optics grille

Optic grill stripped of black surround and black strips,ready to install chrome parts (once I get the standard grill off the car)

Grillstripped.jpg


Grillstripped1.jpg


Grillstripped2.jpg


Watch this space (hope pic size is okay)
 
Its taken four careful hours of work so far to get to this stage,no broken parts yet but theres a lot of glue to remove to get this far.
 
Good work! - I'm going to have to do this when I get mine in as i'm thinking about spraying the bits that would be chome white, so it's kinda of a black and white affair grill....interesting.
 
S3IZZO said:
Good work! - I'm going to have to do this when I get mine in as i'm thinking about spraying the bits that would be chome white, so it's kinda of a black and white affair grill....interesting.
Click to expand...

I think you might have got something there. Now you've got me thinking!!
 
I'm thinking of getting a second hand grill and having the surround and verticals sprayed avus silver (if that's even possible) to code in with the car. I think this will call for a photoshop to see if it'll look absolute ***** or individual and amazing.
 
Took the plunge, despite the weather and fitted the grill today.

My hands are covered in cuts and scrapes, but I think it's been worth it. The worst bit was one torx screw right up where the bumper joins the bonnet near the headlamp - a complete pain to get to.

Before:

finished.jpg


After:

optic.jpg
 
Yeah mate , i like, the crome looks ace , but the black......looks so much better IMHO

The car i first saw and fell in love with had the black grill.

p
 
dipstic - I'm really interested to see how yours works out, as I have a Sprinty on order with the standard grille, but would like to swap it for a black one in due course. I was thinking of the Optic grille with just the chrome surround. How difficult was it to remove the surround?

Phil
 
Highwayman said:
dipstic - I'm really interested to see how yours works out, as I have a Sprinty on order with the standard grille, but would like to swap it for a black one in due course. I was thinking of the Optic grille with just the chrome surround. How difficult was it to remove the surround?

Phil
Click to expand...

Weather has put a stop to it at the mo,but will have full report and pics by Monday evening.
 
redbutcher said:
Took the plunge, despite the weather and fitted the grill today.

My hands are covered in cuts and scrapes, but I think it's been worth it. The worst bit was one torx screw right up where the bumper joins the bonnet near the headlamp - a complete pain to get to.
Click to expand...

Well done Jon. Much the better for it.

So you ended up the same as me with the cuts and scrapes. My guide is not bad though for removal and yes those tricky screws just below the headlamp/bumper are a bitch to get at. How did you release your grill for the S-Line then? You know what i mean not enough hands/fingers to get all clips released at the same time.

Cheers Jas
 
JimmyJames said:
Well done Jon. Much the better for it.

So you ended up the same as me with the cuts and scrapes. My guide is not bad though for removal and yes those tricky screws just below the headlamp/bumper are a bitch to get at. How did you release your grill for the S-Line then? You know what i mean not enough hands/fingers to get all clips released at the same time.

Cheers Jas
Click to expand...

LOL - my right hand look like I've had a session in fight club!

The guide is great Jas - I printed it off and it's perfect mate :sm4:.

There were clips and a couple of screws on my grill - I used a pair of long noised pliers to break the clips off and then with the aid of a chunky screw driver was able to free the grill bit by bit. It really does clip in securely!

For the new grill I used the 2 screws that were originally fitted plus I used the 4 number plate fixing screws on the old grill so along with the clips it should be pretty secure.

It does look a lot better though - really pleased with it - thanks for the great guide again as well :icon_thumright:
 
Bit further

IMG_0017.jpg
Couple of chrome strips fitted

IMG_0024.jpg
A few more fitted

IMG_0027.jpg

Bit of spot glueing to do, then back on car tomorrow, will be interesting to see what it looks like as mine is sprint blue.
 
Looking good dipstic :cool: . Is the grille from the guy on Ebay? If so, did he supply the S3 badge as well, or did you get that from elsewhere?

Phil
 
It was purchased from ebay,but a private seller so no idea where it originally came from.
 
audi upgrades
Agreed. Difference is subtle to say the least.

Maybe you need to see it in the flesh to really appreciate it though.
 
Quick writeup

Objective
To get rid of grey from grill.
I have always been peeved with the grey on my grill,but to me the optic grill doesn't look right on a sprint blue car so having seen an optic grill for sale on ebay and getting it for a good price,I decided to look at getting rid of the grey.
Before touching my car I stripped the optic grill of all the black items which involved removing a lot of glue spots before unclipping the black surround and the black strips (started at the top of the grill unclipping and using clothes pegs as a wedge to prevent the surround re clipping itself)
This needs to be done carefully to prevent breaking clips (I broke four in total on both grills but this didn't cause any issues upon reassembly)
After stripping the grill and cleaning off any remaining glue it was time to think about taking the grill off of my car and I followed Jimmy James guide on here and only difference is I removed the underbody tray as well.
I was pleasantly surprised to find the standard S3 grill only had a few glued parts which made stripping it a lot easier (the chrome parts appear to be stronger around the clip areas so I assume Audi have decided gluing is not required)

Reassembly
I started with the chrome strips making sure I swapped one at a time(didn't want to lose track of each strip's correct location as it turned out each strip has different location clips so even though they might be the same length they cant be mixed up)
Once this had been done I tried the black and then chrome surround in situ and decided I preferred the chrome which very easily clipped in place.
Last job was to spot glue all the clips (used a hot glue gun I think it was £20 from maplin/RS)

Then refit onto car.
Time in total abut 10 hours (mainly spent carefully removing glue spots)
Was it worth it?
For me yes the difference between standard and mine is not a lot but its achieved my purpose, I like it, now if only I could take a decent picture of the car.
 
I'mRonBurgundy? said:
Agreed. Difference is subtle to say the least.

Maybe you need to see it in the flesh to really appreciate it though.
Click to expand...

100% correct perhaps I need to put a before pic on, basically there is no grey on the grill which matches the spotlight covers, will try to get a better pic when weather permits.
 
I like it - looks subtly different ! Does any one have the part no for the outer black surround ?
I've got a black optic grill (used) and its got a couples of scratches on it.
Want to find out if its cheaper to buy a new plastic surround (& the hassle of undoing the glue etc) or just getting the local paint shop re spray it phantom black ?

Richard
 
Really like what you have done there!!

How much of a pig is it to do what you have done??

Im tempted to have my grille painted rather than buy a optics grille and then swap parts around etc

Jonny
 
jonnyc said:
Really like what you have done there!!

How much of a pig is it to do what you have done??

Im tempted to have my grille painted rather than buy a optics grille and then swap parts around etc

Jonny
Click to expand...

Dont know how well the paint would stay on ,apart from that its not a bad job to do , just need to be careful and not break too many clips,in fact you might get away with removing the chrome audi rings and strips which is the easier part then masking off the chrome surround.
 
Looking good dipstic :drool: ! Think I'll be ordering that Optics grille from Ebay now and get started on stripping the outer chrome trim. I wouldn't want to copy you exactly ;) , so fancy leaving the slats black as whiteunderarm suggests.

Phil
 
audi upgrades
Highwayman said:
Looking good dipstic :drool: ! Think I'll be ordering that Optics grille from Ebay now and get started on stripping the outer chrome trim. I wouldn't want to copy you exactly ;) , so fancy leaving the slats black as whiteunderarm suggests.

Phil
Click to expand...

Cant have two sprint blue ones the same in the south :faint:,you could always purchase the chrome surround from Audi, think they quoted me £55 + vat save taking your standard grill apart, I thought about going that route but decided I wanted the chrome strips as well on mine.
I suppose I could get my grey grill painted black as I have the black surround and black strips make my own optic grill,if the paint would stay on
 
Sorry car needs washing but this picture might show the grill a bit better

fincar.jpg
 
JimmyJames said:
Wot bit needed washing?

Yeah can see what you've done better in this pic. Good on yer mate. You'll be one of a kind out there.:o.k:
Click to expand...

Thanks for the " how to remove bumper"instructions :icon_thumright: no cuts,grazed hands,did break a fingernail though :(
Decided to remove engine underbody tray just to give me a bit more room and should have marked top grill adjustment points only a minor issue though.
Car is filthy in the picture,she gleams when clean :yes:
 
Nice job, but, in my opinion, it makes the car look a bit more like an Sline rather than a S3. I think the grey grill on the S3s make them stand apart from the crowd....just my 2 cents ;)
 
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