Alex's 1.9 TDI A3

[Alex-James]

Im Alex 20 years of age (look 14) from Birmingham.

owned my A3 for around 6 weeks now and loving it

Previous car was a Vw lupo sport with polo gti engine conversion air suspension fancy wheels etc...

Now to the audi!

First mods: de-wiper, Glass wiper blank, black edition rear lights, de-Badge and led number plate lights.

Before:

After:

Then these came:

Then this:

Rear adjusters are out, front still has abit to go but tyres catch so had to leave it abit higher (rear rake)

Bought these MAM MT1's 18" 8.5J&9.5J ET35

just finished polishing them up and managed to get hold of new centre caps and split bolts as current ones looked tired.

All sealed with Auto Finesse Mint Rims

Tyres will be bought end of the month on payday!
Thats all so far

Alex

 

[Sayam]

Welcome Alex, nice work so far. Won't 9.5J rear with ET35 rub? Mine are 8J ET42 and they rub when fully loaded

 

[Ron burgundy]

Welcome Alex, nice work so far. Won't 9.5J rear with ET35 rub? Mine are 8J ET42 and they rub when fully loaded

Pretty sure that's going to give major rubbing issues

 

[leeds2592]

Do you have a thread on ED38? Swear I've seen this before. Looks good so far but get that reverse rake sorted!

Plans?

 

[Ironborn]

Do you have a thread on ED38? Swear I've seen this before. Looks good so far but get that reverse rake sorted!

Plans?

Same here, there's quite a few black few black A3 on there though. Love it when people push the limits. Never seen 9.5J ET35 on a audi a3. Seen some on MK5 which has the same wheel fitment. I think the lowest I've seen for the a3 without arch work is 9j ET29 rear and 9.5 ET 40.

 

[Alex-James]

I am on ED38

Plans ain't big but I wanna get the s-line front bumper with us plate blank, rear window tints (factory look not limo) possible bits re-trimmed.

Engine mods will be egr blank, straight through pipe with de-cat and re map. Would like to get a turbo kit with pd150 injectors and other little bits as seen a few people push 200+.

The front wheels should fit flush with the archs and the rears will be tight but I'm determined to fit them as my pal owns a garage and has a hunter wheel alignment system so can play with the camber etc.

On the weekend I snow foamed, washed, clay bard, washed, polished then waxed the car and it came up really well. Need to get a DA polisher to keep on top of the bodywork as it's abit swirly

Going to trial fit the wheels this week just to see how much the rear pokes.

Alex

 

[NHN]

Welcome to the site Alex.

If you're interested in any oem technology installs, ping me a PM

 

[Alex-James]

Cheers NHN and will do

Well I got the wheels on the other night and rather happy with them and how they sit.

Front:

Back:

Side view:

Just for tyres now

 

[Ron burgundy]

I've got 8j x 18 et 43 with 235/40/18 on standard suspension and the rears rub when someone's it's in the back..

What I'm saying is how are you getting around the rubbing? Ha

 

[Alex-James]

215 35 18 tyres which give a nice stretch and if needs be I'll adjust the rear camber.

 

[Sayam]

While we are on this subject what is a stretch tyre? Do they drive normal or are you sacrificing drive for looks?

 

[leeds2592]

Glad I'm not going mad and this is the car the was on ED38 .

Them wheels are going to look awesome. I'm not usually a fan of such wheels but there's a lad round my way that had them on his black A3 and they suited it down to the ground. His instagram is m44llj_stayclassy if you want to check it out, will have to scroll down quite far as he's loads of pics on new wheels.

Now you need to treat yourself to an SLine spoiler and a better jack!

 

[Alex-James]

It's basically a tyre which has been fitted to a much wider rim than it was originally intended or designed to fit. Stretches vary from an inch to around 3 inches depending on wheel size and tyre size etc.

This is a picture of my old lupo with 8J et20 with 165 55 tyres and the original size should be like 195 70 or something on them lines.

I know the lad your on about Leeds I also have him on insta
When I first started following him he had the MAMs on his but his were 17" and 9J on the rear and his always got new wheels
I do have another jack but couldn't be ***** to get it out, should have really as the scissor jacks are naff! Also I do wanna get a s-line spoiler but want a genuine one and not a ebay jobby!

 

[Sayam]

What's the advantage of using stretch tyre over the actual tyre size for that particular rim?

 

[Alex-James]

Gives you more clearance with the arch to fit bigger/wider wheels so stops rubbing issues etc

 

[Sayam]

Gives you more clearance with the arch to fit bigger/wider wheels so stops rubbing issues etc

Thanks for explaining.

Do you have your new tyres yet?

 

[Alex-James]

No worries :thumbsup:

I'm getting my new tyres within the week and getting them fitted Saturday

 

[Sayam]

Cool I hope plenty pics to follow lol

 

[leeds2592]

I know the lad your on about Leeds I also have him on insta When I first started following him he had the MAMs on his but his were 17" and 9J on the rear and his always got new wheelsI do have another jack but couldn't be ***** to get it out, should have really as the scissor jacks are naff! Also I do wanna get a s-line spoiler but want a genuine one and not a ebay jobby!

Think his parents live on the same street as me as I've seen it a few times parked in the drive. Thing is ridiculously low!I got a genuine, second hand one for mine off eBay. Ended up buying a full boot lid with spoiler attached, took the spoiler off, got it prepped, sprayed and stuck to my car. May have some more luck doing it that way rather than just looking for the spoiler if you haven't already.

 

[Alex-James]

It is dam low haha people constantly ask him if it's on air haha and I see his already selling his rotiforms

I haven't really searched for the spoiler yet as it's on my to do list haha

Little update: Tyres have been ordered today, going to my pals place on Saturday to get tyres fitted, get wheels on the car and sort out all the tracking/camber. Excited

 

[leeds2592]

When I first saw it, I thought it was on air as well! Told him I need to see him trying to get over some of the bumps round our way haha.

Looking forward to seeing the wheels on. Just followed you on Instagram.

 

[Alex-James]

He must get over them with great difficulty haha and I'm looking forward to it also!

 

[Alex-James]

Yesterday morning I drove to my mates garage we fitted the tyres (took 4 of us to fit the tyres to the 9.5's!) and then put them on the car and the rear sits perfect and I didn't even have to adjust the rear camber on the drive home there was no rubbing what so ever and I had my mrs's and my old wheels in the car also!

I've wound the front coilovers all the way down so have no threads left but it's still not low enough as I have arch gap but when looking threw the arch I think my bump stops are restricting me so will have a go at cutting them down and seeing how I go from there.

So then some pics!

Not the best of pics but I'm going to a open day at my mates garage (tyre traders) and they've got the toyo and allstars drift teams and there doing a little show in one of the car parks so should be an okay afternoon! Hopefully get some pics today's

 

[Sayam]

looks awesome mate really does...doesn't look comfy tho lol!

 

[Alex-James]

Cheers mate and the ride isn't bad at all weirdly and it's a lot comfier then my old lupo!

Today was a good day out at the open day, found 2 lads taking photos of my car and after speaking to them found out they where from slam media and told me pictures will be up tonight or tomorrow

 

[Sayam]

The comment about ride was jus sarcy mate lol... Looks amazing!!

Have you considered side skirts off a S3 or something like that and headlights? The projector style headlights looks awesome

 

[yeahhluke]

Looks awesome, wasnt a big fan when when I first saw them but now they're on the car looks spot on. Just need to get the front down!

 

[Alex-James]

Cheers lads!

I won't get the side skirts but possibly headlights in the future.

I was the same like but knew they'd look good when on the car haha
Hopefully gonna play with the front coilovers at the weekend and see what I can do!

Also I did follow you on insta Luke

 

[yeahhluke]

Yeah I did see man, followed you back.

Not at Players this weekend then?

 

[Alex-James]

Unfortunately not :/ need to get to some shows, only been to ultimate dubs this year in my old car.... I also see you go dub club? I only live up the road need to come down one Wednesday and say hi haha (I have no dub friends only Volvo owners that love to drift so I'm the odd one out )

 

[yeahhluke]

Yeah I do every now and again, its a good chilled out meet so you should definatly check it out one day now the weather is getting better too

 

[Alex-James]

Well ain't posted in a couple of weeks as my photo bucket messed up

Not much has happened other then I took the the helpers out and cut the bump stops for more lows but my drive shafts fowling on my chassis on some bumps so need a notch but I'm booked in at dub unit need Friday

Also bought some 3mm spacers for the rear as on harsh dips the lip of the wheel hits the rear arch. (Need to fit)

How it's currently at:

Went Dub Club last night and found a photo today:

Plans for next month: found a smoothed rear bumper freshly painted which I've gotta pick up, gonna get a DA pro machine polisher to sort the body work out and on the look for a rear spoiler. Gonna get some new plates also (get rid of the GB sign) but that's all so far

 

[Alex-James]

Haven't been on here in a while but I've had some changes....

I bought a s line front bumper with us plate blank, I then got it painted as it was previously red:

I then bought a s line rear bumper and bought a s3 lower valence and made...

Then car went into the body shop, I had bonnet re sprayed along with both front wings, lower half of the rear quarters and the new s line/s3 rear bumper.

Need to pop back to the body shop as I need the lower valence painted Matt black.

Then these turned up Monday:

I'm fitting everything myself and should hopefully be on and running by Sunday. Started some bits....

Will update Saturday/Sunday!

 

[leeds2592]

Been following your progress on Insta, this will look awesome on air! How much it costing you all in seeing as though you're doing all the work yourself?

Needs S Line spoiler and rings putting back on the rear though IMO.

 

[Alex-James]

The kits setting me back £2,250 and fitting it is no extra cost but I will sort a boot build out soonish. I'll eventually get the spoiler haha

 

[shadow1993]

Liking the air suspension idea.. :O Keeping my eyes peeled

Would you have any model numbers or links for the kit?
Would be interesting to read up on it.
Thanks

 

[RSW46]

Looks really good! Nice transformation so far it's going to look awesome on air

 

[AdV10M]

Nice work dude

 

[Alex-James]

Thanks for the comments guys

Liking the air suspension idea.. :O Keeping my eyes peeled

Would you have any model numbers or links for the kit?
Would be interesting to read up on it.
Thanks

I bought my kit from car audio security, bought my old kit from them when I had my lupo. If you go on there website you'll find everything. Also my kit has the V2 management system.

Got the car in work yesterday on my brake and put her up on the ramp to fit the threaded rivets for the rear bags to screw into the body.

Hopefully have everything done by tomorrow evening!

 

[smurfworth]

Love this mate, detailed pics is good for future reference.

Where/what are you connecting the wires the v2 needs to?