My S3 Sportback S-tronic

[poli84]

Thanks for the info. Still not sure whether I should plastidip some of my parts or have them wrapped and or painted.

How do you think plastidip would hold up on the rear diffuser with the heat from the exhaust?

 

[Acheron]

Thanks for the info. Still not sure whether I should plastidip some of my parts or have them wrapped and or painted.

How do you think plastidip would hold up on the rear diffuser with the heat from the exhaust?

I've know a guy who's actually dipped his S4's tailpipes and they're still looking good a few months down the line. Pretty sure it'll hold up just fine on the S3's diffuser. Just be sure to do a few coats

 

[K.A]

Loving the car mate...Cheers for the updates

 

[K.A]

Can i just ask, the 6000k HID fogs, are they just the bulbs or the full kit with the ballast?

 

[RedDejavu]

just bulbs mate

 

[Acheron]

Can i just ask, the 6000k HID fogs, are they just the bulbs or the full kit with the ballast?

They are the real HID's not halogens tinted to match HID colours.

The ballasts are mounted in the engine bay just under the wiper fluid tank on one side and the intake's filter on the other. There is just enough slack on the bulb harnesses to reach the fog housings.

The reason I went real HID was that finding a close match to the OEM xenons using halogens is always a fight so I went 6000k HID with the intention of also changing my stock D3S bubls in the mains to match at some point. (which reminds me to get back onto eBay!)

 

[Acheron]

Time for more playing!

 

[Acheron]

Finally went Stage 2+ this weekend!

Installing...

The results are pretty wild. Car pulls like a train all the way to the redline and picks up boost extremely quickly.

 

[poli84]

Whooo! That's great to hear that the differences are so noticeable, congratulations.

I was booked in with my mechanic to have the Autotech HPFP and 2+ installed tomorrow but received an email a couple of nights ago saying they are out of stock and waiting on an order to arrive so I must be patient.

 

[Acheron]

Whooo! That's great to hear that the differences are so noticeable, congratulations.

I was booked in with my mechanic to have the Autotech HPFP and 2+ installed tomorrow but received an email a couple of nights ago saying they are out of stock and waiting on an order to arrive so I must be patient.

Yeah, I had the same issue. Waited close on 2 months for stock to arrive here

You're really going to enjoy the car after 2+. I'd equate the difference between 2 and 2+ to the difference between stock and Stage 1!

 

[poli84]

Yeah, I had the same issue. Waited close on 2 months for stock to arrive here

You're really going to enjoy the car after 2+. I'd equate the difference between 2 and 2+ to the difference between stock and Stage 1!

You're not the first to tell me that, I can't believe the difference is so great! You've got me even more excited now.

 

[S.]

glad you like it mate, difference is night and day

 

[Acheron]

Been putting this one off for a bit since it requires removing the wheels and wheel arch liner to get to the bulbs, but I finally decided to fit the 6000k aftermarket D3S bulbs I bought for my mains a while back.

I've had the 6000k fogs in for a few months now and the distinct difference between the yellowish stock bulbs (always been an annoyance for me) and the HID fogs has never looked right.

Before:

After:

 

[S.]

can you take some pics from the distance?

 

[Acheron]

The lighting from the open garage tends to mess with the pictures so I've gotten in as far as I can while still being able to close the garage door. Not a problem though, it'll be dark here soon and I'll reverse out the garage a bit and snap one for you

 

[S.]

thanks, i'm interested how does 6000k look with leds. oem 4300k look like a match.

 

[Acheron]

A shot from further back..unfortunately the glare interferes with the clarity in darker settings, but its understandable considering it's a simple camera phone shot:

The colouring is very close. The fogs are slightly more on the bluer side compared to the mains (perhaps 6500k rather than 6000k).

Matching the DRL's is a next to impossible job as they have a touch of a purple hue to them when viewed from dead on, but I will say that the new mains do look closer to them than the stock 4300k bulbs ever did.

 

[Ash187]

I had fitted the 8000k originally and the colour is ay more blue than the DRLs but it still looks good but due to the poor light visibility at night i changed them to the 6000k.
the colour match is very good and looks like the pics posted, but taking a photo of it is really hard

 

[Acheron]

My RaceDiagnostics gauge arrived today! I promptly raced off to the post office to collect and began the install.

The unit before removal and assembly of airvent:

Decided that the alu facia didn't match the rest of the car's dark coloured airvent fins so I wrapped it with some 3M Dinoc:

Assembled and installed with some previews of the available functions (of which there are sh*tloads!):

 

[S.]

looks nice

 

[Ironborn]

Stunning looking car mate,

 

[S3Frosty]

can you share some info of the istall with the airvent gauge pweeese

 

[JohnFS3]

Do you have the link where you got the bulbs from please

 

[poli84]

Not sure how I missed this Race Diagnostics update.
Looks really great, I'm looking forward to your review.

How hard was installation and how does it connect to the car?
Via OBDII cable which is permanently plugged in?

 

[Acheron]

Do you have the link where you got the bulbs from please

Which bulbs, mate? The H11 HID fogs or D3S main lights

can you share some info of the istall with the airvent gauge

pweeese

RaceDiagnostics do offer a complete unit pre-fitted to a brand new airvent, but if like me you're confident (read: cheap ) enough to assemble it be prepared to possibly end up cutting up your vent if you have the newer kind which renders the clips almost impossible to seperate. You can read up on the exact procedure here: http://racediagnostics.com/cms/uploads/images/pdfs/Racediagnostics TT assembly manual rev 1_04 .pdf

Basically once you've done the above install you simply route the include OBDII cable through the rear of the vent and out the bottom of the footwell (i.e. right next to the footwell lights if you have them) and cable tie up the excess.

I wouldn't go as far as saying it was a difficult install, in fact it's quite simple, but you'll just need to be patient and careful to get it done.

Not sure how I missed this Race Diagnostics update.
Looks really great, I'm looking forward to your review.

Thanks dude, really like both the look and functionality it provides, especially while I'm busy fighting the current boost issues that seem to be plaguing my car.

I must admit though the only glaringly missing function would be specified v.s. actual fuel rail pressure otherwise everything is pretty well covered in terms of what you'd need to see while driving. Data for most functions can be displayed in both "gauge" and "graph" formats giving the option of seeing instantaneous data in larger, eaiser to read format (gauge) or in a short historical format e.g. boost (actual v.s. requested) so you can see what the car is doing along a plotted RPM graph.

All in all I'm happy with it and will be keeping in contact with the guy who develops the software for the units and feed him some suggestions for future updates.

 

[JohnFS3]

Both H11 fog lights and & D3S main light please

I would like to order them online as I live in Sydney

Cheer

 

[Acheron]

Both H11 fog lights and & D3S main light please

I would like to order them online as I live in Sydney

Cheer

The 6000k D3S bulbs I organised through a local automotive accessory company here in SA. Unfortunately they do not ship internationally

You can however get them on eBay as well by the looks of it, along with the 6000k H11 kit for the fogs which is where I sourced mine from. Pretty sure a quick search on there will turn up a few options for them. Just be sure to specify CANBUS compatible ballasts for the fog kit.

 

[bros]

Beautiful car!

 

[Acheron]

Beautiful car!

Thanks, mate!

---

Finally found some LED plate lights compatible with the super sensitive facelift CANBUS system:

They are very bright, especially on a white car, so I'm considering either tinting the lenses or blacking out a row or two of LED's to tone it down a bit

Bonus HDR shot

 

[Acheron]

I've been playing with the idea of going for a 19 inch wheel setup, but have always been a bit iffy about taking a knock on the comfort front when the S3 is already quite a hard ride.

A mate of mine picked these up this week and lent them to me to make up my mind:

So far my impressions are good with very little ride compromise, but this may be down to the softer tyres on the wheels compared to the Eagle F1 Asy 2's on my 18's. There is a slight rub from the rear under hard cornering or big undulations in the road under speed, but removing the infamous "raised wheel arch screw" from the rear may solve this.