Daily Driver Mod Suggestions

Julio.VB · Jan 20, 2017

Hi all! I recently (two days ago) purchased my 3-door 2016 Audi A3 1.4 TFSI Manual S-line and loving it so far

. I come from a heavily modified R56 Mini Cooper S because I was racking up too many miles and I got bored lol. (didn't have the money to keep both sadly

)

Anyways, the way I modded my mini was mostly aesthetics and handling without sacrificing daily driveability. Since this is a 1.4 litre, I won't be tracking it (maybe in a couple of years I'll get a side project for that). What I do want to do is purely aesthetics and some suspension components. I've read this forum up and down but only seem to find S3-only mods so I figured I'll start my own thread.

What I have in mind is the following:

- Wrap the second part of the roof in gloss black between the sunroof and spoiler
- Wrap the mid section of the front splitter in gloss black and the chrome trim around the front grill
- Window tint for my rear windows
- Debadge the rear

- Ceramic Coat it?? Worth it?

- Debating between 18 or 19 inch wheels. From what I've read, most that use 19s also use coilovers Is this necessary? To achieve a smiliar profile, I'm leaning towards 18s and Springs (Brand suggestions?)

- Wheels: Also debating between OEM or Aftermarket. I have to work with what I have available locally (Chile). I've got some OEM Replicas available, OZ Racing Wheels, and Sparco (Model/Brand suggestions?).

- Color of Wheels: Silver or Gunmetal/Graphite? Can't decide what to match my Florett Silver with...

- Wheel Spacers: So far I've seen the 15mm and 20mm popular setup. I want to use up those awesome OEM wheel arches and fill them correctly. (Brand suggestions?)

- Exhaust: Not necessarily looking for a full catback exhaust but can I mod my original exhaust line to make the sound a little bit more aggressive? (Muffler delete/Resonator delete?)

Also I'm under warranty, which is why a left out a tune...unless there is something that you can plug-n-play and realiable as well. Don't want the engine to go bang either lol,

And last but not least, here she is!

Thanks in advance!!

KieranJ22 · Jan 20, 2017

DTUK pedal box and tuning box?

I know it's a 1.8 but here's a video of a backbox and silencer delete.

Replace air filter with performance one? Also remove the grate in the bottom of the air box.

Scottyg · Jan 20, 2017

Welcome along @Julio.VB

Nice A3 you have, and a great colour!!
To answer your detailing question, yes. I'd definitely ceramic coat it. Makes the whole wash process so much easier. Don't know what options you have over in South America but have a look at Car Pro Cquartz. It's a cheap option to get into ceramic coating. Do it yourself as well saving you a good few Peso's.

I like the idea of what you want to wrap. Are your current wheels 17s?? S-line get 18s as standard over here.

Enjoy your car and ASN.

Julio.VB · Jan 21, 2017

Kieran Johnson said:
DTUK pedal box and tuning box?

I know it's a 1.8 but here's a video of a backbox and silencer delete.

Replace air filter with performance one? Also remove the grate in the bottom of the air box.

Sounds awesome! I came across this Armytrix catback exhaust

Can't see it on their website, but it would be my final mod to be honest and I don't know how much it'll be to get it all the way down here lol. Thanks for the filter tips, will look into it!

Scottyg said:
Welcome along @Julio.VB

Nice A3 you have, and a great colour!!
To answer your detailing question, yes. I'd definitely ceramic coat it. Makes the whole wash process so much easier. Don't know what options you have over in South America but have a look at Car Pro Cquartz. It's a cheap option to get into ceramic coating. Do it yourself as well saving you a good few Peso's.

I like the idea of what you want to wrap. Are your current wheels 17s?? S-line get 18s as standard over here.

Enjoy your car and ASN.

Thanks Scotty! There are a couple of detailers available here who do the job, I rather them do it and me maintain for the long haul...hopefully until the lease ends in 2 years lol.

Pretty set on the wrap ideas, glad you like em! My current wheels are 17s

. I believe our "Sline" here is only the bodykit and some exterior trims in black. Mine was one of the last units pre-facelift. It also has all black interior (not sure if this is a "special package").

As far as the rest of the list goes, I've got Eibach available locally for some Pro-kit Springs and Spacers (15mm front/20mm back). But first I need to decide what wheel to get lol. I was getting into some 18" OZ Superturismo LM in graphite matte silver or just silver...but not sure if I'm overdoing it with a performance wheel when it will never see track. BBS/HRE/VMR and other popular audi wheels I've seen around aren't available locally, I would have to import it and that would jack up the price 3 times....literally lol.

By the way, if I'm looking into 18s, what would be the correct wheel setup to use? 18x8 5x112 with a 225/40/18? Can I get away with other measurements post-spacers fitted? Is it even worth it to go wider on an 18 inch? Not looking for stretched tire look lol

MKC · Jan 21, 2017

Welcome to the forum dude! @Julio.VB I'm liking what you have planned for your car! Be sure to keep us posted!

So I have a S-Line and it comes with the S-line body kit as well as 18" alloys. The alloys I have are 5 parallel spoke I believe they are called. It's 18x7.5J ET51 on 225/40/18 this is how it came from the factory.
I have lowered it on Eibach Sportlines springs and added 15mm spaces are the front and 20mm spaces at the back. So that brings my offset to ET36 for the front and ET31 for the back.

I think the springs and spacers completely transform the car! Here's a picture of it lowered and with the spacers on!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Julio.VB · Jan 21, 2017

MKC said:
Welcome to the forum dude! @Julio.VB I'm liking what you have planned for your car! Be sure to keep us posted!

So I have a S-Line and it comes with the S-line body kit as well as 18" alloys. The alloys I have are 5 parallel spoke I believe they are called. It's 18x7.5J ET51 on 225/40/18 this is how it came from the factory.
I have lowered it on Eibach Sportlines springs and added 15mm spaces are the front and 20mm spaces at the back. So that brings my offset to ET36 for the front and ET31 for the back.

I think the springs and spacers completely transform the car! Here's a picture of it lowered and with the spacers on!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for the warm welcome MKC!

and thanks for the car pic! That is exactly what I had in mind!! :rockwoot:

Now I need to decide on what wheels to get lol :sos:

So far, my top contender are the OZ Superturismo LM in Graphite (18x8 ET48)...or in Silver lol can't decide...

I can get your wheels in replicas MKC but I feel that if I'm buying brand new wheels I should steer away from OEM to make the build more unique (they look sick by the way!)

By the way, these being 18x8 ET 48 and yours 18x7.5 ET51...does that change the spacer width I should get?

Still open for suggestions on wheels!

MKC · Jan 21, 2017

Julio.VB said:
Thanks for the warm welcome MKC! and thanks for the car pic! That is exactly what I had in mind!!

Now I need to decide on what wheels to get lol

So far, my top contender are the OZ Superturismo LM in Graphite (18x8 ET48)...or in Silver lol can't decide...

View attachment 115341 View attachment 115343

I can get your wheels in replicas MKC but I feel that if I'm buying brand new wheels I should steer away from OEM to make the build more unique (they look sick by the way!)

By the way, these being 18x8 ET 48 and yours 18x7.5 ET51...does that change the spacer width I should get?

Still open for suggestions on wheels!

You're very welcome!

I guess for wheels it all spends on personal preference.
The OZ look nice! I've always been a fan of OZ but I don't think I would get them for my car, not that it wouldn't be nice, it's just that I don't think it will for the particular look that I'm going for if that makes sense.

Thank you for you kind words!

Yeah I agree with you about the OEM, since again it's about what look you want.
Thing is that I always say we want things that we don't have and the people who have that don't want it and want something else

Yes it does change the spacer width you need to get to achieve the same look that I have. (If that's what your going for)
E.g. 18x8 ET48.
18 = wheel diameter in inches
8 = the wheel width in inches
ET48 = offset of the wheel in millimetres

So if you was to put on 10mm spacers your new offset would be ET38.
But when it gets to the wheel width changing I use this link: http://www.willtheyfit.com

For wheel suggestion a few that I've looked at in the past are:
BBS CH-R
Vossen CVT
RS6 style (I'm tempted to get these)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Julio.VB · Jan 21, 2017

MKC said:
You're very welcome!
I guess for wheels it all spends on personal preference.
The OZ look nice! I've always been a fan of OZ but I don't think I would get them for my car, not that it wouldn't be nice, it's just that I don't think it will for the particular look that I'm going for if that makes sense.

Thank you for you kind words! Yeah I agree with you about the OEM, since again it's about what look you want.
Thing is that I always say we want things that we don't have and the people who have that don't want it and want something else

Yes it does change the spacer width you need to get to achieve the same look that I have. (If that's what your going for)
E.g. 18x8 ET48.
18 = wheel diameter in inches
8 = the wheel width in inches
ET48 = offset of the wheel in millimetres

So if you was to put on 10mm spacers your new offset would be ET38.
But when it gets to the wheel width changing I use this link: http://www.willtheyfit.com

For wheel suggestion a few that I've looked at in the past are:
BBS CH-R
Vossen CVT
RS6 style (I'm tempted to get these)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for the help! Yeah, I spoke with the local Eibach rep and he said first we need the wheel and then play around with the"poke" lol. I ran into these recently lol OZ Formula HLT :yahoo:

(I believe these are 19s which is a bit too much for my daily driving use and most running 19s on this forum I see them with coilovers as well...the budget goes bang lol)

Audi s3 8v oz formula hlt handy 4 4137186552011450288

Now THESE are my top contenders lol. I prefer less spokes now lol. I also tried to find BBS CH-Rs but the only come here in 5x114 and 17s....booring. And the RS6 look mean as hell! I also thought about it as well but nowhere to be found locally lol. So far the OZ Formulas are taking the win! (much more convinced than the superturismo LM)

MKC · Jan 21, 2017

Julio.VB said:
Thanks for the help! Yeah, I spoke with the local Eibach rep and he said first we need the wheel and then play around with the"poke" lol. I ran into these recently lol OZ Formula HLT (I believe these are 19s which is a bit too much for my daily driving use and most running 19s on this forum I see them with coilovers as well...the budget goes bang lol)

View attachment 115346

Now THESE are my top contenders lol. I prefer less spokes now lol. I also tried to find BBS CH-Rs but the only come here in 5x114 and 17s....booring. And the RS6 look mean as hell! I also thought about it as well but nowhere to be found locally lol. So far the OZ Formulas are taking the win! (much more convinced than the superturismo LM)

No problem, I'm glad I can help

yeah that sounds like a plan! I did my set up fairly recently but I've always been contemplating 19" been looking at 20" recently but I really want to keep the comfort. Chances are if I was to get some alloys it would be in the summer and it would be 19"

I need to do some more research though about the ride comfort on springs.
These look nice! RS6 alloys won't fit in the A3 since it's too wide, but you can get good quality replicas.

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Julio.VB · Jan 30, 2017

MKC said:
No problem, I'm glad I can help yeah that sounds like a plan! I did my set up fairly recently but I've always been contemplating 19" been looking at 20" recently but I really want to keep the comfort. Chances are if I was to get some alloys it would be in the summer and it would be 19" I need to do some more research though about the ride comfort on springs.
These look nice! RS6 alloys won't fit in the A3 since it's too wide, but you can get good quality replicas.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sorry for the late reply! I was on vacation lol. Now I'm back and the mod limbo has begun once again .

I asked in local audi groups for some 18s on sale. I was sent these: (dunno the name of the model)

18x9 et 51 5x112. The x9 part scares me though lol. These are some fat wheels. Not even taking into account the tire that needs to be fitted. I was recommended 235/40/18 or 245/40/18. Will this work?

Also. New mod popped up! A RS3 honeycomb front grille. Worth it?

Steve 7891 · Jan 30, 2017

I personally love the RS style honey comb grills. It has a lot more character to it. All i would say if you want to do it, black out the crash bar or it will look bad as i discovered prior to blacking mine out

Julio.VB · Jan 30, 2017

Steve 7891 said:
I personally love the RS style honey comb grills. It has a lot more character to it. All i would say if you want to do it, black out the crash bar or it will look bad as i discovered prior to blacking mine out

Yeah lol. After I posted I found that to be the main pain in the ****. Completely kills the look. Thanks for the feedback Steve!

Julio.VB · Jan 31, 2017

I think these are it! I've got some local reps available. Loving the color combination as it'll be something similar to mine!

It reads 18x8 5x112 Et+35. Will I be fine running this offset on my stock 8V? Any need for spacers?

How about the tire size...225/40/18?

Thanks in advance!

Kevin1207 · Feb 2, 2017

Not sure the 225/40 will fit the 8.5j without being too stretched

Julio.VB · Feb 3, 2017

Hi all, gonna make this my build thread and keep it updated. So here's my first mod! This was an impulse buy haha! Did not plan it at all!

Now I'm debating if I should get a side license plate mount or not...?

Also, I'm 99% sold on getting these 18x8 ET+35...haven't test fitted them. I hope the ET works an I can save up using spacers!

J7USS · Feb 4, 2017

Can't wait to see the grill, will look cool with the florets. Now the wheels.....hmm I've never been a big fan of these and even on the B7 Rs4 I didn't like them but hey its your car so who gives a toss what others say :blahblah1:

Just think they look kind of old skool/to dated for the 8v. 8v deserve better!

Don76 · Feb 4, 2017

BBS CI-r in 8x19 with a set of H&R supersport springs. These are the low version and make the car sit perfect.

Note these are 20s in the pic, but the saloon has bigger arches.

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Julio.VB · Feb 5, 2017

J7USS said:
Can't wait to see the grill, will look cool with the florets. Now the wheels.....hmm I've never been a big fan of these and even on the B7 Rs4 I didn't like them but hey its your car so who gives a toss what others say

Just think they look kind of old skool/to dated for the 8v. 8v deserve better!

Me too! Bought a license plate tow hook side mount to let the grill breathe freely :yahoo:

. Once I get that I'll do the install ASAP.

As for the wheels, yeah some black 19s Ultraleggeras popped up lol

. Gonna try and see them this week...I'm 95% convinced though because good lord!

Also did a rear badge delete! Looks cleaner

!

Don76 said:
BBS CI-r in 8x19 with a set of H&R supersport springs. These are the low version and make the car sit perfect.

Note these are 20s in the pic, but the saloon has bigger arches.

Sent from my SM-G928F using Tapatalk

Thanks Don! Yeah! Going for something similar to that fitment! I think I can achieve it with the 19s Ultraleggeras and some HR 25mm springs like the Orange Audi above, can't find the thread but that was his setup!

Julio.VB · Feb 6, 2017

Hi guys! I need some help picking out the Exhaust option for my build. I have these options available locally:

REMUS Catback exhaust (most expensive)
Muffler Delete (cheapest option)
Muffler & Silencer Delete (if Muffler Delete is not enough)
8p S3 full exhaust...will it even fit my 8v?
Custom Stainless Steel central pipe and pair it with the Remus Muffler? (not sure about this)

I'm just looking for a little more noise, nothing crazy like a straight pipe lol. Also, lots of highway driving AKA avoid "drone" at all costs.

Thanks in advance!!

nothingness · Jun 30, 2021

I did all the exhaust stuff with my 8p 1.8t trying to replicate an OEM S3 noise, in the end I wish I had bought a BCS catback instead of all the messing about with the rear box and the resonators that I did. For me I did res delete, which wasn't enough, so res + muffler delete, which was too much, the drone would rattle any coins in the car + my teeth + set off car alarms + I got pulled over twice in the one day I had it like that. Then I did muffler delete on its own and this quietened it down but kept all of the drone, before putting it back to standard. Then I bought a milltek catback on the premise of their customer service telling me it won't drone. Guess what? It droned just as bad as the muffler delete. So stuck with OEM then sold the car.

The price of all that I could have bought two Remus catbacks.

So on your list I would do the Remus catback. I would avoid milltek, they drone, despite their customer service lying about it. Or get a BCS, if they do one for your car.

nithinfjacob · Jul 3, 2021

@DPM I have 2016 Audi S3 and suspension is too stiff from me. I have adjustable dampers and I feel in every mode the suspension is too stiff for me. What can you suggest as a suspension mod so that its more comfortable for daily driving and wont jump around if i go on top of small undulations on road?

Please support

DPM · Jul 5, 2021

nithinfjacob said:
@DPM I have 2016 Audi S3 and suspension is too stiff from me. I have adjustable dampers and I feel in every mode the suspension is too stiff for me. What can you suggest as a suspension mod so that its more comfortable for daily driving and wont jump around if i go on top of small undulations on road?

Please support

To be honest I think you'll struggle but the best place to start would be Eibach Pro springs. They'll still be firm but a lot more refined compared to the standard springs and match the dampers better.

Eibach 10mm Pro Lowering Suspension Springs | Audi | S3 | DPM Performance | PNE10-15-021-12-22|5572

Buy the Eibach 10mm Pro Lowering Suspension Springs for only £236.20. Fits S3 8V (2012-2019) 2.0TFSi Quattro

www.dpmperformance.co.uk

Damian @ DPM Performance

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