Facelift Project Dutch Christmas Tree

[jrumball]

I hope this thread will cover and link to the many cosmetic things which I intend modify on my car. I am still in warranty for a couple of years and at the moment there are no tuning options for an e-tron. This is my first Audi and am using this project to learn about how they are put together the parts catalogue and repair manuals so when it comes to maintaining it I will have a good idea of how it all goes together.

I have called it Dutch Christmas Tree (no relation to the one in Rotterdam ) as the accent colour will be Orange and there will be a lot of LED lighting.

I realise this stylishly this may not be to a lot of peoples tastes but I hope a lot of it will be helpful to people doing similar things...

Planned LED mods too include

• LED front rings and other exterior LEDs that are activated by a custom switch in the dashboard switch pack converted to a latching switch
• OEM LED trim in door cards front and back wired back to ambient lighting control
• OEM LED B&O Lighting in rear speakers wired back to ambient lighting control
• Custom LED dashboard trim with light fiber lit by OEM LED to keep colour Temp. the same wired back to ambient lighting control
• Front puddle light projectors with custom e-tron gobo
• Rear puddle light projectors with Audi Rings gobo
• OEM LED A3 sill trim front and rear

Colour (RAL 2009 at the moment) will be added internally to the dash trim door trim and the leaves of the PFL air vents, externally to the grill so round and rear bumper chrome accents, along with this the car will be de chromed and the rear windows will be tinted.

So far most of the parts have been acquired and I'm slowly prepping and testing various parts .....

I look forward to your feedback and abuse


First internal colour tests with plastidip I haven't got the finish I wanted but this is down to me being impatient, but give an idea of wether I like the colour

 

[AlS3BE]

Interior looks actually quite nice. A bit different to the usual silver, black or carbon.
I would have went with a really deep rich red for that classic sporty look.

 

[jrumball]

Interior looks actually quite nice. A bit different to the usual silver, black or carbon.
I would have went with a really deep rich red for that classic sporty look.

Orange is my colour everything I have is marked with orange tape or paint ......

 

[oli356]

Time to get the car wrapped orange

I had tried to vinyl wrap the interior trim bits a month ago.. Didn't go so well. Couldn't get it smooth at all around the edges. Wonder if plastidip would be worth trying... Wanted to get a colour that matches the car, didn't want to paint them as not sure on the finish and not as easily reversible if don't like!

 

[TTSlad]

Looks great

 

[jrumball]

Time to get the car wrapped orange

I had tried to vinyl wrap the interior trim bits a month ago.. Didn't go so well. Couldn't get it smooth at all around the edges. Wonder if plastidip would be worth trying... Wanted to get a colour that matches the car, didn't want to paint them as not sure on the finish and not as easily reversible if don't like!

If you go to the plastidip website they now do cans of whatever RAL Colour you want for £14 If applied thick enough it peels off really easily . Reversibility was one of the things I wanted

 

[AlS3BE]

https://m.wheelbasealloys.com/alloy-wheels/oz-racing/alleggerita-hlt/orange/18-inch

Saw these and thought of your orange transformation

 

[jrumball]

Wow ! I’m not £1900 mad though

 

[AlS3BE]

Didn’t even see the price
£1900 is a little expensive but oz wheels isn’t the cheapest out there.

 

[RJ-8V]

Nice!

But no tuning options for an E-Tron?

https://www.vagtechniek.nl/chiptuning/audi/a3/8v+facelift/1.4+tfsi+e-tron+204pk/

A3 8V Facelift Limousine

 

[jrumball]

Interesting that is the first one that I have seen that shows any gains over a standard 1.4 so they must be doing somthing with the electric motor too !

Of course the Dutchman likes the orange =)

 

[Kondax]

Definitely prefer this over the orange accents on the outside. Actually looks quite nice

 

[AlS3BE]

Looks alright

 

[RJ-8V]

Interesting that is the first one that I have seen that shows any gains over a standard 1.4 so they must be doing somthing with the electric motor too !

Of course the Dutchman likes the orange =)

They've done quite a few. Check their FB page for runs etc

A3 8V Facelift Limousine

 

[jrumball]

Interesting that is the first one that I have seen that shows any gains over a standard 1.4 so they must be doing somthing with the electric motor too !

Thinking I’m going to start by just turning the e-tron badges orange to see if I like the clash of colour . Waiting for the new dip to arrive the colour I choose originally has been discontinued .... and 1 can of the custom mix was pricy and didn’t go very far !

Got this back from the tuning house ...

This etron can not yet be adjusted via the obd plug because the original software is not yet available. Only by opening the ecu is it possible to tune it. This is not desirable for any manufacturer's warranty.

Which is what I thought ....

 

[jrumball]

New Q3

Really good Autogefuehl review very German !

 

[jrumball]

I did a test today with a different orange by FullDip on the rear e-tron badge was a bit too bright I think (similar to that Rover Grill ) in comparison to the orange I have on the vents which is very similar to the Q3 above.

 

[Adam14]

I actually quite like the orange but on a dark blue car, not sure. Think if your car was black or white it'd look better. Just personal opinion though!

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

 

[jrumball]

RAL 2009 on the badges today and the rest of the trim. I like it subtle i think...


****** fiddly will see how the interior trim works with the built in lighting.... found it hard to get a good clean cut against the LED strip will have to see what its like mounted... may not actually be able to see it from a normal angle

 

[Adam14]

I admire your commitment, but have to say it just doesn't look right to me! It's a lovely shade of orange, but just doesn't seem to work in my eyes. Regardless I'm interested in the end result!

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

 

[AlS3BE]

I think the etron badges look quite good on the dark paintwork. It contrasts well.
Think black grill instead of chrome with the orange etron badge will look better.

 

[jrumball]

I think the etron badges look quite good on the dark paintwork. It contrasts well.
Think black grill instead of chrome with the orange etron badge will look better.

Black Grill in the works slightly more complicated because of the charging socket........

 

[AlS3BE]

Don’t forget the a3 badge

 

[jrumball]

Don’t forget the a3 badge

Will probably loose it entirely, I have a booking to have the window trim wrapped and the rear windows tinted. The guy said that he could do the suround of the grill but not the slats..... Think I may do the whole thing in plasti dip . I am looking for a whole grill on e-bay so i can work on it off the car and then swap it.... and sell the old one

 

[oli356]

Why not the Audi rings ?

 

[jrumball]

Why not the Audi rings ?

The front ones will be chrome lit with led so the back ones have to stay chrome to match .

 

[jrumball]

Interior trim now all wrapped, was having problems getting a clean edge with the plasti dip looked awful with the LED the trim . Have used a gloss orange but have a matt coming in the post....

Have also put the LED in the dash trim, haven't wired it in the car yet though will just spur it off the footwell trim...

 

[jrumball]

So mixed results fitting it all today I'm about 90% happy with the way the wrapped trim looks, there are a few bits that if you look hard you can see that it is wrapped and i'm not sure what I used was the correct stuff for doing compound curves as in seems to of settled into a couple of creases at the ends.

The edges on the LED door trim is a 50/50 success rate so they will have to be re wrapped at some point


The dash LED is a failure looked good out of the car but a night it was too dim and you can see where the light source isn't perfect and even and there is a hotspot at the end even though I blacked it out. I may now try with just the light strip . Even where I have stuck it in with hot glue it reflects more light....


The LED rings are successful they work but unfortunately are a different colour Temp. to the rest of the lighting ..... not sure if I like this.


The latching switch works well with the indicator LED and now controls the rings.



So it's all coming together I like the look just need to fine tune and polish it ...

 

[Adam14]

The orange actually looks really good on the inside mate! Contrasts really well, as it's a bold and strong colour. Really not keen on the front Audi LED, looks tacky in my opinion, and not something you'll see that often.

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

 

[jrumball]

The orange actually looks really good on the inside mate! Contrasts really well, as it's a bold and strong colour. Really not keen on the front Audi LED, looks tacky in my opinion, and not something you'll see that often.

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

Yeah if the colour temp matched would be a lot better

 

[larbel]

Speaking of Christmas trees... After messing around with a friend's C43 with retrofitted air vent ambient lights, I was pretty impressed by it and decided to DIY for the S3... About $10 later and here's the result lol



The DIY is pretty straight forward, RGB LED light panels attached to the end of the air vent just enough so that it doesn't get in the way of the air vent closure. A small hole is drilled on the housing for the wire to pass through and the 4 air vent wires hooked up to BCM T46b/39 which is supposed to be for the dash trim ambient...

The light panel came with remote control for brightness control and 12 preset colors as well as 4 flashing modes.. I have it on the dimmest setting and it doesn't even generate any heats at all! The white has a purple tilt to it and doesn't match the OEM white that well so I settled for red for now...

Next up is the dash trim ambient... Got an extra set of dash trims off eBay and they're on their way to my machinist for milling the grooves... And I'm using the OEM Passat's panoramic roof ambient strips which matches the OEM white and very even so it should work out ok, and it will be hooked up to T46b/39 as well, will upload pics when it's done.

 

[Khufu]

the red looks like a jet engine lol

 

[jrumball]

Speaking of Christmas trees... After messing around with a friend's C43 with retrofitted air vent ambient lights, I was pretty impressed by it and decided to DIY for the S3... About $10 later and here's the result lol



The DIY is pretty straight forward, RGB LED light panels attached to the end of the air vent just enough so that it doesn't get in the way of the air vent closure. A small hole is drilled on the housing for the wire to pass through and the 4 air vent wires hooked up to BCM T46b/39 which is supposed to be for the dash trim ambient...

The light panel came with remote control for brightness control and 12 preset colors as well as 4 flashing modes.. I have it on the dimmest setting and it doesn't even generate any heats at all! The white has a purple tilt to it and doesn't match the OEM white that well so I settled for red for now...

View attachment 187598

Next up is the dash trim ambient... Got an extra set of dash trims off eBay and they're on their way to my machinist for milling the grooves... And I'm using the OEM Passat's panoramic roof ambient strips which matches the OEM white and very even so it should work out ok, and it will be hooked up to T46b/39 as well, will upload pics when it's done.

Nice ! Looks smart do you have links to what you used and the Passat part number .

I found cutting grooves in the trim to be difficult by hand with a dremel the aluminium trim is actually a sandwich of metal and a plastic ...

 

[larbel]

Nice ! Looks smart do you have links to what you used and the Passat part number .

I found cutting grooves in the trim to be difficult by hand with a dremel the aluminium trim is actually a sandwich of metal and a plastic ...

Ya, figured that so having my machinist to do it lol

Went with white LED version but there's already RGB version... Left is 5NA947219A and right is 5NA947220A

 

[jrumball]

Ha that’s exactly what I made wish I’d know that the parts existed I’m guessing it’s from the new Passat ?

 

[larbel]

Ha that’s exactly what I made wish I’d know that the parts existed I’m guessing it’s from the new Passat ?

I messed around with several different options, including the fiber optic cable that you were using... The OEM one here is multifiber compares to the 3mm simplex tube that you were using, it simply blow it away even with iPhone flash as light source on the simplex tube, the OEM is much whiter and very even light dispersion. Got them not so much for the light source but for the fiber optic cable...

 

[larbel]

Finally done with the dash ambient... came out pretty good and the lights are even and matches the OEM door trim ambient color...

Only problem is the wires are creating EMI interference with the remote lol Just ordered some ferrite beads and I guess it should fix the problem but will see...

 

[jinetix]

Finally done with the dash ambient... came out pretty good and the lights are even and matches the OEM door trim ambient color...

Only problem is the wires are creating EMI interference with the remote lol Just ordered some ferrite beads and I guess it should fix the problem but will see...

Wow! That looks pretty sweet. Did you just mill the channels and stick a fiber optic in there? Would like to get more details on how you did this. Also, what remote is it interfering with?

 

[larbel]

Wow! That looks pretty sweet. Did you just mill the channels and stick a fiber optic in there? Would like to get more details on how you did this. Also, what remote is it interfering with?

Ya, pretty much... But the main point is the OEM fiberoptic cable or it won’t be lite up evenly.. And it’s interfering with the key fob, but it’s ok now since I rewired it to the driver side footwell light.

 

[NumberOneBot]

Great mod, man. Take my five! I'm eager to repeat this process with one small change. In theory, there is a possibility to plug original RGB lights and control them via MIB2 interface. The options to do could be enabled in UI and we already have a car with exactly the same platform and hardware - its "not so popular" Q2 with color ambient lights. See here:


There are bunch of tutorials from people doing this for VWs and even Skodas with audi rgb-leds The only prerequisite you need to have is BCM High module 5Q0 937 084 DD. It has the pin to control the color, C29 to be exact. Footwell lights is an easy way to start, I'll try to do so in a month.