Why you might not want to launch your B9 RS5 ever again ...

[DCB1951]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDulggLS9RY

[Whirlinturbin]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDulggLS9RY

**Spoiler Alert **

His RS5 is heavily modded, with almost 600 ft lb. torque. His earlier videos show numerous hard launches, both before and after obtaining a noteworthy ECU tune. I think he falls into the special user category. He's fun to watch. I think he fully appreciates what happened here. =)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYvp4b66zY8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6hMnBy6XKc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEw-...I#action=share

- - - Updated - - -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDulggLS9RY

[WV_B8S4]

Eh, he was tuned and by the way they were talking he was brake boosting for the launch control too hard/long.

[HurrayFive]

**Spoiler Alert **

His RS5 is heavily modded, with almost 600 ft lb. torque. His earlier videos show numerous hard launches, both before and after obtaining a noteworthy ECU tune. I think he falls into the special user category. He's fun to watch. I think he fully appreciates what happened here. =)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYvp4b66zY8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6hMnBy6XKc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEw-...I#action=share

- - - Updated - - -

Exactly - proper title might be, "Why you might not want to tune your Audi while it's still in warranty", haha, if this wasn't tuned that 13K repair is fully covered.

I think it's actually a testament to that little gear's strength, given how aggressive it's tuned and how much he's launched it on his channel! 😂

[Chrs5topher]

I think it's actually a testament to that little gear's strength, given how aggressive it's tuned

Apologies, but the car is only 500hp if I'm not mistaken? The water meth kit is there for cooling only - the ECU is not tuned for meth. It's had a TCU tune and an ECU tune yet I've seen some people on here running 700hp and running drag runs, which I assume is launched.

Perhaps some mechanical sympathy wouldn't go a miss but I think the real problem here isn't that he's aggressively tuned, isn't it that the transmission isn't really designed for launching?

Also, it wasn't £13,000 in the end, it was more like £3,000 as they got hold of a second hand box and used one of the parts from the diff to repair the existing box.

[JohnEnglish]

Eh, he was tuned and by the way they were talking he was brake boosting for the launch control too hard/long.

Yeah, he even said that when he brake boosted it for too long the car would "horribly lurch forward".

[HurrayFive]

Apologies, but the car is only 500hp if I'm not mistaken? The water meth kit is there for cooling only - the ECU is not tuned for meth. It's had a TCU tune and an ECU tune yet I've seen some people on here running 700hp and running drag runs, which I assume is launched.

Perhaps some mechanical sympathy wouldn't go a miss but I think the real problem here isn't that he's aggressively tuned, isn't it that the transmission isn't really designed for launching?

Also, it wasn't £13,000 in the end, it was more like £3,000 as they got hold of a second hand box and used one of the parts from the diff to repair the existing box.

Is not HP that destroys differentials and planetary gearsets from a stop, it's torque. I saw the vid too - he's stated it's making at least 600 ft/lb of tq, which has to be custom tuned to even allow, as the TCU (and ECU, to an extent) limits maximum torque on this platform.

Launching repeatedly w/ more than 500 ft/lb of torque on this gearbox puts stress on exactly these types of components, if one already had micro fractures from the factory or from some other event (sounds like that was his case in the vid), boom goes the dynamite.

Technically, below that 500 ft/lb limit, the gearbox is designed for repeatedly abuse (the factory launch limiter is 200 launches), as many people have/and do (I have) - tuning it beyond that + launching a lot simply brings out any underlying component problems much more quickly, like what happened here.

Also saw it could be done much cheaper, was more just pointing out that cost doesn't matter if it's not tuned and fails, Audi will gladly pop a new diff or trans in it for you under warranty.

[wwhan]

Sounds like this guy has been abusing this car for awhile & 600 Ft-Lb of torque is definitely on the higher side of tuning (104 octane?) for the RS5 stock 443 Ft-Lb of torque. The stock OEM ECU tune keeps the engine output down to around 450 Ft-Lb of maximum torque near the torque converter stall speed.

The little spider gears in the front differential appear to have failed. He probably had good size tires with plenty of AWD traction. If you notice an example APR stage 1 tune with high octane fuel and setting has the 600 600 Ft-Lb of torque close the the torque converter stall speed of around 3k RPM.

Something has the give, if the tires don't.

[KUbeastmode]

From watching his videos and his comments in the repair video he was abusing launch control by holding it way too long. He should have never been holding it long enough for the car to lurch forward thinking he was building a bit more boost by doing so. That being coupled with him launching the car probably hundreds of times for his videos equates to things breaking. In the very small number of times I have launched my car with a JB4 I've never experienced any lurching.

[PI5]

This is timely. With only a few mods including a JB4 on map 2, I tried a few launches only yesterday, 3 in total. I let the boost build to half and let it go. During that 1 sec or so, the car definitely felt like it was lurching, this is with the brake hard as possinle to the floor.
I concluded I wouldn't bother launching again as it felt very stressed - however somewhat disappointed that I cant launch a car like this.

[PI5]

This is timely. With only a few mods including a JB4 on map 2, I tried a few launches only yesterday, 3 in total. I let the boost build to half and let it go. During that 1 sec or so, the car definitely felt like it was lurching, this is with the brake hard as possinle to the floor.
I concluded I wouldn't bother launching again as it felt very stressed - however somewhat disappointed that I cant launch a car like this.

[jonesey]

This is timely. With only a few mods including a JB4 on map 2, I tried a few launches only yesterday, 3 in total. I let the boost build to half and let it go. During that 1 sec or so, the car definitely felt like it was lurching, this is with the brake hard as possinle to the floor.
I concluded I wouldn't bother launching again as it felt very stressed - however somewhat disappointed that I cant launch a car like this.

You can launch with map 2 without issue, you might have done something off a little. e.g. traction still on, didn't hit the rev limiter. I don't launch my car much, maybe 4 or 5x since I got it, but it can be launched so I wouldn't write it off completely. I agree it probably stresses the components more but it's in the design of the car. Everything in moderation.

[303 Spartan]

I've never felt comfortable launching any of my performance cars, even with factory implemented LC. The RS5 is no exception.

[dpcompt]

After the guy spent 13,000 pounds ( $16,883 ), what's his next expense? What kind of stress does that 600lb-ft of torque put on the engine and the rest of the drivetrain?

[DCB1951]

I've never felt comfortable launching any of my performance cars, even with factory implemented LC. The RS5 is no exception.

^^^^^^^

[Bullhorn717]

I had a similar issue with my old SRT Jeep. I did a lot of brake torque launches and the tranny blew up at 30k miles. It was covered under warranty but there’s only so much these metal gears can take especially when these cars weigh so much.


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[stanfna]

I had a similar issue with my old SRT Jeep. I did a lot of brake torque launches and the tranny blew up at 30k miles. It was covered under warranty but there’s only so much these metal gears can take especially when these cars weigh so much.

I had a 2010 Jeep SRT with a procharger at 6#. I launched it like this all the time. It was when the tranny started "acting weird" that I sold it and got into my RS5! I do miss the sledge hammer feel of the SRT, but I absolutely love the precision of the RS5! The SRT may have taken the RS5 off the line, but the RS5 just keeps pulling!!

[Bullhorn717]

I had a 2010 Jeep SRT with a procharger at 6#. I launched it like this all the time. It was when the tranny started "acting weird" that I sold it and got into my RS5! I do miss the sledge hammer feel of the SRT, but I absolutely love the precision of the RS5! The SRT may have taken the RS5 off the line, but the RS5 just keeps pulling!!

SRT was no slouch. Lol. Must’ve been a beast with the procharger! Someone said those SRT Jeeps had the same tranny as the other non SRT models. All these driveline components can only take so much torque and abuse I suppose. Man, loved embarrassing/surprising M cars and RWD cars back in the day in the Jeep. Lol.


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[stanfna]

SRT was no slouch. Lol. Must’ve been a beast with the procharger! Someone said those SRT Jeeps had the same tranny as the other non SRT models. All these driveline components can only take so much torque and abuse I suppose. Man, loved embarrassing/surprising M cars and RWD cars back in the day in the Jeep. Lol.


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It was definitely a monster! The SRT Jeeps actually had a Mercedes transmission that could handle roughly 600 horsepower. That's why I was only running 6 lb out of the pro charger. My plan was to eventually blow the transmission, then upgrade it to a stronger transmission and turn the boost up to like 12 lb and make around 800 horsepower. That was until I saw that RS5! Haha