Mrheisenburg

Thanks for the comments….👍🏻

The new bulbs and the polished lights have made an amazing difference….

Well I took the plunge today…… pulled out my headlights and attacked them with various grades of sand paper….. took me around 3 hours to do both lights…. I started with 600 wet and dry and worked up to 5000….. polished them up with turtle wax polish and scratch remover and finished them off with some 3M uv protection. I am very happy with how they came out…..

Cheers Kev , I did try a bit of G3 when I first got the car but it didn’t take out the heavily pitted parts of the light….

cheers

Cheers Steve…..I think I will in invest in a small orbital…. A good tool to add to my toolbox….. I just want to do the job right as they are to expensive to replace if I !Removed! it up..!….….thanks for the advice..👍🏻

7 minutes ago, coupe4 said:

hi phil,i dont know if this helps but i bought a few headlight resto kits for my 2002 tt and none were much good but i then tried meguairs compound on them and they really came up well,you need to work it in and let it dry and repeat it again,its worth a shot.greg

Thanks Greg…. I think from looking at them they need more work than just a polishing compound…I may try that once I have sanded them down to polish them up….

cheers

2 minutes ago, Stevey Y said:

Hi, you can sand the majority of it out but you will require a kit to re coat the lenses when you have finished, as I say it won't all go but will be a vast improvement, the only other route is to buy some replacement lenses and fit them, this will involve removing the bumper to get the lights out plenty of vids on youtube but this method requires a lot of time and patience to obtain the required results.

Steve.

Cheers Steve , yeah I read that I would need a UV clear coat to stop the sun from messing them up. I was gonna start sanding with 600 wet and dry and work up to 3000. I have seen some 3M UV clear coat on Amazon for around 11 quid.  No need to remove the bumper though to remove the lights, I took both lights out to put the new bulbs in. You only need to undo 4 torx bolts and the headlights slide right out..

Cheers

Hello all…… The xenon headlights on my A4 are in dire need of smartening up a bit…. I have just replaced the bulbs with a pair of Osram Nightbreakers which are a vast improvement but when you look close at the lights they are covered in loads of tiny little chips which don’t look great. I have watched a few videos of people sanding them down and polishing the chips out…. Anyone done this..?… How did it turn out..?… a new pair of lights are out of my price range at the moment..!..

Got the wheels back on and got my bucket and sponge out…..

Well so much for getting 3 days to do my wheels…… had to squeeze it into a day and a half…..for a first attempt at attempting to refurbish wheels I m very happy with how they are looking….3 layers of primer, 3 layers of paint, 3 layers of laquer ….. they are not 100% but they are 100% better than what they were before…. Here’s a a few pics…..

Thanks Stevey, I totally understand the points you raise in your message . I know for the money it’s easier to get someone else to do the wheel job but for me personally I like to do things myself. I accept that a professional job will probably be a perfect finish but I reckon I can get pretty damn close. It’s just a matter of time patience and elbow grease. I have had the paint cans specially made with the colour I want and I am looking forward to getting cracking….. Also as Greysquirrel said if you do it yourself then in the event of anything happening a repair should be easy to sort..

Thinking about maybe painting the calipers black while the wheels are off too….

Yeah that’s my reasoning for doing it myself…. If some thing happens I will repair myself….. luckily I have a workshop with tyre machines and wheel balancers so will be stripping the tyres off and working with just the wheel which should make life a lot easier……. I’ve bought the paint today… a bit pricey but very good quality… I’ve gone for a metallic anthracite and 2k laquer which is a shade darker than what’s on the car now….. should look good when finished fingers crossed…

Cheers Gareth, I understand what you are saying about paying someone to get them done but I am a firm believer in doing it myself if possible…. I like the satisfaction of looking at a job and thinking “I did that..!..”…. I have been running a van hire company for over 20 years and have plenty of experience in repairs in all aspects of vehicles trying to keep the vans on the road and looking tidy ……. I’m still not sure about the black…. Might go for a more anthracite kind of colour on them…. Decisions decisions…….

They look proper mint…… what paint did you use on them..?….did you use rattle cans..?…. Mine are a darker shade at the moment but they are proper rough…… was a good bargaining tool at point of sale though….. was only thinking of black as would sort of tie in with the blacked out grille and fog light grilles…..

Hi all… I have recently bought a white B8 A4 Avant with all the alloys kerbed …. They are I think 19” Le Mans Alloys….. I’m a bit torn between keeping them the original colour or going a gloss black to match the black grilles I have changed at the front of the car…. I’m gonna have a go at refurbing them myself. Has anyone on here done this themselves..?… I know it’s a painstaking job to do right but I’ve got the bank holiday weekend  this weekend so can spend 3 solid days on them….

cheers

Oh yes ….. I never noticed the “some certainty” …!..🤣… no worries..👍🏻

10 hours ago, Ted_S4 said:

Hi
Thanks. I ended up buying an identical looking cable, but with different branding (Bovee Tune2Air...£99). It works with my Android phone, mostly, but does not display any track or playlist info. The controls for Next and Prev do work. Sometimes I have to reopen Spotify on the phone.... even though the MMI says it is playing a track (but with no audio coming out...?).

(Funny to note that you (Mrheisenburg) replied to my post in which I asked for "some certainty"...😆.)

43 minutes ago, Magnet said:

Hello Phil,

If all else fails, TPS should be able to give you a schematic of the switch location. 
Kind regards,

Gareth. 

Thanks Gareth, I did ask them at the time of ordering but they said they haven’t got information on where it’s located…… only the information of what part it is…. The switch they sent me looks like your typical reverse switch…. 22mm nut with a black plastic plug. I have changed several clutches and removed several gearboxes in my time and the reverse switch is normally easy to locate…… not the case on this gearbox…!…

That’s the one place I haven’t looked..!… had the car on the ramp, took all the plastic trays off the bottom and had a good poke round the whole gearbox but with no joy….there must be one on there because TPS found the part on their system…… I will have a look tomorrow…..Thanks

Here’s an interesting one…. I have recently bought a B8 A4 Avant S Line Special Edition. I have been informed by other drivers that my reverse lights are on when driving…. I have had a look for what I would think it would be which is a reverse light switch on the gearbox but I can’t find one….. I’ve ordered a new switch from TPS but I can’t see one on the box at all…. It’s a 2.0 tdi with 6 speed manual……any thoughts anyone..??

On 5/15/2021 at 10:45 AM, Ted_S4 said:

2010 S4 Avant: I have spent two days talking to West London Audi and finally decided to buy the (expensive) £47 AMI to USB cable so I can play Spotify thru the car system. Called today to order it, only to be told it doesn't exist! Grrr!

So - can anyone tell me with some certainty, if there's a way I can plug a USB bluetooth dongle into the AMI socket in the glove box... or any better solution to what I'm trying to do?

Thanks

Hi…. I bought this from Amazon. It connects into the AMI box in the glove box then you pair your phone to it…. I use an iPhone with Apple Music. I guess it should work with Spotify but I would check…. All the tracks on my phone inc playlists I’ve created play through the car with no issues… it did cost £90 though….. hope it helps….

3 hours ago, Pauls898 said:

Have you got a link to this device you purchased? I just use an old 2.5 inch hard disc drive mounted in an USB caddie and that works fine and cost me nothing apart from the cost of the caddie about £10.99 🙂

 

Hi yes….. please see pic off Amazon of the device I bought…..

Thanks David ….

2 hours ago, David Wise said:

Enjoy the forum ,good luck with your car 

Cheers Kev …. Yeah had a couple of GT,s in my time..👍🏻

Hi…. I have just purchased a 2011 B8 A4 with I think the same AMI box in the glove box….. if you want to connect to Bluetooth to play audio off your phone I bought a Bluetooth device off Amazon … not cheap at £90 but it plugs straight into the AMI box in the glove box then you pair your phone to it…. Simple as that…. I have an iPhone with Apple Music and any music on your phone plays through the car with the artist and track name displayed on the centre screen and on the screen between the speedo and Rev counter…..it all works through the steering wheel controls too….