Depression beater…

[89forever]

always a firm believer in singing the praises of good service.
I ordered my new number plates yesterday at just after noon and they arrived today at 0930, order on just a normal Royal Mail 2nd class service.



i have used the site before but they have always taken a couple of days (which is fine).

I got them from https://www.a1showplates.com/ (no affiliation etc). Ordered with the sticky pads and all in less than £30 delivered.

[89forever]

in the grand scheme of things putting a new set of wiper blades on isn't exactly up there with fitting a new exhaust or supercharger (give me time haha) but the fact of putting something new on the S5 gives me a warm fuzzy feeling, which is what this car is all about for me.



old and crusty of the right and a set of new Bosch aeros in their place.

Weather has been bloody awful today, sporadic showers and hail. Thankfully i have a garage, which whilst not big enough to actually fit a car in, is a decent place for a man cave (the garage was perfect for the bike).

I kept looking at the rear lights and kept thinking that it's got to be a spray tint, so whipped one off and saw they were actually genuine Audi lamps, so time to hit them with a mop....



back to how they should be and no ricer tint...!!!

Once the A8 has gone then i can mess about with the S5 in her rightful place in front of the garage and can actually get the new plates on, weather has been too wet today to be crawling on the floor....

[89forever]

Piginapoke said:

New wiper blades are always cheerful. Nice car OP, I’d lose the tints

It’s on the list of jobs. The rear screen needs consideration as I’d want to remove the parcel shelf, but to get that out means removing the C pillar trim panels and if I’m doing that I may as well remove the outer Black window trims so they can be repainted properly as they’ve not been done that well.
Also whilst the parcel shelf is out I’d want to install sound deadening material and replace the blown sub speaker.
So there’s parts and materials to acquire beforehand.

[89forever]

Finally a spare day and (semi)decent weather....
rip the old crappy number plates off to see what horrors lurked beneath. The front grill must have been relatively new as there wasn't much stickiness, a quick wipe with Acetone and all sorted.



the rear though, absolute pet peeve of mine is why does no one ever clean the old glue off? i counted 4 different lots....



10 minutes with a hairdryer and some Acetone and sorted...



new plates are all stuck on and straight...




i even found an old set of chrome Audi rings in my boxes of parts, so as there isn't a neat solution to mechanically fix them on (as it's an aftermarket grill) i've applied a structural plastic adhesive and fingers crossed after 24 hours they should be a permanent fixture (the cable ties are to hold in place, def not permanent haha).

I ordered over the weekend a new set of HelPerformance brake lines, as i don't like to trust flexi lines of an unknown age, so rather than put stock on i like to upgrade them. It also means i know the age of the brake fluid.
Titanium bleed nipples have also been ordered, why? because i have issues...!!!

i also scored a cracking deal on a set of LED rear lights as the crazing on these ones was bugging me.... hopefully they are as perfect as described.

Edited by 89forever on Monday 27th February 14:11

[89forever]

Evil.soup said:

Looking fantastic, the rear lights transform the car as well. I have never been a fan of the matt black craze, just makes a car look a bit dull.

thank you, wait till you see the new lights then lol

matt black, some like it, some don't.... each to their own and i respect that but i agree... not a fan anymore

[89forever]

todays a high and low sort of day....

the high, the first delivery of parts ordered over the weekend, not ground breaking or that thrilling being just a set of new brake nipple covers, but still yay.... parts...!!!



then the low, i again went to cheer myself up by getting some cleaning stuff from my local Halfrauds (i know, i know...). One bit being some Autosol, the last tube lasting 20odd years and always brought a decent shine to exhaust tips.
Mine being particularly unloved for the last decade...



the other side being equally bad.

Got set up and opened the new tube and firstly couldn't believe how watery it was, not paste like at all and secondly it was absolute garbage at doing what i remembered the product to work like. So it's been thrown back on the shelf and i went old school with wire wool, scotch pads and some Brasso for now...

i won't be using Autosol again...



and then it rained.....!!!

[89forever]

Monster Mash said:

Nice improvement with the exhaust tips. Could the Autosol be faulty? I’ve not bought any in around 6 years but the tube I have is more paste like rather than watery

thank you, it's all the little details to be improved upon.
I suspect i've just been unlucky and got a dodgy tube, i've spoken to a couple of other peeps who have bought recently and they say theirs perform as previously.

[89forever]

more parts and yes because i'm sad and have issues i don't like crusty nipples and upgrade them to Titanium....

[89forever]

as rain is stopping all types of play today and i'm sat here pondering stuff. I was having a rummage through the cupboard and remembered i bought one of these...



info here https://www.obdii365.com/wholesale/v54-fgtech-gall...

i didn't buy it from there but it gives a good summary of what it can do...

i have a software file which gives the S5 a stage 1 remap...., got to be worth an attempt to screw up the ecu in an attempt to give a (very) little bump in bhp...!!!

[89forever]

Couple of small jobs ticked off this morning. An end of day phone call from my local Audi dealer said some parts were in. So once the little one was bundled off to nursery this morning saw me tootle off to go pick some stuff up.

They had a lovely looking R8 in the showroom, why do they give you strange looks when you lick the tailpipes?

Anyway.... what did we get?



The eagle eyed amongst you will see a new set of rear rings...



over the last couple of days i have been searching for the dimension for the rings placement on the lid. I found the factory workshop to be useless.... this was the page for the Sportback (my reasoning being that it should be in a similar position, as i couldn't find the Coupe)



the page shows no dimensions anywhere...!!!

So i thought i know, as i'm going into Audi i'll ask to speak with a Tech to see if i can get it off Erwin officially....

I showed the Tech the image, explaining that i know it says Sportback but that i brought the image as an example and that i want dimension "a" for a Coupe.... i clearly said that you should be able to find me the dimension in "Erwin" your Factory Repair Manual... he wanders off, comes back 10 minutes later with a print off for an A4 Avant off Etka and said Etka doesn't give dimensions... I thanked him for his efforts as you cannot argue with stupid....!!!

So a quick Google image search with the rear views of various A5/S5's scaled the images as i now had a reference size with the new rings and came to the conclusion that 25mm should suffice for dimension "a".....

Armed with some 25mm masking tape i applied a strip to the edge of the lid and measured about twelvty times to determine the panel centre....



and heated the panel up as the adhesive doesn't bond as well in the cold and stuck them on...



insert smiley...!!!

Call it poor materials or just one of those things but this S5 is my third B8 Coupe and all of them have been afflicted with the cord on the filler cap being broken...



simple job to replace and i'm sure in about 2 years time i'lll be replacing this new one as well....



coolant bottle can wait for a warmer day and less time constraints as apparently my daughter can't walk home on her own from nursery...

[89forever]

Evil.soup said:

Making quick progress, not even had a chance to throw a bucket of water over mine in the past 2 weeks lol!

she'll slow down a tad in a while... if it makes you feel any better mine's only had a very hasty throwing of a manky bucket of water over here since i bought her... yet to wash her properly and clay bar etc... I'm looking forward to getting stressed over swirly black paint...
My only 2 other black cars were an RS6 and an A5 3.0tdi and both came up well.
i'd like to get the paintwork to a similar clarity as on my old RS6 but she had hours of time spent on her and lived inside....



my old A5 had very soft paint and always looked a bit orange peeley,but then i never wet sanded that the way i did with the RS6



time will tell on this S5....

[89forever]

deebs said:

Mines has the rings but the (rear) s5 badge has been removed (I have the same year as you. I've always wanted to replace the badge but couldn't find the dimensions . If you are feeling suitably charitable you could measure yours and I can get a china special!! Same with the V8 badges on the front wing, mine have been removed.

no problem whatsoever, always charitable.... taking the image in my post above from the workshop manual.

Dimension "e" is 88mm
Dimension "d" is 458mm

This is for a genuine sized badge. Surely your S5 deserves a genuine badge from the dealer? They are not that expensive and will last far longer than a china special.
My S5 is sans the "V8" badges on the side too and i quite like it without....

edited post as actually found the correct information.



i remember on my first S5 that i was sat in double lane traffic on a hot day, stationary windows down, an old boy and a younger lad were sat next to me and i overheard the younger guy call me a dreamer (pointing at the V8 badges), the old boys call him some choice words and said have you heard the thing as we've bumbled along the traffic....

Edited by 89forever on Saturday 4th March 10:56

[89forever]

Mr Tidy said:

Still they are only a few quid online.

i'm a sucker for being ripped off as i got mine from my Dealer lol.... wasn't too badly priced at £32+VAT

Mr Tidy said:

And it's great to see your enthusiasm has returned.

there's good days and bad days but i'm enjoying the good days and as long as there's more of them than bad i'll take it as a win...!!!

Mr Tidy said:

What's next?

good question.... The leather inside is just awful. I don't think i've ever had an Audi steering wheel and gear knob feel so shiny before. It really isn't a pleasant experience.
The front seats need taking out and deep cleaning and then the leather needs restoring on the bolsters so i'm thinking this area needs tackling.
Plus every time my daughter walks past the S5 she keeps asking when can she help me then the above seems a perfect enough job for her to assist. She's 3 1/2 years old and what can go wrong...!!!

[89forever]

Another pet hate of mine is those stupid metal valve cap covers... of course the S5 came pre-adorned and vajazzled with the bloody things....



so i popped in to my local Fastfk centre to get 4 plastic flavoured items. They very kindly gave me 4 for free....
Changed the front 2 a breeze....



and the rears are welded tight to the valve stem... this is one of the reasons i loathe these infernal things. Always the simple jobs which escalate into a bigger issue.
The moral of the story kids is just don't vajazzle your valve stems... think of the poor next owner please...!!!

or if you really must adorn them then at the very least apply some molyslip (not copper grease grease) to the threads....

Off to boil the kettle to see if boiling water will shock it, or just to have a cup of coffee and sit pondering why...!!!

[89forever]

Mr Postman very kindly this morning delivered the loom to enable me to convert my halogen rear lights to pre-face lift LED's (the lights are due to be delivered this afternoon according to the tracker).... just need some decent weather....



the instructions say to cut the wire which is to be threaded through from inners to outers and then solder the joint. Don't like that idea so i've ordered the pin depinning tool and will see if i can do it properly....

[89forever]

CG2020UK said:

The silver Audi badges actually make the car look newer!

Much prefer,

you and me both....

[89forever]

i defy any true Petrolhead to not get a tinge of excitement knowing they've ordered parts and you see a courier rock up.....

sooooooooooo.... what's in da box..????



oooh shiny....

hmmm not quite



not to worry... SWMBO isn't home so a quick trip to the sink with the garage's finest TFR and a toothbrush later....



all 4 were treated the same.... and the backs all came up like new.

onto the front lenses and were all a bit hazy....



there were a couple of light scratches but thankfully nothing horrendous. They didn't need any wet sanding thank god and armed with the 3 Amigos below....



ended up with far better clarity



and a gratuitous group shot....



I'll do them again once fitted and all working (if the weather breaks???) but will be a hundred times better than currently fitted....

[89forever]

Pflanzgarten said:

There's something so therapeutic about a thread on a car getting de-messed about with

I hope others enjoy the journey as much as me…
Although it would be far better for my bank account if someone else pays for it hahaha

[89forever]

Cliff J said:

After just buying my S5 4.2 B8 I’m enjoying your thread.
I had to put a copper wire down the drain hole in the petrol cap location as water was pooling there and not going down, Inlove a simple fix.

I think your car colour suits the silver badges very well, mine being white will mean I’ll stay on the black theme… probably.

Thanks, this S5 is my second. I’d done far more to that one in its time. I’m in the very early stages of this one as only had a couple of weeks.
The drain in the filler neck is a very common thing to Audi’s (other Brands may be similarly affected), give it a regular poke to keep it healthy…!!!
Black rings are a very personal choice, boring world if everyone liked the same thing.

Edited by 89forever on Sunday 5th March 09:24

[89forever]

with the weekend out of the way and family duties done of course today would be raining.....!!!!!!
anyway it being a simple job to fit the lights i thought i'd try them on for size, no wiring or recoding has been done yet.

What did we start with...
original halogen's



they can happily go in the bin... discovered that on the inner lights the brackets which secure the lamps into the boot lid are different between halogen and LED, well the outer one is, the inner is the same. SO armed with part number 8T0945183B and ordered 2of.



much better and no more hazy craziness or cracked lens....



once the brackets have arrived and it stops raining then it's a simple job to finish off but happy to tick that off the list...