MENUAudi Q8 Tuning
"Tuning the already sporty and powerful Q8!"
The Q8 is a flagship crossover SUV in Coupe style, and is in our opinion one of the best in class. It was no slouch either with the slowest diesel propelling it to 60mph in just over 7 seconds. The petrol engine cut this time to sub 6 seconds.
There were 2 3.0l engines on offer both were V8 configuration blocks. A petrol engine in the guise of the FSi with a twin scroll turbo design. The Diesel engine came in two power levels, the 45TDI putting out 228bhp and the 50TDi which was tuned to 282bhp.
The diesels offer planet rotation halting levels of torque but a simple tune/remap can yield massive power gains on these, completely transforming the Q8.
We have seen some awesome Q8 tuning projects and there seems to be quite a loyal fan base of Q8 owners. With the right mods your Q8 can be transformed into a fun car. Don't waste money, do your homework and follow our unbiased guides to each performance upgrade to avoid wasting money.
See our video which covers all the principles of tuning your Audi.
Handling modifications are the thing most do first for the Q8. Drop the car optimally somewhere in the region of 30mm and fit performance stiffer dampers, bigger drops will need other modifications in most instances and in TorqueCars opinion ruin not only the look of the Q8 but also the handling.
Top end power should be your overall aim on the Q8 with a nice fat peak torque band to pull you all the way.
To be completely frank and honest, on the more modest engine sizes you are wasting your time spending money on modifications, so if this applies to you get yourself an engine swap then apply the following mods.
Engine Tuning.
The most common modifications installed by our members are outlined below, but please decide how far you want to push your car before you start and go in with a plan.
Getting the right modifications for your planned usage of the car is essential. Stage 3 competition upgrades just won't work well on the road and will make the car undriveable.
Please watch our video which covers the 5 principles of tuning your car. Be sure to keep up with our latest YouTube content and subscribe.
Best Engine Mods for your car
- Engine Tunes - engine tuning/remapping provides the most advantage in terms of cost savings, aftermarket ECUs, and piggyback ECUs are all alternatives.
- Fast road cams are one of the most significant mechanical changes, but they must be installed by someone who knows what they're doing and they are not always easy to source but you might find a local firm to regrind a stock camshaft.
- Intake and Exhaust - Note that on their own these mods will NOT ADD POWER in most cases, but they can help enhance power after other mods by removing the restriction.
- Upgrades to turbochargers and superchargers - forced induction is the most efficient approach to increase air supply, allowing you to burn more fuel and make more power. It is one of the most costly upgrades but provides the best gains.
- Head work - The goals of porting and flowing the head are to get air flowing into the engine while removing flow restrictions and turbulence.
Typical stage 1 mods often include:
Panel air filter, Alloy wheels, Engine Tunes/Remapping, Sports exhaust, Suspension upgrade (drop 20-30mm), Lighter flywheel.
Typical stage 2 mods often include:
fuel pump upgrades, Fast road cam, Ported and polished head, Power/Sport clutch, high flow fuel injector.
Typical stage 3 mods often include:
Internal engine upgrades (pistons/head/valves), Adding or upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Engine balancing, Competition cam, Sports gearbox.
Peak power is good on competition cars but for a daily driven car you need a wide torque band and perhaps extending the rev range. The Q8 is designed to sap up the long motorway miles with ease and your tuning should reflect this original intention.
The point of our tips is to give a limited introduction of customizing upgrades and point you in the right direction, our forum is best place to go if you need more detailed advice and tips on your car tuning project, the best uprated modifications and all aspects of modding cars.
Fast road cams offer one of the biggest performance gains for your money as far as a bolt on performance parts goes on a NA (naturally aspirated) engine but there are many profiles to choose from and we would caution you from getting an aggressive cam profile, these V6 engines are not particularly rev happy (compared to the smaller inline engines in the Audi lineup).
The intake and exhaust durations play a large part in your cars power band, but be careful here, getting this wrong can upset the idle and make the car difficult to drive in traffic. You'd need to follow a camshaft upgrade with other mods and finish with a performance chip to fully realise your gains.You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so will need to pay attention to the fuelling.
If you find you get flat spots and power surges after your uprated kits you should check the fuelling and try a higher octane fuel as well. Uprated injectors will enable you to supply sufficient fuel to the engine. If you've increased your fuelling with bigger injectors you will often need to get a bigger fuel pump to supply it.
Intake and Exhaust Tuning.
The next area for modification is the intake and exhaust. Please note that WE DO NOT RECOMMEND INDUCTION KITS, unless you have tuned your car extensively and are finding that the standard air intake has become a restriction.
The standard Q8 air box does a very respectable job and flows enough air to cover a 25% power hike easily.
Induction kits can work well on turbo engines and larger engines (if supplied with a suitable cold air feed or air box), generally though we'd just recommend for Q8 engines you should settle for a performance panel air filter preferably made from cotton.
Do not go with the biggest exhaust you can find this will slow the exhaust rate - the best exhausts for power gains are usually between 2.5 to 3.0 inches. It is the shape and material more than the bore size. (The diesel exhausts flow really well and we do not think it worth upgrading them.)
Getting the cylinder head gas flowed will assist in flowing more air into each cylinder. This is definitely a job for a pro with a flow bench.
When you tune up your Q8 you will discover that the standard clutch starts to complain so get an uprated clutch. Turbo engines are just asking to be Remapped.
You will see massive power gains on most modern turbo engined cars including diesels, and the mighty Q8 is no exception, making a tune/remap one of the most cost effective and massive modifications for your money.
Adding a larger turbo will see big power gains but this is usually too expensive to be cost effective and the OEM twin scroll turbos do a great job at producing lots of power with very little lag.
Superchargers are an option if you wanted to create a twin charged engine but this would prove to be quite a project.
Superchargers however will give a boost which is proportional to engine speed so is easier to map. Adding higher pressure forced induction will generally require a lower compression ratio or water injection.
Alloy wheel upgrades.
Alloy wheels can help the brake cooling and are usually lighter than the steel ones. Large Q8 alloy wheels can decrease performance. If you get big alloy wheels you will be changing your final drive ratio.
Although some people have with bigger wheels we would stick to an 18 inch rim size as the maximum. In TorqueCars opinion the larger wheels really compromise the handling of the Q8 and should be avoided.
If you would like to know more, or just get some friendly advice on Tuning your car please join us in our car forums where you can discuss Q8 options in more detail with our Q8 owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased Audi tuning
articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.
Please help us improve these tips by sending us your feedback in the comments box below. We love hearing about our website visitors projects, especially the mods done and which work best for you on your car. Which helps us keep our guides and tips up to date helping others with their modified car projects. Your feedback and comments are used to keep this page up to date, and help improve the accuracy of these articles which are kept updated and constantly revised.
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