audi06.25.2010

B8 A4/S4 Trim Removal Guide

Tools needed:

• Flathead screwdriver
• Hook tool
• Socket set
• Hex keys

Time required: 1 hour

Difficulty: Moderate

Start with the door pieces.  Using your screwdriver, gently wedge it between the door and the trim and slowly pry the tabs free.  Start at the rear of the piece, working your way towards the doorhandles.

To reinstall the door pieces, stick the end with the two teeth back into place.  Guide them into the door handle plastic.

Work your way to the rear of the piece, pushing back each tab into place before moving onto the next one.

Be mindful of the hook tab on the rear of the piece.

The dash piece is the easiest piece, using screwdriver like you did on the door pieces, pop out the three tabs.  Reinstallation is just as easy.

Now comes the fun part.  The center console seems difficult, but it is just time consuming.  If you take your time and do it slowly it will be a breeze.

Start with your hook tool and wedge it under the climate control unit.  Carefully pull this edge free.

Once you get this edge free, do the same on the other side.

Now pull the climate control unit free.

Set the unit off to the side.

Next, press your finger onto the tab located here, and use a pry tool to work the shifter surround up.

Do the same on the other side.

Slowly and carefully work your way down the shifter until it’s free.

Lift it up until you expose the two screws that hold the ashtray in place.

Remove them with the socket wrench and pull the ashtray up and out.

Up next are the screws that hold the center console in place.   Be sure to get the screw on the drivers side as well.

Life up the shifter surround.

Now get the screws at the base of the shifter piece.  Again, there is one on each side.

Move to the backseat and wedge the screwdriver to pry off the rear vent cover.

Pop off this clip on the right side of the vent.

There is a screw on the opposite side of the clip that needs to be removed.

There are also two screws in the top of the vent that need to be removed as well.

The lower ashtray can be pried off next.

This exposes two screws at the base of the console that need to be removed.

Pull off the base of the armrest.

Remove the two hex screws and pull the armrest free.

Lift up the console.

Last but not least, once the console is off, flip it over.  All you have to do now is remove the final 8 hex screws.

That is it.  Seems a lot harder than it is.  Do the exact same thing in reverse and your interior will be back together in no time.

audi, carbon fiber06.18.2010

I’ve been anxious to see what this setup would look like for a while now, so I was happy to finally get some decent photos.  I think it fits pretty well with the two tone interior and adds a nice contrast.

Rest of the gallery can be found here: Barry’s A4.

production06.14.2010

Sorry if this is a bit of a boring post, but it should have a pretty big impact on the photos we have here in the blog.  When we moved into the shop last year, it was outfitted with some super cheap florescent light bulbs.  These bulbs were a problem for a couple of reasons.  The biggest problem was cheap florescent bulbs make paint correction (wetsanding and polishing) extremely difficult.  If you’ve ever seen a high end detailer work on a car, often he’ll use a “sun gun” on spots to replicate daylight as florescent lights can trick your eyes and not show some imperfections and exaggerate others.

I’d have to polish a piece and step outside in natural light to see the what the piece looked like in daylight to catch all the imperfections.  Obviously this meant I could only polish during certain hours and took up quite a bit of extra time stepping in and out of the shop to eyeball the pieces.

The other problem was the photos I took for the blog.

Under the old bulbs, no matter what settings I used on the camera, they always turned up with an ugly yellow hue.  I’d have to adjust the colors in Photoshop.  This meant a lot of the time the colors in the photos weren’t always fully accurate.  We’d also get some weird reflection lines and some haziness that can’t be seen on the pieces in person.

These next two are completely untouched (they are resized and watermarked) photos of the same pieces under the new bulbs.  As you can see there is a drastic difference in the end result.  Now I just need to get a decent camera so I can start taking better photos.

audi, carbon fiber06.14.2010

Got the C6 A6 shifter back together again.  It was much more challenging than I had anticipated, but now that it is finally done

The two ashtray covers.

Two side blades.

Shifter frame.

First the side blades are attached.

Then the ashtray covers are attached.

And finally, after a bunch of tiny screws, the shifter is all set to go.

audi, carbon fiber06.13.2010

Lots of progress on the B8 vent and MMI pieces.  These will be getting sent out on Monday so hopefully we’ll have some installed pictures shortly.

Before we start, the black pieces are for the B8 A4/S4 and are done in a 11oz 2×2 twill.  The red pieces are for a B8 A5/S5 and are done in a 6oz 2×2 twill red carbon/kevlar hybrid.

About a week ago after the resin had cured.  Still a lot of work needed to be done to get these pieces looking good.

An hour or so with the Dremel and all the excess fiber is trimmed and grinded off the pieces.

These pieces are clearcoated and wetsanded.  I tend to do multiple coats of clearcoat, allow it to cure, wetsand, then more clearcoat.  I feel as this really enhances the overall look of the higher end pieces and gives them stunning depth.

After the second round of clearcoat, the pieces look great.

Couple of close up detail shots around the curves.  These pieces are extremely difficult to wrap because of how complex they are.  It usually takes multiple attempts to get it right.

The same pieces in red for the B8 A5/S5.  The pieces are very similar, but have some subtle differences.

More detail shots.

Finally we have the shifter pieces.  I’ll get these wrapped up and out to their respective owners in the next few days.  Can’t wait to see how the vent and MMI pieces look with the rest of the set.