dpbayly
Registered User
Hi all,
Been looking around the forum for a few weeks since accidentally becoming an owner of a 2006 A3 S line sportback 2.0 TDi 140 and I'm not one for standard cars and I have no patience at all so when I start I like to get it finished asap and the A3 has been no different, I'm a Mechanic of 17 years and reasonable paint sprayer.
I'm not new to Audi-Sport
My previous cars have been my TT about 6 years ago.
I bough it like this:
and 10 weeks later it looked like this:
My nex Audi was an A4 3.0 V6
Bought like this:
and 12 weeks later looked like this:
So they were a few of my previous Audi's and now for the new little A3 and a few pic's and details of of the work I've carried out
Here's is the A3 as it looked when I picked it up it was standard really all apart from the mk7 Golf GTD alloys:
My first modification was to fit a set of LED bulbs in place of the fog lights and then rewire them to run as DRL's :
Next was to try a set of new HID bulbs and because I have halogen housings I thought I'd try the shielded HID 8000K bulbs and they work great and on the beam tester in my MOT bay the pattern is sharp so I'm very happy with them:
Next was to address the rear lights by fitting the facelift bar ones and to code the the car to operate them correctly:
before:
new light units:
Fitted along with my new LED number plate light units:
Next was to fit the very versatile Seat Lean Cupra R splitter:
Next and very annoyingly I had to fix a small dent in the drivers side rear door bottom after crashing my ride on lawn mower into it .......... DONT ASK.....
all fixed
Next was to try these fitted sun shades I normally have the windows tinted but this time I though I'd give them a try and I'm very happy with them:
Next a little bit of head light tint film, this is the lightest and has no noticeable effect on night vision and I've used it many times:
left done right not done:
Both done
Next was to fit a new honeycomb front grill the one I bought like many have has the top 2 sections of the honeycomb filled in which I soon had removed:
half done:
the fitting process:
Fitted but without the rings I also before fitting masked up the grill and sprayed the rim high gloss black:
My first splash of bold colour:
next was to remove the fog light grills and mask them up and pick the bar and fog light out in gloss black and the raised rim around the light in the same ring red:
Next was to change the wheels as I'm not a fan of the mk7 golf GTD wheels so was very happy to pick up a set of 19" Genuine Audi Speedline splits 19" x 8.5 " ET43:
The following morning I split them and started the refurb process which took a couple of days:
First step was to key the surface with scotchbrite:
I also decided to spray the rims instead of getting them re diamond cut because my wife WILL curb them and if painted there easier to touch up:
Primed:
Next was to set about painting the centres:
The finished centres painted and lacquered :
Now for the rims I first went over them with alloy wheel silver:
I then dusted them with a coarse silver flake:
I then gave the lips a light coat of red metal flake:
I applied this with my air brush:
It's very hard to capture the effect of metal flake on camera :
Here's the wheels bolted back together:
I wasn't going to fit them till I was lowered so when the Eibach sportline springs turned up yesterday I last night slapped them on:
And here it is I WAS VERY DISAPPOINTED in the drop it was nowhere near what I expected:
So last night after I took the pics I was amazingly offered a set of AP coilovers which I collect at 10pm and this morning at 5.30am I got to work and picked it back up on the ramp and removed the brand new 6 miles old Eibach springs and my S line shocks and popped the coilovers on instead:
Im now chuffed to bits of how it sits.
This was how it looked before I set it up to my preference:
Finally my finished pictures:
.
A couple of before and after:
Sorry for the long post but I had a lot to show.
Been looking around the forum for a few weeks since accidentally becoming an owner of a 2006 A3 S line sportback 2.0 TDi 140 and I'm not one for standard cars and I have no patience at all so when I start I like to get it finished asap and the A3 has been no different, I'm a Mechanic of 17 years and reasonable paint sprayer.
I'm not new to Audi-Sport
My previous cars have been my TT about 6 years ago.
I bough it like this:
and 10 weeks later it looked like this:
My nex Audi was an A4 3.0 V6
Bought like this:
and 12 weeks later looked like this:
So they were a few of my previous Audi's and now for the new little A3 and a few pic's and details of of the work I've carried out
Here's is the A3 as it looked when I picked it up it was standard really all apart from the mk7 Golf GTD alloys:
My first modification was to fit a set of LED bulbs in place of the fog lights and then rewire them to run as DRL's :
Next was to try a set of new HID bulbs and because I have halogen housings I thought I'd try the shielded HID 8000K bulbs and they work great and on the beam tester in my MOT bay the pattern is sharp so I'm very happy with them:
Next was to address the rear lights by fitting the facelift bar ones and to code the the car to operate them correctly:
before:
new light units:
Fitted along with my new LED number plate light units:
Next was to fit the very versatile Seat Lean Cupra R splitter:
Next and very annoyingly I had to fix a small dent in the drivers side rear door bottom after crashing my ride on lawn mower into it .......... DONT ASK.....
all fixed
Next was to try these fitted sun shades I normally have the windows tinted but this time I though I'd give them a try and I'm very happy with them:
Next a little bit of head light tint film, this is the lightest and has no noticeable effect on night vision and I've used it many times:
left done right not done:
Both done
Next was to fit a new honeycomb front grill the one I bought like many have has the top 2 sections of the honeycomb filled in which I soon had removed:
half done:
the fitting process:
Fitted but without the rings I also before fitting masked up the grill and sprayed the rim high gloss black:
My first splash of bold colour:
next was to remove the fog light grills and mask them up and pick the bar and fog light out in gloss black and the raised rim around the light in the same ring red:
Next was to change the wheels as I'm not a fan of the mk7 golf GTD wheels so was very happy to pick up a set of 19" Genuine Audi Speedline splits 19" x 8.5 " ET43:
The following morning I split them and started the refurb process which took a couple of days:
First step was to key the surface with scotchbrite:
I also decided to spray the rims instead of getting them re diamond cut because my wife WILL curb them and if painted there easier to touch up:
Primed:
Next was to set about painting the centres:
The finished centres painted and lacquered :
Now for the rims I first went over them with alloy wheel silver:
I then dusted them with a coarse silver flake:
I then gave the lips a light coat of red metal flake:
I applied this with my air brush:
It's very hard to capture the effect of metal flake on camera :
Here's the wheels bolted back together:
I wasn't going to fit them till I was lowered so when the Eibach sportline springs turned up yesterday I last night slapped them on:
And here it is I WAS VERY DISAPPOINTED in the drop it was nowhere near what I expected:
So last night after I took the pics I was amazingly offered a set of AP coilovers which I collect at 10pm and this morning at 5.30am I got to work and picked it back up on the ramp and removed the brand new 6 miles old Eibach springs and my S line shocks and popped the coilovers on instead:
Im now chuffed to bits of how it sits.
This was how it looked before I set it up to my preference:
Finally my finished pictures:
.A couple of before and after:
Sorry for the long post but I had a lot to show.
