Alfie the a4's build thread.

[Dani_B19]

coming along nicely dani,i still think the valance would look better in the same color as the rest but that's just me and i'm color blind.....well that's my excuse, nice job all the same.

I know Rob, I just couldn't decide and still can't, nothing ventured, nothing gained though, the fact that I've received a full refund means it's cost me nothing so if I decided to paint it then it's fine. Still unsure though, going to wait until Ives fitted the boot lid spoiler then decide.

 

[Nozrul Islam]

While I'm here I may as well make a list of what I still need to do haha, I may just finish by this time next year:

To fit:
Boot spoiler
LCR splitter
LED DRL's
LED sidelights
LED fog lights
Custom mesh fog light surrounds
Foot well lights
Door warning/puddle lights
Interior LED door handle lights
V6 rubber snub mount

I do have a load more I'd like to buy but I think I better fit the above first of all haha.

Dani, cars looking good mate... Your list looks good too, keep us posted with the progress more so on the snub mount, footwell lights, fog light grill and the splitter.

BTW we have the same colour car - dont we?

 

[Dani_B19]

Thanks Nozrul.

The fog light grilles, LCR splitter and led fog lights along with the parking sensors will all be going in as a knee, just hate removing the a4 bumper, it's a ball ache in comparison to the s3 I had. That was literally 2 minute job.

The snub mount will be going in Saturday morning along with a full set of under tray firings all been well.

We do mate, I noticed that earlier, stunning colour I think, especially once polished and waxed, makes a nice change to the usual silver and black a4's I see, although 2 other people in my area have the same colour haha.

 

[Charlie Farley]

Yep I do like the color of your cars chaps, sometimes I really dislike my car in black but when it's clean and polished it looks really special, but it would do as it is a special edition....haha

 

[Squattro4]

Thanks Nozrul.

The fog light grilles, LCR splitter and led fog lights along with the parking sensors will all be going in as a knee, just hate removing the a4 bumper, it's a ball ache in comparison to the s3 I had. That was literally 2 minute job.

The snub mount will be going in Saturday morning along with a full set of under tray firings all been well.

We do mate, I noticed that earlier, stunning colour I think, especially once polished and waxed, makes a nice change to the usual silver and black a4's I see, although 2 other people in my area have the same colour haha.

It's the best colour i'd say us blue's gotta stick together cars looking ace

 

[Dani_B19]

Well mixed morning.

Plan was to fit

New snub mount
LED fog lights
New under tray fixing kit.

Well I fitted the snub mount, that's it. The new fixing kit is cheap Chinese rubbish, if you manage to get the screw into the fitting your lucky and if you do, it gets stuck and won't unscrew, I had to rip the lot off and replace with the old make shift kit I had made, this took most of my time as some how a few of the old fittings disappeared into the abyss.

Also tried to fit the fog lights from below, forgetting the car has 2 SMIC which are in the way, and with mine being the SE you can't remove the fog grilles. FML.

Anyway, few pics of the new vs old snub mount, or drove the car yet but something's telling me it's going to be different.

Was easy enough to fit in my back in a cold drive, soaked the new mount in boiling water then used a smearing of car shampoo to ease it in and sorted, if fitting the v6 mount like I have, I would definitely recommend removing the bracket on the slam panel, it'll make life a lot easier as the new mount is tight in the bracket we're as the old mount doesn't even touch the sides.

 

[Charlie Farley]

let us know how it feels now with the rubber bung fitted, is there more vibration at low speed etc and idling.

 

[Dani_B19]

Will do mate, will be taking the car out tomorrow so will do a little review in here.

 

[Charlie Farley]

just on another note dani, when you changed over your rear valance , did you bumper off or were you able to remove it insitu, if so can you expand a bit on what is involved.
I've had my rear bumper off few times to fit the towbar and a few other jobs don't don't really want the hassle of doing it again if I can get the valance off in situ, any help would be good dani.

 

[Dani_B19]

Of course mate.

The bumper was left in situ, the rear valance is held in place with about a dozen clips, at first I tried to depress the clips from the rear of the bumper with little success, at this point I managed to depress one clip just above the right exhaust, I then used tire force and pulled the valance out towards me, going from left to right, I pulled on it down and outwards if that makes sense, worked a treat.

So as long as you can get your fingers down a small section the rest is plain sailing matey.

 

[Dani_B19]

Well as it's been getting gradually darkely over the coming weeks and with having auto headlights, the dip beam has been in quite abit, this had made me realised the headlights were 1. A little low, passenger side more so and 2. Passenger side isn't the same colour.

So tonight I've just adjusted both beams, a few guides say to be careful as you can over adjust them but that's nonsense, the bi-xenons take a fair few turns to adjust, I slightly raise the drivers side and then brought the passenger side up to the same level, can't wait for the dark nights now, the headlights were. Lost good when I first got the car but hardly drove it in the dark, now their adjusted I can't wait.

Onto the colour difference, I know my car is. Ow over 10 years old and the xenon lights are only rated to a 10year bulb life so they are over due, in planning on buying some karma bulbs but at nearly £100 for the pair that will have to wait until after xmas.

 

[Charlie Farley]

but aren't the xenons self adjusting / levelling though dani, mine are, well that's what I was led to believe, when I turn my headlights on they go up and down and self adjust .
thanks for update on the valance too, hopefully should be the same on the avant bumper .

 

[Dani_B19]

They are to a point mate. It for slight adjustment they can be done manually.

If the car has been significantly lowered then you need to self learn the headlight position, bit for minor adjustment like mine you can manually do it.

When they do self levelling etc that's for when you change rode levels on uneven surfaces etc or when the car has etc weight it. They do a self assessment when you turn the car on, up and down, side to side etc.

 

[Charlie Farley]

I see dani, mine are adaptive aswell so they turn sideways when you corner which is ideal for me as I just hate dark corners....

 

[Dani_B19]

Same as mine mate.

Just been out and they have maintained the same levels that I adjusted them to.

 

[Nozrul Islam]

Dani I might do the snub mount tomorrow, let's us know if you feel any difference.
Is the rubber meant vibrate more when idle?

 

[Charlie Farley]

nope the rubber mount is a harder compound than the oem foam item also a much tighter fit so the two combined can lead to more virbations being felt etc at idle and else where, all down to personal choice etc , I don't like to much bad vibes so stuck with the oem item....

 

[Nozrul Islam]

Rob, I thought you bought the rubber one hence I got the same one, if it's more vibration then what's the purpose of rubber as oppose to OEM foam?

 

[Charlie Farley]

nope I went with the oem a4 item, the orangy foam jobby nozrul, I decided to stick with the standard one, the rubber does appear to work for others but I wasn't convinced it was really ideal for my 2.0 tfsi avant as the A6 model it comes from is a heavier car and engine, which may lead to more virbations etc and maybe other longterm issues, just my choice from previous experience of uprated bushes etc.

 

[Dani_B19]

Well chaps, I took the car out earlier on and all I can say is WOW.

The car is totally transformed. The cabin does have a slight bit of vibration on idle but I mean slight, also the exhaust is slightly louder, that's it though.
The rest is all positive. Gone was the rumble of the transmission when pulling off and the shaking associated with it, the car also picks up better, stops better and handles so so much better, its like a totally different car.

I can't quite believe how much a £12 mount has changed the car.

The proper test will be tomorrow when I'm in the car be myself and travelling to work, I have to go down several miles of windy country road so we'll see if I think it's still as good then when I've given it some hammer.

 

[Charlie Farley]

sounds like your onto a winner then dani, one question for you though, how can the exhaust sound louder just by using using a rubber bung compared to a foam item, does this mean I need to order one of the unbadged ones from ecp tomorrow to see how much better things are.

 

[Dani_B19]

The exhaust may be a placebo effect and could be due to me driving more heavily trying the mount out.

One thing to note chaps, my car is 11 years old with 140k in the clock with what I could tell is the original mount so the effects of changing it will be more apparent due to the state of the old bush, the effects may be less noticeable on newer, lower mileage cars.

 

[Charlie Farley]

I think your probably right on the money dani re the age/milage and its negative effects, that's why I probably wont notice any real difference, i'm still on approx. 52k miles so apart from the snub starting to dryout the rest of the car is still very tight, glad it works so well for you now.

 

[Dani_B19]

Right chaps, I took the car out for the start of my daily commute, a 28 mile round trip that has a mixture of B roads and narrow country back roads, some of which are quite fast roads.

All I can say is WOW again.

The car used to have a nasty habit of shaking on pulling away, the car would also shudder when braking which I put down to the front diss been slightly warped, nope it was the excess movement in the mount.

The car is now so direct when driving, before it used to feel disconnected from the wheel, the front used to almost do what it wanted, ow its point and shoot. The car also now picks up so much better, before there used to be a daily in putting the power and also a noticeable daily when changing gears and the power coming back in, all gone.

The mount has just cured so many issues that I thought were due to various other factors but in actual fact they were all down to a worn mount.

 

[Charlie Farley]

well that's good news dani, so deffo a massive improvement then, which is all good.
well just in case i'm missing out on this massive upgrade, and against my previous thoughts of no going this way I ordered the rubber bung this morning from my local ECP , will be in first thing in the morning, £7.49 , so i'll wack it on tomorrow and see what the format is , if no better then its only a few quid wasted if it is a big change then still only sub £10 for the oem one I bought a while back, it will be interesting to compare with your improvements dani as too how my car will feel and perform.

 

[Dani_B19]

For that kind of money rob it's worth doing, I think you will feel an improvement over the standard mount, what improvement is hard to say but it'll be very interesting to see due to your old mount been virtually brand new.

I can't believe how many little annoying issues it has sorted mate, I was about to start looking into the various issues as well as they were starting to really bug me now I have to drive the car daily haha.

 

[Dani_B19]

Chaps I've been to ask for a while now and keep forgetting.

I've noticed the rear of the engine around the gearbox is covered in oil and it isn't dry, it is quite fresh, also noticed a little bit on the under tray when it was off Saturday.

The oil level isn't really dropping out side of what is class as normal use.

Any ideas what the leak is from?

 

[GDCAUDIA4B7]

Hi dani is the oil leak at the bottom of the gearbox/engine?? Possible rear main oil seal leaking

 

[Dani_B19]

No mate, it's dripping onto the top of the box.

 

[GDCAUDIA4B7]

Sounds like either camshaft cover seal or the vacuum pump seal leaking mate.

 

[GDCAUDIA4B7]

Quick question dani what snub mount do you fit?

 

[Dani_B19]

Either of them easy to replace?

The 2.5 v6 tdi one mate. The part numbers in the snub mount thread.