutes ago, cliffcoggin said:

Perhaps I am misunderstanding what you meant by "taking a while to get some bite." Please explain.

Probably the wrong turn of phrase.

[cliffcoggin]

3 hours ago, Tink said:

Probably the wrong turn of phrase.

Fair enough, but if you don't mean a delayed response what do you mean?

[Magnet]

‘45K - that’s crazy’ (for an air filter renewal). So what are you going to do about that then?

Indeed it is Graham, but not as daft as a 135 mile cambelt change recommendation - no longer with a normally 5 year time interval. 
Does your particular engine variant run on a belt or a chain? If belt, I would certainly get this belt changed on this 7 year old car, before embarking on any performance enhancing work - cambelts on ultra low mileage, covered over a fairly lengthy period, get a hammering, due to a predominance of stopping and starting over short runs. 
Reading back over my responses Graham, I realise I’m probably coming over as being off putting, but surely you realise that it’s important to ensure the current health of the car before trying to get more power out of it. To judge the health, you don’t just summarise that it has some service invoices ( which you don’t appear to have read to know whether -say the air filter has been changed or not - and it seems you are evasive on the questions of how many Audi services it’s had - when - and how many other non-sales services it’s had. Still, perhaps not our business. 

To summarise:- It seems you intend to get your granny to run a marathon, without first at least without taking any interest in her medical history. Good luck with that. 
Perhaps you could let us know how you get on Graham. 
Kind regards,

Gareth. 

[Tink]

😉

1 hour ago, Magnet said:

‘45K - that’s crazy’ (for an air filter renewal). So what are you going to do about that then?

Picked one up yesterday and fitted it last night 👍 the old one looked in excellent condition btw

Indeed it is Graham, but not as daft as a 135 mile cambelt change recommendation - no longer with a normally 5 year time interval. 

Wow every 135 miles is going to be inconvenient 😉 

Does your particular engine variant run on a belt or a chain?

Not sure maybe you could enlighten me  👍

It seems you are evasive on the questions of how many Audi services it’s had - when - and how many other non-sales services it’s had. Still, perhaps not our business. 

Not being evasive at all .. as I said in an earlier post its had 6 or 7 (how is that evasive ?)  All the services were carried out at Audi Dealership and it also had a service from the garage where I purchased it !!

 

 

[Magnet]

All good then Graham. 
If it were mine, and I was going to get it tuned, I would drain the (probably the cheapest the seller could get) oil, refill with the correct quantity and grade of VAG’s Quantum and fit a Mann oil filter. 
Re. belt or chain? I don’t know without spending time checking. 
Better for you to spend your time doing that ( and we can advise further if it is a belt) which allows me and the other Mods. to spend time helping others. 
Perhaps you could let us know how you get on Graham. 
Kind regards,

Gareth.

p.s. Although I fear a possible impression of pessimism, I feel the forum has offered you hitherto unknown advice on:-

Suppliers of brake discs and pads. The importance of changing air filters earlier than 45k. Ditto with cambelts if fitted. VAG oil. Recommendations for good ( non ECP!) filters, and the general need to check all of this before attempting to get more power out of this little car. 

 

[Tink]

25 minutes ago, Magnet said:

All good then Graham. 
If it were mine, and I was going to get it tuned, I would drain the (probably the cheapest the seller could get) oil, refill with the correct quantity and grade of VAG’s Quantum and fit a Mann oil filter. 

 

 

Plan was to get fresh good quality oil and also add Liqui Moly Cera Tec 3721