Depression beater…

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Discussion

Green2JZWagon

15 posts

14 months

Saturday 25th February 2023
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Id never have guessed it was an 08, it looks so clean and modern. those satoshi wada lines and the brute in a suit proportions age very well. cool car, hope its a lot of fun!

Monster Mash

165 posts

143 months

Sunday 26th February 2023
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Those rear lights have come up a treat, big improvement to the rear of the car!

Piginapoke

4,760 posts

185 months

Sunday 26th February 2023
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New wiper blades are always cheerful. Nice car OP, I’d lose the tints

89forever

Original Poster:

554 posts

73 months

Sunday 26th February 2023
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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

Original Poster:

554 posts

73 months

Monday 27th February 2023
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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

Evil.soup

3,595 posts

205 months

Tuesday 28th February 2023
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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.

89forever

Original Poster:

554 posts

73 months

Tuesday 28th February 2023
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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

Original Poster:

554 posts

73 months

Tuesday 28th February 2023
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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.....!!!

Monster Mash

165 posts

143 months

Tuesday 28th February 2023
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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

89forever

Original Poster:

554 posts

73 months

Wednesday 1st March 2023
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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

Original Poster:

554 posts

73 months

Wednesday 1st March 2023
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more parts and yes because i'm sad and have issues i don't like crusty nipples and upgrade them to Titanium....


89forever

Original Poster:

554 posts

73 months

Wednesday 1st March 2023
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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

Original Poster:

554 posts

73 months

Thursday 2nd March 2023
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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...

Evil.soup

3,595 posts

205 months

Thursday 2nd March 2023
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Making quick progress, not even had a chance to throw a bucket of water over mine in the past 2 weeks lol!

89forever

Original Poster:

554 posts

73 months

Thursday 2nd March 2023
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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....

deebs

555 posts

60 months

Thursday 2nd March 2023
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89forever said:
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...
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 smile. 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.

89forever

Original Poster:

554 posts

73 months

Thursday 2nd March 2023
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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 smile. 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

Mr Tidy

22,310 posts

127 months

Thursday 2nd March 2023
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89forever said:
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....

Maybe it's just an early 2000s German car issue! I fitted a new one to my BMW E91 that got replaced by an E90 and I just got its 2nd replacement delivered about 2 years later! Still they are only a few quid online.

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

What's next? laugh

89forever

Original Poster:

554 posts

73 months

Friday 3rd March 2023
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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. thumbup

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? laugh
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

Original Poster:

554 posts

73 months

Saturday 4th March 2023
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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...!!!