after installing the shift kit and ssf3500, my car has a slight hesitation after the nice firm 1-2 shift. i did a search and it sounds like i have a torque management issue. i was under the impression that 98 a4 cars did not have the torque management or it was not affected by the shift kit.

one of the posts in the search said it was "rare" for a pre 01 car to have torque management issues, but it DEFINETLY sounds like that is my problem. if i manually shift it right before the rev limiter it doesn't bog/hesitate as bad but if i let it go by itself it shifts at 55---5700rpms, shudders, then takes off again. no matter what i do it shudders a little bit.

wtf? guess i need a tune?

 

you do have torque management. i've heard too that TM problems are rare in 98-00 cars but im sure with the right combination of shift kit and converter, you could coax a feelable problem out of the PCM. before i was tuned, there were times when i felt a very slight hesitation myself. Personally, when i got my car tuned, they eliminated the TM everywhere above 3200 rpm (since normal driving on this converter will stay below that). the car shifts nicely at WOT now and transitions from gear to gear without any loss of acceleration.