Re: 337 and Basic Mods (NickS)
The S4 (and 2.7T really) has a disproportionately higher amount of turbo failures than any other car utilizing the K03. While there have been other people out there with failed turbos, *most* of them are due to problems with turbo from the factory rather than abuse. I have owned 3 1.8T powered cars, one with more than 55,000 modified miles (K04 turbo upgrade) with no problems. The 1.8T was designed to be turbocharged from the onset and seems to handle a great deal of abuse beyond what the factory intended.
Obviously anytime you modify your car beyond what the factory intended you run the risk of breaking something. It is a "pay if you play" sort of thing, so if you want to modify your car and something breaks expect to pay for it. It really irks me when people want to get around the factory warranty or try to cover something up before bringing the car in to fix something that broke because the car was modified. S4 owners are particularly guilty of this and hyper-paranoid of warranty issues (I own an S4 Avant in addition to our VW's, so I'm not picking on them).
If you are truely worried about your warranty, then don't modify the engine. If you plan to keep your car forever and drive it into the ground, you may also want to think twice about modifying the engine. Also be very careful what you do and who's products you use. There are a LOT of people in our 1.8T forum that are mixing and matching all sorts of different products, many times running into issues where they have surging issues, low boost, MAF sensors breaking or not functioning properly, etc., etc. which makes it that much more difficult to troubleshoot where the problem is stemming from - plus the dealer won't fix these problems under warranty in all cases because of the modifications. So think hard, do lots of research and make the best educated decision you can before you tinker with your $20,000 plus car.
-jamie