Hi all,
Ive had my 1.8T cabriolet Quattro (BFB) over 2 years now and thought its about time I document everything I've done so far.
Firstly, thank you very much to all those members that helped me along the way. Some exceptional people on here
My Story
I bought the Cabby completely bone stock as seen in the below pic. I got a cracking deal on it so couldn't resist really.
I had a vision from the start, and that was to make it more 'aggressive' looking in every way and give it an updated feel.
1st Mod – Wheels and tyres.
I had no frame of reference but all I know is that I felt 19's were too small for the Cabby so was looking around for examples for it on 20's. I came across 'DeckedM' on here (no longer a member) and his cabby and was amazed right from the very beginning!
So I proceeded to buy the RS6 5 spokes in gloss black (9inch ET35) as everything on my car which was silver had the plan of being de-chromed in gloss black.
I went for Nankang nsII's 235/30/20.
Initially I went for a set up that kept it within the 5% +/_ rolling radius recommendation. Pic below.
Unfortunately this didnt last as the stretch was horrendous in my opinion not to mention the lack of profile. On London roads this is a BRAVE move to say the least.
2nd Mod – LED number plate light and Xenon headlight up grade.
Bought a pair of super bright LED Festoon bulbs and proceeded to take out the old bulbs and replace them with the new LED's. Removing the old screws were an absolute nightmare as they were rounded off because they were practically made of cheese. Had to drill them and with needle nose pliers, get them out. Pic below.
(This was then further upgraded to even brighter ones which will be shown at the end of this thread thus far..)
I had never done installed Xenons before so with the help of you guys on here decided to have a stab at it. VERY pleased with the results..
Pic at end.
3rd Mod – B7 Cabriolet Rear Tail lights retro fit.
Sourcing these lights were quite simple, found Eurocar parts to be the best price and of course they were OEM. Instead of doing the wiring myself or with the help of a member on here, I decided to go for the non hassle approach and purchased the 'Kufatec' adapter from Ebay.de
This was a plug and play mod really. Swap out the B6 Cab light housing for the B7 Cab ones, then put the kufatec adapter on the appropriate side to cancel the error on the dis. Reason being, the B7 cab rear lights have just one reverse light so you have to 'trick' the electrics of the car into thinking the other one is functional when its not.
A very friendly fellow forum member on here helped me 'code in' in the lights too using VCDS. This needs to be done otherwise the top break light on the new lights will be at 25% on. So, you need to set it to 0%. Pic below.
4th Mod – Gloss Black exterior Trim Wrap
I took my car to a local wrapping specialist (Dare Wraps – Chertsey) and proceeded to get all the exterior de-chromed in one go. Minus the Grills. Pic below. Check the night shot out!!
Half a year later, I developed 2 punctures in the fronts whilst the rears remained solid. Decided enough was enough and opted for the most maximum tread recommended over a 9inch wide wheel. So, I chose to run 265's all around. Stuck with Nankang brand as they impressed me so far. Hard compound tyre which is what I wanted for harsh London Roads. Slightly different tread pattern which supposedly has an 'A' rating in the wet. Pic below.
Also, put some black Audi centre caps to match.
I Chose to run 265/30/20 instead of 235/35/20 for stretch issues and speedometer issues. My current set up is only 1% out the recommended 5% +/_ Having said that the ride quality would be a lot better on any 35 profile.
5th Mod – 50% Window Tints all around
I decided to go for the lightest tints as ive always been a fan of the smoked look. NOT blacked out. It offers just enough 'privacy' during the day without being over the top. Pic below..washed too.
6th Mod – LED fog lights
As mentioned in a previous posting, the install is straight forward but getting LED's with enough lighting power is a mine field. In the end, I got 'CREE' LED fogs which are nice and bright and match my 6000k xenons. You need to get the H11 Resistors so they dont throw up errors on the DIS again.
Pic below.
7th Mod – All 4 front Grills painted gloss black, B7 Cabriolet final edition rear valance install painted gloss black, rear Audi badge removal for Gloss black version.
Pic of grills
The rear valance removal was a small pain in the a*se! There are 2 screws underneath easily accessible and removed. But the 2 on very edges ended up being pop rivets. They needed to be drilled out as pulling them out wont do it.
De-badging was straight forward. Dental floss in between the badge and the body of the car will do it. After badge removal, Spray 'sticky stuff' remover on area with glue still left on..leave for 10 minutes and remove.
8th Mod – Full LED lighting interior.
Replaced all 4 footwells, 2x dome lights (for the cab), glove box and boot for nice clean white LEDs. The install was incredibly frustrating. The A lot of the time my face was wedged in between the rear seats and foot carpets due to the fact that when you are prying the light housing out, the connectors are so damn short they were tucked in the recess. Phrased another way, I couldn't pull the light housing (with light inside) off the connector as I may not be able to put it back in!! So, I had to do this with a torch and trust what I was feeling haha as I most of the time I couldn't see!
PLEASE dont be as dim as me. I installed one of the LED's the right way around but because the footwell lights (and door lights) disappear after 10-15mins I thought it wasn't working. Any guesses what I did next?? Yep, so I change them twice for nothing..
After all that, the results were simply amazing if I do say so myself. I went from the old dated dull yellow to a really nice high end white. Gives the cockpit such an updated feel. Fell in love all over again with my car. Pics below.
Most recent pic of car below on full lighting display.
More mods on the way if you can all bare with me.
Ive had my 1.8T cabriolet Quattro (BFB) over 2 years now and thought its about time I document everything I've done so far.
Firstly, thank you very much to all those members that helped me along the way. Some exceptional people on here
My Story
I bought the Cabby completely bone stock as seen in the below pic. I got a cracking deal on it so couldn't resist really.
I had a vision from the start, and that was to make it more 'aggressive' looking in every way and give it an updated feel.
1st Mod – Wheels and tyres.
I had no frame of reference but all I know is that I felt 19's were too small for the Cabby so was looking around for examples for it on 20's. I came across 'DeckedM' on here (no longer a member) and his cabby and was amazed right from the very beginning!
So I proceeded to buy the RS6 5 spokes in gloss black (9inch ET35) as everything on my car which was silver had the plan of being de-chromed in gloss black.
I went for Nankang nsII's 235/30/20.
Initially I went for a set up that kept it within the 5% +/_ rolling radius recommendation. Pic below.
Unfortunately this didnt last as the stretch was horrendous in my opinion not to mention the lack of profile. On London roads this is a BRAVE move to say the least.
2nd Mod – LED number plate light and Xenon headlight up grade.
Bought a pair of super bright LED Festoon bulbs and proceeded to take out the old bulbs and replace them with the new LED's. Removing the old screws were an absolute nightmare as they were rounded off because they were practically made of cheese. Had to drill them and with needle nose pliers, get them out. Pic below.
(This was then further upgraded to even brighter ones which will be shown at the end of this thread thus far..)
I had never done installed Xenons before so with the help of you guys on here decided to have a stab at it. VERY pleased with the results..
Pic at end.
3rd Mod – B7 Cabriolet Rear Tail lights retro fit.
Sourcing these lights were quite simple, found Eurocar parts to be the best price and of course they were OEM. Instead of doing the wiring myself or with the help of a member on here, I decided to go for the non hassle approach and purchased the 'Kufatec' adapter from Ebay.de
This was a plug and play mod really. Swap out the B6 Cab light housing for the B7 Cab ones, then put the kufatec adapter on the appropriate side to cancel the error on the dis. Reason being, the B7 cab rear lights have just one reverse light so you have to 'trick' the electrics of the car into thinking the other one is functional when its not.
A very friendly fellow forum member on here helped me 'code in' in the lights too using VCDS. This needs to be done otherwise the top break light on the new lights will be at 25% on. So, you need to set it to 0%. Pic below.
4th Mod – Gloss Black exterior Trim Wrap
I took my car to a local wrapping specialist (Dare Wraps – Chertsey) and proceeded to get all the exterior de-chromed in one go. Minus the Grills. Pic below. Check the night shot out!!
Half a year later, I developed 2 punctures in the fronts whilst the rears remained solid. Decided enough was enough and opted for the most maximum tread recommended over a 9inch wide wheel. So, I chose to run 265's all around. Stuck with Nankang brand as they impressed me so far. Hard compound tyre which is what I wanted for harsh London Roads. Slightly different tread pattern which supposedly has an 'A' rating in the wet. Pic below.
Also, put some black Audi centre caps to match.
I Chose to run 265/30/20 instead of 235/35/20 for stretch issues and speedometer issues. My current set up is only 1% out the recommended 5% +/_ Having said that the ride quality would be a lot better on any 35 profile.
5th Mod – 50% Window Tints all around
I decided to go for the lightest tints as ive always been a fan of the smoked look. NOT blacked out. It offers just enough 'privacy' during the day without being over the top. Pic below..washed too.
6th Mod – LED fog lights
As mentioned in a previous posting, the install is straight forward but getting LED's with enough lighting power is a mine field. In the end, I got 'CREE' LED fogs which are nice and bright and match my 6000k xenons. You need to get the H11 Resistors so they dont throw up errors on the DIS again.
Pic below.
7th Mod – All 4 front Grills painted gloss black, B7 Cabriolet final edition rear valance install painted gloss black, rear Audi badge removal for Gloss black version.
Pic of grills
The rear valance removal was a small pain in the a*se! There are 2 screws underneath easily accessible and removed. But the 2 on very edges ended up being pop rivets. They needed to be drilled out as pulling them out wont do it.
De-badging was straight forward. Dental floss in between the badge and the body of the car will do it. After badge removal, Spray 'sticky stuff' remover on area with glue still left on..leave for 10 minutes and remove.
8th Mod – Full LED lighting interior.
Replaced all 4 footwells, 2x dome lights (for the cab), glove box and boot for nice clean white LEDs. The install was incredibly frustrating. The A lot of the time my face was wedged in between the rear seats and foot carpets due to the fact that when you are prying the light housing out, the connectors are so damn short they were tucked in the recess. Phrased another way, I couldn't pull the light housing (with light inside) off the connector as I may not be able to put it back in!! So, I had to do this with a torch and trust what I was feeling haha as I most of the time I couldn't see!
PLEASE dont be as dim as me. I installed one of the LED's the right way around but because the footwell lights (and door lights) disappear after 10-15mins I thought it wasn't working. Any guesses what I did next?? Yep, so I change them twice for nothing..
After all that, the results were simply amazing if I do say so myself. I went from the old dated dull yellow to a really nice high end white. Gives the cockpit such an updated feel. Fell in love all over again with my car. Pics below.
Most recent pic of car below on full lighting display.
More mods on the way if you can all bare with me.
