My S3 8P Sprint Blue Build Thread

[JayHa11]

After a whirlwind few days I picked up my S3 and sold my MK5 Golf GTI. As I had dipped into the wedding fund to purchase the S3 I think my fiance was relieved to see the Golf sell so quickly! Admittedly so was I!

So here's a quick photo of the Golf which I have moved on from. I lavished it with love and spent countless hours detailing it. I was a little sad to see it go so quickly in all honesty...



And here is the S3. Completely standard as I wanted









Spec:
Manual
Full Nappa Leather
Audi Sat Nav Plus (LED Version)

I had already put together a comprehensive list of parts/upgrades I wanted to make and it will feel like christmas with the amount of packages that are currently working their way to me

Ordered so far:

* Pro Sport Coilovers
* Stance+ wheel spacers - 10mm front, 14mm rear + longer bolts
* LED numberplate lights
* Pressed reg plates
* Gunmetal caliper paint, new carriers and S3 decals

Car is booked in for 06th Sep to have coilovers/spacers fitted. Once that's done it will be off to have a full paint correction and protection.

No plans to up the power for now I don't think, I want to enjoy the car and will then look at stage 1/2 options next year.

I will post up updates as they happen. Thanks for reading

Jamie

 

[JayHa11]

Had some deliveries yesterday...

My Golf was probably too low considering the rather aggressive stance the ET35 wheels gave. As I am sticking with the OEM wheels on the S3 I wanted to fill the arches a little better as they are a little shy in standard guise, especially the rear wheels! Reading up it seemed 10mm front and 15mm rear were a common choice. I did however notice people seemed to have a fair bit of rubbing issues once lowered. I opted for a less extreme option of 7mm front and 13mm rear, combined with a more modest drop I am hoping I wont suffer any rubbing issues whilst improving the overall look.

I also made my first mod by removing the standard lighter and replaced it with the hinged option without the lighter. Much better in my opinion.

I have a nice pile of parts ready to go on including:
Coilovers
Spacers
Pressed Reg Plates
LED Rear Reg Lights

will update again once the car is back from Dub Unit on 06th September

 

[S3Alex]

Looks like you have a busy bank holiday there.

Welcome to the 8P section of ASN.

 

[NFox]

Looks lovely mate, like the idea of dropping the cigarette lighter, I just installed the ashtray delete kit earlier in the week and I think this would compliment it nicely! How much was the part (if you dont mind me asking) and do you have the part number?

 

[G60DAN]

NFox do you have the part no for the ash tray delete.

 

[NFox]

Hi Dan, yeah sure it's (8P0 863 301 A 4PK).

 

[Donny_DJ]

Welcome. Look forward to seeing the progress

 

[JayHa11]

I attended the Big Meet at Utoxeter racecourse on Sunday, was a good little show for a few hours, then I headed home to apply some of the bits I still had sitting in the house.

First I applied my new pressed plates and swapped out the rather weary rear LED's




Finished the weekend off with a good wash as the car had got covered in tree sap!



I also ordered a Chipex kit to attend to a few stone chips on the bonnet and a bottle of Poorboys Leather Stuff after reading some strong reviews.

Thanks for reading

 

[JayHa11]

Thanks Nfox

The part you need should be (8P0 863 687 D6PS) and was around £30 I believe

 

[derickcos]

looks good....its the double of mine,ill follow this closely .....

 

[JayHa11]

Took advantage of the other half wasting her evening watching Big Brother the other week and wrapped the gear surround. Unfortunately the finish had begun to spoil and after researching thought the vinyl was worth a punt first of all as it only cost £6 from ebay. Pretty chuffed with the results and blends very well with the ashtray.

 

[JayHa11]

Got my suspension and spacers fitted on Tuesday. still letting it settle but may raise the rear slightly next week. I went with 13mm spacers at the back and 7mm at the front.





Been busy decorating this week and its been frustratingly difficult to get time with the car. Managed to pick a few bits up from my local dealer on Wed, nothing exciting however. Replacement tow cover as mine was pretty beaten up and the spindle lock for the spare wheel as it was oddly missing when purchasing the car.

I have a rear wiper delete to fit if I get chance this weekend. Car is booked in for a 3 stage paint correction in 2 weeks time, hoping I can start on restoring the calipers/hubs in anthracite before then.

Thanks for reading

 

[JayHa11]

Dropped the S3 off last night at for a nice cosy nights sleep before it has a 3 stage paint correction over the next two days. Really excited to pick it up after work tomorrow!

 

[ACWKGYTO]

The wedding fund is taking a hammering !

 

[TomL83]

Looking great. I really need to get some pressed plates for my A3. Love the cigarette lighter delete, i will have a look at doing that to mine.

 

[JayHa11]

Picked the S3 up on Friday and I have to say I was blow away with the level Dale had achieved. I could list all the steps taken but I will just let the pictures speak for themselves...
















Thanks for looking

 

[JayHa11]

I have been busy with the S3 over the last few weeks so think its time for an update...

Firstly I followed suit as I had done with the Golf and did away with the rear wiper thanks to 'killallwipers' I think the S3 was crying out for it even more with how angular the rear hatch is. Looks a lot smoother now.





Next on my list was to give the calipers a much needed refurb. The fronts were not too bad but the rears and hubs were in poor state for the vehicles age. I used E-Tech high temp paint for this and opted for a matt gunmetal finish to tie in with the front and rear splitters.





The caliper decals came as a set of 6 oddly but I only used the 2 larger ones for the front calipers. I pondered what to do with the excess stickers and thought I would try the medium ones out on the rather plain seats. I think they look quite oem personally.



Nothing really planned now with the build up to Christmas. Will just be trying my best to maintain and protect the paintwork. Then will start to look at performance gains in the new year :driver:



Thanks for looking

 

[derickcos]

some good work here,can you buy the calliper decals for the front..as mine have faded?? ..cheers

 

[Boydie]

Going so well until the S3 stickers on the seats

Perfect S3 IMO bar them. I agree though that the seats are poor for the top of the range Audi A3, that was a downside to mine when I owned it.

If it were me, I would say the outside is done, you have done more or less what I did to mine. Tune it now

 

[JayHa11]

Going so well until the S3 stickers on the seats

Perfect S3 IMO bar them. I agree though that the seats are poor for the top of the range Audi A3, that was a downside to mine when I owned it.

If it were me, I would say the outside is done, you have done more or less what I did to mine. Tune it now

The decals are definitely an experiment. I think I will order the same size/design in matt black so they are more understated?

 

[Boydie]

I just wouldn't bother - people know its an S3, says so on the front, rear, on the steering wheel, gear knob, dials and if you have RNSE it flashes up on the screen.

 

[MICHAEL PARKER]

I just wouldn't bother - people know its an S3, says so on the front, rear, on the steering wheel, gear knob, dials and if you have RNSE it flashes up on the screen.

The stickers on the seats look fine mate , it's your car , be different I say .

 

[Max Read]

Seats look good with the decals! Good idea!

 

[Scottyg]

Enjoyed reading through your thread. Cracking looking S3. Any wedding money left??

I like the seats as well. Look OME to me.

 

[dp_motley]

Looking great! thanks for regular updates, very inspirational.

Three things you've already done are on my to-do list: painting calipers with E-Tech (I chose black), spacers (but I'll wait till next summer season when I put 18" rotors) and vinyl wrap of the door trims and the gear shift surround/ash tray. I've got an A3 with standard trims, pretty boring, so I ordered grey brushed aluminium vinyl off ebay, waiting for delivery. I wanted silver trims first to make it look like S3/S-line, but then I saw dark grey brushed aluminium trims on a product page and they looked solid and expensive. Time shows.

May I sak you a question? When you wrapped your gear shift surround (well done btw), did you remove a chrome trim or just cut the vinyl around the trim?

 

[timmather]

Looks great, any rubbing then, looking to do the same to mine before going stage 1.

 

[JayHa11]

Looking great! thanks for regular updates, very inspirational.

Three things you've already done are on my to-do list: painting calipers with E-Tech (I chose black), spacers (but I'll wait till next summer season when I put 18" rotors) and vinyl wrap of the door trims and the gear shift surround/ash tray. I've got an A3 with standard trims, pretty boring, so I ordered grey brushed aluminium vinyl off ebay, waiting for delivery. I wanted silver trims first to make it look like S3/S-line, but then I saw dark grey brushed aluminium trims on a product page and they looked solid and expensive. Time shows.

May I sak you a question? When you wrapped your gear shift surround (well done btw), did you remove a chrome trim or just cut the vinyl around the trim?

Thanks for the kind comments. When I wrapped the surround I just wrapped the vinyl straight over the chrome strip, i then worked around pressing it in to gap and finally went around again with my scalpel for a neat finish. Hope this helps

 

[JayHa11]

Looks great, any rubbing then, looking to do the same to mine before going stage 1.

There was some rubbing from the rear before I removed the upper screw holding the bumper on. I also had to cut away the leftover plastic tabs the screw sits in. No rubbing now, not even with people in the back!

 

[dp_motley]

Thanks for the kind comments. When I wrapped the surround I just wrapped the vinyl straight over the chrome strip, i then worked around pressing it in to gap and finally went around again with my scalpel for a neat finish. Hope this helps

Yes, this helps. Thank you!
I have another question if you don't mind. How long time did you wait before putting the decals on your calipers after painting them with E-Tech? I've got a caliper paint kit. They say we don't have to drive the car 24 hours after we apply the caliper paint in order to let it harden. Did you wait 24 hours before you put the decals? Is it save to put the decals as soon as the paint dries (after an hour of application) and then wait 24 hours before using the car?

 

[JayHa11]

Yes, this helps. Thank you!
I have another question if you don't mind. How long time did you wait before putting the decals on your calipers after painting them with E-Tech? I've got a caliper paint kit. They say we don't have to drive the car 24 hours after we apply the caliper paint in order to let it harden. Did you wait 24 hours before you put the decals? Is it save to put the decals as soon as the paint dries (after an hour of application) and then wait 24 hours before using the car?

when painting the calipers I applied it in 5 thin coats. Each time I had applied a coat I used my hot air gun to 'set' the paint. The last coat was slightly heavier, left to air dry for 45 mins and then used the hot air gun to flash where the decals would go. I applied the decals as soon as this was done, I then drove the car after I had finished to no ill effect.

 

[HHS3]

Great job on the calipers mate, this is something I urgently need to do as my rears have peeled an awful lot now. Can you link me to the decals please? As there's loads of cr@p about and so I want to use ones that have been proven to work.

Cheers.

 

[antonws3]

Where'd you get your number plate lights from Need some for my 57 plate

 

[JayHa11]

I am currently chasing an audio gremlin with my S3 which is really annoying! It seems to happen when the car is cold and will result in the speakers popping (front and back) this happens without the key in the ignition! Sound keeps cutting out and fading back in but once the car is warm all these little bugs seem to stop which is really perplexing! MY local audio company did some tests at the weekend but didn't find any faults so I am desperately scouring the net looking for help.

In the meantime I am just battling the elements trying to keep the car as clean as I can which is a struggle when its my daily.

 

[loopy_kiwi]

looking good man!! I have just bought a 2010 s3 myself! love it!!

 

[antonws3]

what cleaning products are your currently using, looks immaculate

 

[JayHa11]

what cleaning products are your currently using, looks immaculate

Cheers Anton

It had a 2 stage paint correction done a few months ago so that has helped it big time. The products I am using to maintain the paints gloss/protection are:

Wash
Chemical Guys Maxi Suds 2
Auto Finesse Lambs Wool wash mitt
2 bucket method
Auto Finesse Aqua Deluxe drying towel

Protection
Chemical Guys Jetseal
Carpro Reload

 

[HansfishS3]

How do you find the Jetseal? Would it be a good idea to put it over or under a wax layer? Currently I just heavily wax mine to protect the paint!

 

[JayHa11]

Little update:

I hadn't planned anymore modifications heading into Christmas but I just couldn't resist the 'urge to splurge' after a few good wins with the bookies!

After mooching around ebay for an 'RS3 style' grill I had to decide which finish I wanted as there are quite a few different variations. I went for the gloss black grill with aluminium surround. I opted for this finish rather than the chrome surround as its a little less 'flash' in my opinion and I think I made the right decision.

Grill came quickly via Parcel Force and I set up camp in a corner of my companies warehouse Friday night...

As it stood


Bumper off and center of the slam panel coated in matt black


Grills swapped over (This was more of a pain than removing the front bumper!


Back on and looking mean


All in it took me around 3 hours at a leisurely pace with a few tea breaks to warm up as I'm used to being in the office (The warehouse was blooming freezing!)

The grill does have the removable number plate bracket, I just wanted to enjoy the grill in all its glory on the way home. Toying with the idea of a vinyl front plate under the passenger headlight.....?

Only other thing to do now is remove the RS3 badge and replace with a new S3 badge ordered. I will also remove the lower central splitter and the fog covers so I can give them a dusting of gloss black to further tie in the front grill.

Thanks for reading

 

[dp_motley]

Well done! Looks great especially with the aluminium surround.

Is the front splitter removable? Isn't it a part of a bumper? I have an idea to painting or wrapping the front splitter in silver/aluminium like you have now. Doing it when it's not on a car could be much easier. I also thought of a "chrome delete" act: wrapping all chrome parts in silver/aluminium, perhaps brushed.

 

[S.]

Looking great.
Splitter is removable it has few screws and then you need to unclip it. it's tight and you need to be careful not to break vertical parts.