Ash187's A5 Sportback

[Ash187]

Hi Guys,

Some of you guys i have already had the pleasure of meeting while working on your cars, others i am still to meet.
I have had an A3 for the past 5 years and due to having a baby i have just upgraded to an A5 Sportback.
On the A3 forums my posts over the years got very scattered as i didnt have a 'build thread' it was more of the latest mod i had done. This time around i want to keep it all in one place so i am starting this thread.

So a couple weeks ago i picked up a 2010 A5 Sportback S-Line 3.0 TDI Quattro S-Tronic in Obsidian Grey.
Absolutely amazing car, smooth and refined but an absolute beast when i want it to be.
It came with keyless entry and go, electric S-lline heated front and rear leather seats, 3G MMI high with HDD, interior light pack, storage pack and front & rear optical parking sensors.

I have plans to do a fair amount to the A5 as i did with the A3 Sportback i had, so to start it off here are a couple of pics of the A3

So this is what the A5 looked like when i went to collect her:

So i got the A5 from leeds but before i drove back home to London i hooked up the VCDS and started coding the car with all the listed tweaks including Video in Motion, Audi Drive Select and interior ambient light adjustment. When i got her home it was a bit late so i parked her on the drive and the next morning i got straight to work...

The interior was just too plain and normal for me so i had to put a personal touch to it. So i stripped it down and wrapped the trims in a lovely Satin Red (red is my favourite colour btw)

The pictures honestly don't do it justice, it really stands out and looks the part in the car!

The next thing i did was upgrade all the lights in the car to LEDs, including the 3 lights in the boot. Since some of the lights in the A5 are not the same as the A3 i had to order in a few more bulbs from @t8ups and installed them as soon as they arrived. I also changed the footwell lights from the dim white LEDs to lovely red LEDs so that when I'm driving around at night the ambient light is a nice dim red over the feet.

The next day i had to drop off a customer to Bluewater while i had his car in the garage and as i was walking back to the car the front end of it just didnt look right, it looked.... standard. I had to do something about it so i called up another contact and placed an order for a special part.
I also called up TPS and ordered a pair of Audi LED number plate lights, then got in contact with the guys at HIDs Direct and ordered some 5000k replacement D3S bulbs and foglight bulbs.
Its really difficult to get decent pics of the headlights with an iPhone but here is what it looks like with the uprated bulbs:

Then while the car was in the garage and my special part turned up earlier that morning, i got to work and went from this:

To this:

The front end has been transformed from just a grill change, much happier with it now.
once i was done i cleaned up the car and went to TPS to collect the bits i had ordered and got a couple more lovely shots of the car

Great and weird thing about Obsidian Grey is how it changes colour when light hits the paint, in some lights it looks black while sometimes it looks purple.

Another thing i had to sort out was getting burnt in mild sunshine in the car. The clear glass just made it feel like a greenhouse so i went to a friend who sorted out some nice light 'sun shades' which matched the rears better

Also while i was with my friend i mentioned to him that the 5000k Fog lights i bought don't light up properly since the canbus system shuts one of the bulbs down so he gave me a set of canbus compatible ballasts which did the trick

Now i have lovely crisp white lighting all around the car to make it much more modern.

Final thing i have done to it in the last 2 weeks of ownership is to update the Maps and firmware on the MMI 3G high to the latest 2015 maps, turned out i had the original 2010 maps on the car... took about 3 hours to do and most of the time all i saw was this:

There isn't much that i have noticed as yet with the update but i guess it now has more roads or any other changes made in the last 5 years. I plan to replace the unit with 3G MMI Plus at some stage anyway so that should be a nice upgrade over the unit i currently have.

So thats it for now, i will update this thread as i go along.

 

[Swanny356]

Now I've got grille & light envy again!! Must stop looking at these threads

Lovely motor and great choice if I may add!

Interior not my taste tbh but looks a fantastic job.

Looking forward to see how this thread will roll! I just won't tell the wife.

 

[Ash187]

So i had a free day today and i got to work on another little mod... the ambient door pockets.

Now after reading all the guides it says that it should plug into pin 8 on the door modules
however my door modules don't have a pin in pin number 8 even though the car came from factory with the interior light pack.
Now i looked around and saw the part number for the recommended door module has the pin in pin 8 but its an 8K0 number which as far as i know are for older A4 models, my door modules are 8T0. Also since my car has the advanced key with the door sensors i didnt want to change over the door modules so i just wired the pocket lights into the interior door handle LED which works perfectly. a little annoying as i cannot control the brightness but its still looking good... anyway here are the pics.

Drivers Door:

Passenger Door:

And what the car looks like with the doors open at night:

I have also done the rear doors, just didnt grab any pics as they look the same as the fronts

 

[AU11 ALS]

Loving the work so far! Some simple mods like bulb changes really do make the difference!

The grill does transform the car!

Good work

 

[voorhees]

Superb work as always Ash

 

[Sandra]

Fantastic work Ash. Im looking forward to following this thread all in one place. Keep up the good work x

 

[jb0o]

Looks stunning Ash! Looking forward to watching this thread progress.

My Mr's has just picked up a A5 Coupe with 3G MMI, so I'll have some fun playing with that also!

Sub'd.

 

[37]

Loving the color Ash - Nice one

 

[Ash187]

So its been a while since i updated this... and i have some more recent additions:

So to start i had an impulse buy... i saw a set of folding mirrors for a sportback being sold from America and for a damn sweet price so i had the impulse and just bought them, they turned up a couple weeks later so i immediately fitted them only to remember why we don't install LHD mirrors on a RHD car... that angle of the mirror bases were totally off!
the drivers side i could deal with since it was showing more of the car than i wanted but i could still see the road however the passenger side was showing the far left and i couldn't see my own car in the mirror without leaning over which meant overtaking on motorways became a worry.
I also got myself some dimming mirror glass to go along with the folding mirrors but found that i didnt have the wires from the interior mirror so i added those and got those working.
i was about to go out and spend some more money to rectify the LHD mirror situation but then i remembered that i can swap over the mirror bases from the original RHD ones that were on the car and that should sort it.

so after a whole load of swearing and scraping my hands to bits i managed to do this

Swapped over the bits and reinstalled it all into the car and voila! it all works perfectly, auto folding and auto dimming with RHD bases for less money that a mirror glass!

Instagram video:



Next up i fitted my dash cam from the A3 to the A5, nice little simple cheap dash cam that records in 1080p and catches all the stupidness that happens on the roads whilst I'm on my travels

So i installed it on the passenger side so it hides behind the sun visors (always have the visors down) which leaves next to no cable showing... wired it into the interior dimming mirror power source so it turns on and off with the ignition.

Absolutely cracking piece of kit... definitely recommend everyone having one of these in the car! i have whats known as the 0803.
here is some footage recorded from the camera of a couple of idiots on the A406 in London practising their 'skills' at driving:



I also fitted a reverse camera but only because the guys at Xcarlinks refused to refund a faulty product as its been over 14days and offered an exchange, honestly a word of advice... Stay away from XCARLINKS! horrible hardware and staff who read from the same useless manual supplied in the box.
Anyway so i installed this camera which looks to be the same chinese cameras from eBay. it works ok and even has the moving guidelines but since installing it i have lost the optical parking image and every other time the camera is activated it will disappear from the screen after 5 seconds and then the only way to bring it back up is to go back into neutral and then again into reverse.
The image though isn't too bad and works very well at night too:

I will be getting the OEM reverse camera soon and replace this one so that i can get the optical parking back. I will probably keep the xcarlinks multimedia box in the car as it also supports a front camera and it does allow me to wire in external video sources which will come in handy for other multimedia projects in the future.

so finally i have upgraded some of the interior bits to facelift parts.
I got really good deals on the gear knob and flat bottom steering wheel so snapped them up! also by total chance i found a way to get the facelift stalks to work on the car without any errors so i have installed them which makes the car look less dated from the inside.

really pleased with how its coming along now and I'm sure i will have more updates to come very soon!

 

[Ash187]

Today my friend and i got together to do some amateur detailing on our cars.
got out the jet wash, buckets and lance... 2 bucket wash, snowfoam, shampoo, rinse, dry, polish and glass sealant...
and this is the result:

after drying:

After the polish:

really pleased with the result.
now just need to get some tyre shine.

 

[Sandra]

Awesome work as always Ash. Look forward to the next installment. x

 

[Double V]

Awesome.
Do you have link for OEM reverse camera ? for 2015 Sportback.
Easy to install ?

 

[ADi Nuff Valves]

Looks great Ash. Think I remember your A3 from when I used to have an S3. Sadly now our little one is here I barely get time to wash the A5 let alone mod it!

 

[Ash187]

@Double V we install reverse cameras, pm me for a price mate.
@ADi Nuff Valves yes I remember your car, you got a coupe or sportback now?

 

[ADi Nuff Valves]

Hi mate. I've got a sportback. Needed the extra doors to get our little one in and out easily! Looking at getting myself an 0806 after seeing yours installed!

 

[Ash187]

So i had been toying with the idea of upgrading the rear tail lights to the FL ones but didnt want to spend loads doing it. I found someone who was desperate to get rid of some bits and managed to get a bargain on the lights so i went ahead and bought the set and fitted them straight away going from this:

to this:

Loving the new rear lights!

Awaiting delivery of the next mod...

 

[Ash187]

OK so finally got some time to update this...

So i was at the German whip run the other week with the A5 but i had to say although the 3.0TDI is amazing and quick the car just looks standard sitting amongst all those other done up cars so i put a hold on other mods and got to work on the outside.

The new mod came through, found a bit of a bargain on eBay on a set of H&R spacers with bolts so i bought it and fitted it on as soon as they came:

Before profile:

After:

I knew it would take a couple days for the car to settle into place so i moved straight onto the next mod and ordered myself the bargain of the century... Brand new Eibach Pro-kit springs for £120 delivered!!!!! Beat that if you can

They turned up on a very busy week but i managed to get a free Saturday so i popped up to my good friends garage and we got to work:

Before height with the spacers on:

Old one out:

After fitting:

I know this will take up to a week to settle so I'm not too bothered that the fronts look a bit higher than the rears. ride comfort is still there however i now need to be more careful about the speed bumps around london as it does catch the undertray.

 

[Ash187]

So next up i got myself a small interior upgrade... facelift climate control panel to go along with the other facelift parts in the car:

old vs new:

Quite pleased with how it looks now without the red on red screen in the climate panel. removed the component protection by a garage i always recommend to my customers and coded the unit myself to work perfectly so i don't have the fan blower issue.

The car was looking a bit grim again by this point and since my dodo juice and clay bar kit had arrived i rolled up my sleeves and got to work on a proper detailing session:

So firstly dirt buster on the Karcher jet wash, snow foam prewash, jet wash rinse, a 2 bucket wash, dried down, brought inside for a full meguiars clay bar session, AG super resin polish and finally a dodo juice purple haze wax. Took me 6 hours in total but this is the result:

paintwork feels so smooth now and so shiny!

last thing i did was wrap the mirrors in 3M 1080 glossy black to get the black edition look I'm going for. I will wrap/paint up the other bits slowly but so far i think it looks good:

You can also see how the car is settling down on the springs now.

 

[Swanny356]

Nice work Ash.

When did you wrap the window surrounds? Look great, are you happy?

Have you seen the half red s5 interior on eBay, would look great in yours?

Ps thanks for the info on the mirrors but don't think you'd want to travel to Staffs just to sort them!

 

[Ash187]

I did the matte black window surrounds some time ago but I'm not 100% on them, thinking of changing it to gloss black to match the mirrors. plus some of the trims need changing as they are not perfect so i will probably do it when i get my hands on a fresh set of trims.

i saw the black and red seats but i think its a bit too much, besides i want to put alcantara seats in my A5 as i don't like full leather.

 

[Gc94]

Car is looking great.. Just a quick question do you think it's worth it upgrading your headlight bulbs? I've thought about it because I think the standard bulbs still give off a yellow tinge ( was used to 8000k hids in my old car haha).

 

[Ash187]

yeah definitely worth upgrading the headlight bulbs. looks much better both looking at the front of the car and the light output

 

[Gc94]

you don't happen to know what ones was it you bought ? Going to order some I think

 

[Ash187]

got them from here: http://www.hids-direct.co.uk/categories/hid-xenon-bulbs/oem-bulbs-by-type/d3s

 

[Gc94]

Cheers , what else you got planned for it ?

 

[Ash187]

have a massive list... got a few things coming over the next couple weeks so will be posting up some more updates soon

 

[Audib5fan]

Hey nice car the transformation is looking good! Quick question is the a5 worth with no ncap only thing really putting it off for me

 

[Gc94]

Will be keeping a watch on this thread

 

[Ash187]

SO here is the next update:

I found a good supplier for OEM RS5 pedals so i snapped them up and waited patiently for them to arrive from Germany. I also ordered a couple other bits but it all turned up one after the other so i have been installing things slowly.

Here are the pedals:

this is what it looked like before i fitted them:

Got the accelerator and brake pedal on after a lot of swearing, pulling and pushing the rubber but luckily i didnt need to cut anything and i managed to get it all on perfectly... the same cannot be said about the dead pedal which has different fixing points

The dead pedal sits in the holes but a little loose so i just glued it into place.

Then the next thing to turn up was my S5 rep spoiler. I chose to get the Rep since I couldn't justify spending £450 on the small spoiler that in some angles cannot be seen. The spoiler is a very good copy and looks like the real deal once fitted.

Here is a trial fit of it before painting:

and once it was ready i couldn't wait to collect and have it fitted:

Really happy with how it looks now.

 

[Ash187]

Final thing i have done is something i had planned for a while but sourcing the part proved very difficult.
Eventually i found a very good supplier and after a few emails i ordered in the part and waited.

It turned up earlier today so as soon as i could i got my car into the unit and got to work.

The part I'm talking about is a custom LED sweeping door sill with an Audi logo:

So this is the standard S-Line sill that was originally on the car:

i carefully removed it and then got to work removing all the glue. once that was done i fitted on the sill and wired it into the footwell light and then stood back to admire the lights.
I got a few videos to show off how it looks.





After a minute of leaving the door open the light starts to pulse like this:




It looks really good in person. I am supplying these to anyone who wants it installed so send me a PM if your interested. Will fit the coupe as well.

 

[Audib5fan]

looking good car i like what you have done with it

 

[Shaq12]

Looking good!

What supplier did you use for the pedals?

C

 

[Ash187]

Looking good!

What supplier did you use for the pedals?

C

I supply the pedals myself. If you want a set its £150. I can also supply the dead pedal alone for £100

 

[Swanny356]

Love that spoiler Ash and the sills, more superb editions to the motor.

This hot weather has bought me around to your Alcantra seat thinking also.

As I need the rear door respraying I think I might get that spoiler done at the same time, where did you source it from and how much?

 

[Ash187]

Love that spoiler Ash and the sills, more superb editions to the motor.

This hot weather has bought me around to your Alcantra seat thinking also.

As I need the rear door respraying I think I might get that spoiler done at the same time, where did you source it from and how much?

I can get you the spoiler for £100 delivered.
Send me a pm for details

 

[Ash187]

Ok so its been absolutely ages since the last update!

I have done a few things but work and family got the better of me so not as much as i had planned.

So firstly il start with a pic of the car nice and clean in the bluewater shopping car park

I know she is so pretty.

Then i tested out the quattro while working at a friends garage

As I've been investing in the business loads recently i have been branching out into other products and the LED interior lighting packs have become really popular so i have done loads in that respect. As you guys know my interior has the red lights but here are a couple pics of some customer cars that we did some upgrades on

Coral blue:

Purple:

Another thing i have done is install Cree LED lights into the reverse bulbs on my A5 however i can't find a picture of my own car but here is one from a customer car I also installed the mod to:

I then invested in these super bright Cree LED number plate lights which are a massive upgrade from the factory LED number plate lights:

Now i have been planning a mod for a while and its actually still ongoing but there are other changes i have made and you sharp eyed guys will notice it anyway... I've installed MMI 3G+ with google maps.

Im still working on the google maps part as i need to get internet added and am working with a very special person who is sorting something out for me but for the time being i have the Nav, bluetooth and wifi streaming all active... the best part are the controls.
I change it up from the 8 button controls to the newer 4 button but i also changed the start button to the newer red surround one, added a red stitched gear gaitor and wrapped the gear selector in the same satin red:

I have also invested in the Semi dynamic indicators... The ones i now supply can be adjusted so you can have the outer leds flash at a quicker or slower rate than what it comes shipped as if you wanted to change it. I found this important as i always thought the way they were built were too slow.

This is what it looks like installed on my car, the left side is the standard slower version where as i have adjusted the right side:



And this is what it looks like with both sides adjusted:



And finally i have upgraded the flat bottom to the RS style flat bottom with red stitching and larger chrome paddles.

If any of you guys are interested in any of the things you have seen just contact me directly and i can sort out the things you want.

 

[Shogun]

Ash is it a major ball ache to get the aluminium trim off around the gear area?
Can get the door card ones but that one is defeating me

 

[Ash187]

Ash is it a major ball ache to get the aluminium trim off around the gear area?
Can get the door card ones but that one is defeating me

If you mean the piece that I have wrapped red that goes around the centre console then yes... The whole centre tunnel needs to be removed from the car to get it off since its screwed in from underneath. You need to remove the armrest, the rear vents, the mmi buttons around the gear stick and then a load of screws and bolts come out to let the tunnel come away from the car.
There is a guide around here somewhere that explained how to remove it propery

 

[RS5 JON]

Ash is it a major ball ache to get the aluminium trim off around the gear area?
Can get the door card ones but that one is defeating me

I wrapped my A4 centre trim area without removing, was a bit of a pita but I think alot less hassle than removing it IMO.
It's worth a try before removing the centre trim, needs a bit of patience though.
JG

 

[Nilz]

Wow, some great work there @Ash187 , looking forward to your updates.

Keep up the good work bro