I’ve just started a thread about my stereo to keep things separate as I’m guessing not many people on here will be interested in that one.
Apologies for those on portable devices, there's a lot of photos!
So where it all began; I’ve had the car 2 and half years now. I know many of you will look at these pictures of it and say it looked perfect to start with as it was completely standard, but I look at these pictures now and think how terrible it looked. Terrible, but my god it was clean!
I haven’t covered the number plate in these photos as the plate no longer exists, it’s private plated now.
Anyway, here she is, as she was:
Already done in the photos above were the side repeaters changed for smoked to blend in for that stealthy look I wanted:
The only 2 options the car never had when I bought it was black optics and centre armrest. I still haven’t got round to retro fitting the centre armrest though!
Next came the removal of the silver rings on the boot and the replacement of the silver rings on the front with some matt black ones
The rear lights made the car look a little dated so some aftermarket LEDs were the order of the day. These came from BM Town, and I assume they are Dectane but they weren’t advertised as such. I went for the red smoked versions to continue my stealthy mission. At this point I also tried to LED up the number plate light but this threw up an error so I put the old ones back. FAIL!
In my quest for black opticness, the boot silver strip along the bottom of the boot was body coloured.
Silver rings gone and silver strip body coloured:
Later the front grill was replaced by a black optic one. As the exhaust was going to be changed at a later date anyway, this meant that only the window surround were left to change to complete the conversion to black optics. I toyed with the idea of having them sprayed or wrapped but I’ve decided I want to do it the proper way so that is next on my list of things to do.
Grill changed:
Now it was time to try the LEDs again. This time I replaced the whole rear number plate light unit and it worked, no errors. All the internal lights were changed too other than the red door ones. Also the glovebox one hasn't been changed as I haven't gor ound to it. Now, they don't fade on and off as the ones Trups sells now but back then that's all I could get. Anyway, I quite like they way they pop on now.
The exterior lights were getting the same treatment and after many cuts and scrapes all the front ones were changed except the indicators. I tried loads and loads of different ones to try and get them error free but I still havent managed it so I permantently have an error light on my DIS. I wait for a while then buy some new;y made ones and see if they are any better. Still working on this though and I don't want to wire in separate resisters. I know the DRls and fogs give errors. I think the sidelights be be ok now (can't really remember).
Now it was the turn of the wheels; I don’t like silver wheels, full stop. I think every car looks better with dark wheels. The one exception is possibly a sprint blue B& RS4 without black optic. However, I think a sprint blue one with black optics and dark wheels is miles better looking, but I appreciate everyone has different tastes and I don’t want to start another argument over dark / silver wheels. However, I will start another saloon / esatate argument by saying saloons pee all over Avants all day long. I understand some of you need the extra boot space so have to buy the inferior Avants and I don’t blame you, I’d do the same, but if you don’t have dogs or don’t need all that space (the boot in the saloon is plenty big enough) then there is no logical reason to buy an estate (you there Silas?)
Anyways, back on topic, So I had my wheels refurbed in Brimingham (can’t remember their name) and sprayed a nice anthracite colour (almost black). I thought black wheels on a black car might be too much so went for a slightly lighter colour. However, I think Silas has some black wheels and the look mighty fine on his black taxi.
Now it was time for some engine mods. I got a Tubi Rumore back box as this was the loudest exhaust I could find. I didn’t just want it loud though I wanted that raw V8 noise and this was the best I could find. As I was getting this fitted I thought I might as well get the Milltek centre section (non-res) and the Milltek H-pipe. These 2 extra bits meant that the whole exhaust (cat back) could be removed in one piece and not cut up meaning it could be replaced when it comes time to sell as the noise will be too much for a lot of buyers (if you have any neighbours then forget it).
So it was booked in to MRC to have it fitted. I needed a new passenger side auxiliary radiator so I thought I might as well have that done and while they were at it could stick in a cold air feed. As they were going to do a remap for the CAF (something to do with the secondary air injection) I thought I might as well have the pre-cats gutted at the same time. So stage 2 remap ordered too.
Just before I was due to take it in I thought if I was going to ever get a Revolution Carbon air intake I might as well do it before getting the remap, so I ordered one last minute and it arrived the day before I was due to go to MRC. So that night, in the cold November darkness I fitted it ready for the morning.
I must say I was impressed by it. The look is superb, but the sound was just sublime under full throttle!! I was mazed how much difference it made.
Unfortunately the Tubi installed the next day just completely drowned it out so I can’t hear it at all anymore. I wished I had it fitted long before so I could enjoy it for longer.
When MRC were fitting the exhaust the Tubi and the Milltek didn’t line up in the right place so one had to be cut. We decided on the Tubi as this gave me the option of a straight swap for a resonated centre section if I decided one day that the noise is too much. I think later, I might swap it as it is droney but I don’t want to lose that noise. I’m thinking about seeing if someone can fit some valves to one of the tailpipes to quieten when required.
So,after the exhaust and CAF were fitted it was showing about 389ps on the dyno. After the remap I got about 403ps. Doug said it needed a carbon clean and that should see it good for 430-450ps.
Exhaust fitted:
After seeing everyone else with their spacers, I thought it needed doing. I would have never noticed how the wheels never filled the arch properly if it wasn’t pointed out on here, but now I notice it everywhere I go!! So thanks guys!
Before
After:
I wanted some new wheels but struggled to decide on a set. I also needed new tyres all round so it was now or never. I wanted Luke’s 360 Forged Mesh 8 and Concaves but couldn’t afford them. After seeing some photos of the RS5 20” rotors on a couple of RS4 I thought it had to be them. I got some new ones for a reasonable price but they came with 265/30/20 Dunlop Sportmaxx GT tyres. 2 things wrong with this; I like Goodyear Eagle F1s and they are the wrong size (wanted 255s). This meant that they are 10mm wider that I wanted. This combined with my spacers and an aggressive offset of ET26 meant that they were sticking out too much. With the spacers I already had on there it worked out to the equivalent of a 16mm spacer on the front and 18mm on the rear compared to the standard wheels. This was also made worse by the fact that 265/30 tyres are higher than 255/30. I think the fronts may have just been OK as the front sits quite high anyway, but the backs were rubbing over bumps. So I removed the 8mm spacers from the front and put them on the rear. I still get a little rub at speed over bumps though so I will take the spacers off the rear too until I get some 255s on. The car needs to be lowered though, doesn’t look as good as it should, although I still love walking up to the car and seeing concaveness of those wheels!
Before:
After
I didn't take the TPMs off my old wheels, but got a set of sensors from Niils
and bought a set of valves. Having trouble finding someone to fit them to the new wheels though (long story) so currently have a TPMS error on my DIS to keep the LED lights company. I do have genuine VCDS cable somewhere and I saw it recently and thought to myself that doesnt belong there but can;t rememebr where it was. Been looking high and low for weeks now and still can't find it; Grrrrrrr!!! Once it turns up I can disable the TPMS until I get new tyres and have the new sensors fitted.I am thinking of changing the interior to alcantara (steering wheel, handbrake, gear knob and gear gaiter). I saw a cheap gaiter online so thought I’d give it a go. Not bad for a tenner. I swapped it for my leather one, which once removed from the car actually looked quite aged. Whilst doing this I also sprayed the horrid silver gaiter surround. The spray turned out glossier than I thought. I wanted a matt black finish so later on I plan on spraying it again to make it less shiney.
The alcantara looks blacker in real life than in the pictures due to the flash. Actually the whoe thing looks better than in the photos.
Things I still want to do:
Black window surrounds to complete the black optic look. The single biggest thing that has annoyed me for ages
Find my VCDS cable and turn off the TPMS until I get new tyres, and make all my doors unlock at the same time
Carbon back the seats
Maybe a little seat retrim. I was thinking about quilting the seats after seeing a Bentley Continentals interior once. I was thinking having the central bits quilted unlike Teutonic Timer who had the side bits done like the RS3 seats
Steering wheel, handbrake and gear knob in alcantara. I think I prefer the RS4 wheel to the other RS wheels so I might just retrim the standard wheel rather than change it for one from say a TTRs or R8. I quite like the carbon bit you can get to replace the silver plastic bit at the bottom but think this might make it not look like an RS4 wheel anymore and then look just like any other RS wheel. I must say though that I do like those half carbon half leather wheels, even if they are a bit pricey About £1200 from memory and that is for a second hand wheet retrimmed in new carbon and leather.
Maybe some valves fitted to the exhaust to stop annoying the wife and allow me to give it some welly a little more inconspicuously.
Carbon clean
