My Overdue Audi A3 Conversion Thread

[Adam_A3_]

HI All

I've been part of the forum for a while now, and wanted to share my car(s) with you.

So I'm on my third 2.0 tdi DSG A3 now. I started off with an Akoya silver 3 door model which was pretty basic and then bought a black 3 door DSG s line model. This was fully loaded with the xenons and headlight washers, bose, cruise, bodykit the works. Kept this for 3 years: Pictures:






and the rear:



Interior Was nice also....



I think the kit on the car was the vortex. car ran problem free for the three years. then i wanted to get a sportback...but the one i found was an s line without the s line kit.

extras included sat nav, bose and the BBS Wheels which I loved.





So the plan always was to go for the S3 face lift. little did i know about the cost.

I got some of my parts on ebay and a bulk of them from TPS. took me a good few months gathering the parts and the day came when i gave the parts for fitting and painting. the bargain for me was the S3 bumper at £140 complete from a breaker in lancashire.



Heres the conversion itself:



Car in tatters (not a good site) :





New bonnet on...slight damage to the front also repaired. Crash bar and slam panel also fitted. Below brand new wings from TPS


Rear ready for the new bumper and lights




All part painted and ready for fitting



Slowly coming together



Arrived at the garage one day to see this .... beautiful


Also decided to get the alloys refurbed and painted in titanium grey...



Went for some Eibach Sportline springs from GNJ and they fitted a treat.

Wing Mirrors, had the S3 mirrors painted matt silver..



Also had to go for an after market rear spolier, which i wasnt too happy about but it something I will change at a later date. Side skirts were the cheap fibreglass ones....which i have now replaced with the real S3 side skirts at a hefty cost...however, worth it! final pictures;



Wasnt too happy with the way the wheels were sitting. So went for a 15mm spacer at the front and 20mm at the back. removed the rubbing screws also but when i have a full car it scrapes. otherwise it is fine

Also went out and retro fitted cruise control which i cant live without.



Initially, i purchased a cheap S3 back box on ebay, and welded the tops on to mine. however, got bored of the way it looked and went ahead with the back box delete. the new tips are bigger and it now sounds awesome.

Originals



New



Without spacers:



Now with



So a few weeks since it came out...someone did this in a car park...



Had it repaired and was just glad to drive it for 6 months with no issues. had the gearbox oil done and cleaned it all the time!

Until recently, someone drove into the side of me....



With luck being on my side, i found an s line bumper with PDC holes on ebay for £60 - sold the lower trip for £35 and had it fitted back to new!

SO now ive just waxed it with collinite and waiting for summer so i can drive with my windows down and hear the wooosh from the turbo.

few more pictures:



So Im planning on some full leathers for the interior and a flat bottomed MFSW...and maybe upgrade to some 19" alloys as even though i love the CH's, i am more of a rotar arm man...

Let me know what you guys think....

 

[Adam_A3_]

Actually, ive put two pictures on without the spacers. heres a picture with them

 

[Ash187]

Looks good dude! where did you get your S3 skirts from?

 

[Adam_A3_]

Looks good dude! where did you get your S3 skirts from?

Originals were from poland. Fibre glass. They looked good actually but not exact copies.

The genuine pair came from ebay. Someone was selling a set with end caps and s3 door sills

 

[Marshall878]

Looks stunning.

However. Id remove the S3 badge. If its not an S3, dont badge it up to be!

 

[Adam_A3_]

Looks stunning.

However. Id remove the S3 badge. If its not an S3, dont badge it up to be!

Yes i did create a thread to find an alternative badge to remove the s3 badge. Totally agree with you. I havent badged the back up as s3. Just debadged it.

 

[Marshall878]

DS3 (Diesel S3) would be cool....but Citroen already have that lol. Custom badge required for sure. S3D?

 

[Adam_A3_]

DS3 (Diesel S3) would be cool....but Citroen already have that lol. Custom badge required for sure. S3D?

Hmmmm debatable lol.

Maybe just an S??

 

[Jonathaan]

DS3 (Diesel S3) would be cool....but Citroen already have that lol. Custom badge required for sure. S3D?

Thats what i labled my car up on a FB group and was like id ****** on their first borns! I personally think S3D is good lol.

Car looks lovely m8! What spacers have you got on?

 

[Fanboy]

I would go for "s" badge only if you wanna make it look alike...
But it be honest nobody really cares as it's the car that people look at...

The other day I saw a Porsche boxer with Lamborghini badge... I was die laughing in my car... I was right behind the guy and was very tempted to record a video but didn't wanna risk it... Some people in London specially in south west are stupidly stupid and have no clue of what they have done...

 

[(Dan Crook)]

What year did it start out as? I am wanting to do the Facelift S3 Conversion on mine. I have the 2006 Audi A3 S-Line but I believe the 2008 plus is a different fit with the bonnet wings headlight and front bumper. I much prefer the look!

 

[jphc]

How much has it set you back?

 

[Adam_A3_]

Thats what i labled my car up on a FB group and was like id ****** on their first borns! I personally think S3D is good lol.

Car looks lovely m8! What spacers have you got on?

I got the spacers from lk performance. 15mm at the front and 20mm at back. Not sure on the make.
Lol. S3D sounds ok but i think i will replace with the S only. At some point lol

 

[Adam_A3_]

I would go for "s" badge only if you wanna make it look alike...
But it be honest nobody really cares as it's the car that people look at...

The other day I saw a Porsche boxer with Lamborghini badge... I was die laughing in my car... I was right behind the guy and was very tempted to record a video but didn't wanna risk it... Some people in London specially in south west are stupidly stupid and have no clue of what they have done...

'Stupidly stupid'. Lol thats sums them up! S it is then...

 

[Adam_A3_]

What year did it start out as? I am wanting to do the Facelift S3 Conversion on mine. I have the 2006 Audi A3 S-Line but I believe the 2008 plus is a different fit with the bonnet wings headlight and front bumper. I much prefer the look!

Started out as a 2006. And yes you have to change the job lot. But once youve got all your parts its easy. I opted for genuine parts whether it was tps or ebay. No whole front end business. And i kept receipts for resale

 

[S3_Jacko]

Excellent job mate.... Real nice.... RS3 rotors will look great on that ...

 

[Jonathaan]

Picture 22 looks epic!

 

[Adam_A3_]

Cheers guys. Well worth the wait.

 

[discostu49]

What was the rough cost of your conversion ? Does look good the a3 8p is such a good car to be able to update the look as the body is the same as a 2005 a3 as a 2012 rs3 nothing major to make people think you have a new car not many cars out there that you can do this to without major body surgery

 

[nezz]

Looks stunning.

However. Id remove the S3 badge. If its not an S3, dont badge it up to be!

Cars looks sweet don't see why you have to remove the badge if its came with a bumper its your car you spent the money and don't let anyone put you down becaz you kept the badge on with their jibba jabba. If you were to put s line bits on your car and badge it as s line moaners will not moan the moment you put s3 bits on and badge it as s3 its a biggie.

 

[discostu49]

Cars looks sweet don't see why you have to remove the badge if its came with a bumper its your car you spent the money and don't let anyone put you down becaz you kept the badge on with their jibba jabba. If you were to put s line bits on your car and badge it as s line moaners will not moan the moment you put s3 bits on and badge it as s3 its a biggie.

I kinda agree if it looks just like a s3 and you don't try and race anyone then leave it it's the people that don't change the look of a car and add badges that annoy me for example a 1.8 vectra with a vxr badge on or a golf with r32 or a 3 series with m3 on it.... At least if your car was parked up nobody would really know

 

[Adam_A3_]

So my 19" RS3 rotars have arrived. 2 x 8.0j et50 and 2 x 8.5j et53.



First thoughts were whether or not these will fit...

So stuck my car into the garage and tried them on.



The 8.0j fit fine. At front and the back. But the 8.5j didnt. Up front they caught the strut and at the back they cleared the struts but caught on the lining. Grrr.



Pic showing clearance on rear shocker. On right is the wheel.



This pic shows the wheel catching at the front of the rear arch



So im probs going to run some spacers to make these work. Unless i find someone to swap the 8.5j.s with....

 

[Jonathaan]

Spacers on et50 will bring them wayyy out the arch i think :/

Can you not send them back fella? How much did you pay for the reps? i got my 18" TTS from a shop in Manchester and quality is bang on!

 

[Adam_A3_]

Spacers on et50 will bring them wayyy out the arch i think :/

Can you not send them back fella? How much did you pay for the reps? i got my 18" TTS from a shop in Manchester and quality is bang on!

Theyr oem rs3 wheels. Paid a good whack without tyres. Hmm. Bought them off a lad on ebay so no returns unfortunately

 

[Adam_A3_]

Quick update. Did a swap on the rotars with a member on rs3 forum with some wheels and tyres and some £££ my way.

Rotars all ready to go on. Gave them a quick clean



Took a couple of before shots.





And during shots for a comparison between my BBS CH and the rotars.





And the final product



Happy with the look. Car doesnt rub at all unlike my CH with the spacers!

Btw. My CH wheels are up for grabs. Pm for details

 

[Adam_A3_]

Just wondering what spacers I should use for the front...they 8.0j ET50 19"...lowered with eibach sportlines....

 

[Ash187]

use something like 8mm spacers to push them out to the arch. I have et42 on my RS6 alloys 8.5J and it looks like this

 

[Icey]

hi,

i know this is an old thread but,
can you please tell me how did you fit the wings and align the bonnet.
My mechanic has issues with the above. He says he cant align the wings and the bonnet.

Thanks

 

[Donny_DJ]

Just wondering what spacers I should use for the front...they 8.0j ET50 19"...lowered with eibach sportlines....

View attachment 35262

View attachment 35263

Hey Adam, did you get some spacers in the end?

I think we have a lot in common actually as I have just fitted OEM RS3 Rotors and am thinking of fitting Eibach Sportline lowering springs (currently have Pro) because i need to reduce the gap(s). A few questions for ya please mate:
1) What's the ride like on the Sportlines?
2) What size tyres are you running?
3) Do the wheels scrape the front or rear arches when going over humps and/or if you have people in the back?

Thanks buddy
Donny

 

[Adam_A3_]

Hey dude

The ride is comfy. Cant tell any difference from oem actually id say they were the best lowering springs iv come across.

Tyres im not sure i will have to check.

Initially i had 10mm spacers on the front and 8 at the back. However, with the 19" rotars i preffered it without spacers. It looked on point.

Spacers, long term, give you some problems with bearings etc and i did get some odd noises here and there. Once removed and bearings replaced it was fine mate. Defo recommend sportlines.

 

[Adam_A3_]

Ps. No rubbing without spacers. Removed the bumper screw at back. With spacers had some rubbing with a full car or over big bumps.

 

[Donny_DJ]

Hey dude

The ride is comfy. Cant tell any difference from oem actually id say they were the best lowering springs iv come across.

Tyres im not sure i will have to check.

Initially i had 10mm spacers on the front and 8 at the back. However, with the 19" rotars i preffered it without spacers. It looked on point.

Spacers, long term, give you some problems with bearings etc and i did get some odd noises here and there. Once removed and bearings replaced it was fine mate. Defo recommend sportlines.

Ps. No rubbing without spacers. Removed the bumper screw at back. With spacers had some rubbing with a full car or over big bumps.

Very helpful Adam, cheers.
Be interested to hear what tyres you did have and how many miles the car has done with the standard shocks
Thanks again