Brilliant Black 2009 Audi A3 S-Line Sportback Black Edition 1.8TFSI

[Coog]

You'll have to get cro round to loosen the other three wheels for you

Lots of places just seem to buzz the wheels on as hard as they can go!

 

[Coog]

Just to vent some frustration that some garages buzz the life out of the wheel bolts making it next to impossible to get the wheel off plus also how VAG provide the owner with a tiny wheel brace with minimal leverage.

I will be purchasing 2 very sturdy wheel braces this weekend, one for each car just in case it happens again.

Get a proper breaker bar with a decent impact socket. Those extendable wheel braces snap very easily IME.

Also worth properly torquing the nuts after you've had any work done.

 

[Lyons]

Did you try jumping on the wheel brace? I usually need to stamp on it to loosen them.

 

[Carson]

It could have been worse, it could have happens outside the gym ... Pressure really would have been on!

 

[ChrisL]

Haha @Carson

You should really punish yourself for your overall weakness ... 1000 burpees whilst reciting you are sorry

 

[Cro]

size isn't everything, but I had the bigger tool... Just saying

To be fair without the gun loosening the lock nut up it probably wasn't for coming off

 

[Carson]

Anyways ... Have you got that RNSE in yet?

 

[Boydie]

Did you try jumping on the wheel brace? I usually need to stamp on it to loosen them.

Hell no, potential there for the wheel brace or socket to ping out and scuff the wheel!

Anyways ... Have you got that RNSE in yet?

No not yet, Steven and my calendars haven't aligned to get it done!

Get a proper breaker bar with a decent impact socket. Those extendable wheel braces snap very easily IME.

Also worth properly torquing the nuts after you've had any work done.

Just went out this morning and bought new wheel braces and a breaker bar

It could have been worse, it could have happens outside the gym ... Pressure really would have been on!

@Cro managed very well with Lola barking in his ear!

 

[Boydie]

Purchased an RNSE unit off a member and finally got it installed with the help from BBSBOY a couple of weeks ago - really does brighten up the interior and gives it a more modern finish. As the car is Black Edition, the gloss black surround matches in well with the rest of the interior

Future plans include:

Source correct Bluetooth Module (already wired up)
S3 Mirror Covers
Interior LED reading light
Cruise Control

 

[Lyons]

Good job.

Does the A3 need a wire to the ecu for cruise like the TT?

 

[Boydie]

@Lyons as far as i know its just the stalk, lower cowl and vag com programming

 

[Lyons]

 

[Boydie]

Future plans include:

Source correct Bluetooth Module (already wired up)
S3 Mirror Covers
Interior LED reading light
Cruise Control

With the car having to go back to BBSBOY to help fit the new bluetooth module I bit the bullet and ordered cruise as well so hopefully within the next couple of weeks that will be them ticked off the list

Had sourced and bought a pair of S3 mirrors but unknown to me, Audi changed the design very slightly where the mirror pivots to fold.

The facelift came out in 2008. Ours is a 2009 and it looks like Audi made this slight change for the 2010-2013 range. Not sure as to why but I do think the A5 and A3 share the same wing mirrors so maybe because the A3 8P chassis was coming to an end they decided to use the A5 shape mirror.

Back to the drawing board!

 

[Darren91]

The mirrors may look the same but the bases are completely different model to model. There are even differences between 3d, 5d and cabrio models and they can't be interchanged.

Nearly made that mistake myself!

 

[Dan.86]

Wish I had of read this sooner as I know a fella selling a CC stalk and cowl very shortly.

 

[-Pete-]

how much is fitting CC ? actually half considering it myself as its one thing id like to have to my own

 

[Lyons]

Stalk is £50 odd, then just need someone to fit/code it.

 

[Boydie]

Stalk and lower cowl from Audi is £130

You need someone with Vagcom/VCDS to program and let the car know it now has cruise

Fitting is pretty straight forward. Parts are in, just need to collect and install.

 

[Boydie]

Got a couple of niggles sorted with the A3 over the last few weeks.

Had a coolant pump replaced under warranty so that also included a water pump - win win.

Rear springs were replaced as they had cracked - common fault so no plans as yet to lower the car.

The bluetooth was an issue and it was narrowed down to the wrong module so I purchased a new one and had it installed by BBSBOY on Friday past. Now all fully functional.

Also had cruise control installed. A relatively simple install for a lot of gain. Slowly improving the spec list on her car

Steering wheel off
Lower cowl off
Remove module
Remove stalk
Repeat in reverse with new shapes cowl
Tell the car it has cruise via VCDS
Test

- Still on the hunt for the S3 mirrors
- Sourced the part number for interior reading light so will get a quote next week
- S3 pedals are on the wish list
- Potentially retrofit heated seats - can pick up an convenience module for £50 so just need the looms and elements
- You can retrofit the auto dimming rear mirror which I miss when driving this car so will keep an eye out for that too

 

[SPIKE_]

Beautiful BE A3....these are classy looking, and age very well IMO.

 

[A4RON]

Lovely motor Boydie the RNSE is a great investment and really modernises the interior of any 8P compared to the concert headunit

 

[Boydie]

Latest install to the A3, S3 pedals. OEM which is shared in many of the other VAG models, for example, these came from a Scirocco R (not mine)

Brighten up the interior a bit more. Still on the hunt for 2009 S3 mirrors to break up the black a bit but they are quite rare to find second hand as Audi changed the shape of them in 2010 to match the A5

Before:

After:

 

[Gaz86]

Very nice! I had a black 3 door S Line last year. Lovely when it was clean lol which was never for very long! Replaced it with another A3 S Line only in silver with the 170bhp diesel engine. My rear springs were also cracked, luckily I took the Eibachs out of my previous one The ride is actually much better than the standard S Line springs and not stupidly low either

 

[Boydie]

Owned the A3 now a year and it's been a great car, flew through MOT after a few mess ups with wrong dates and having to change centres but thankfully no issues.

Needs to go back to PMG for a light machine polish after I had a mess up with iron out but a part from that nothing major planned for the car. It will need the wheels refurbed soon.

 

[Boydie]

Couple of recent snaps of the A3, been a great car and faultless during our ownership but it’s time to move on to something bigger - for sale advert to follow