Thinking of doing this mod...

my brother blacked the grille surround on his A3 T sport with black insulating tape. Sounds wrong but worked for years and looked factory. Give it a try for a £1 and 5mins. If you like it you could always buy a black surround later.
 
nervus said:
Does the surround just prise off then?
Click to expand...

bump, interested to know how to get it off too. Its is plastic or metal?
 
Yeah, it just prises off. Not sure how, though. I saw the Sportec black surround before AmD fitted it to my car.
 
Job done! The surround just picks off relatively easily. Rubbed it down, de-greased it, and simply painted it with halfords saturn black. Looks awesome on Imola, all for a tenner!
 
No i've not got any pics. It just looks like the other Imola one in the thread. I didn't lacquer it either as I wasn't sure if it would look right and wanted to be able to get it off again if it looks pants. Maybe I'll lacquer it now though as im sold.

Saw an early V reg noggy S6 with a black surround as well, was it standard on them? Looks very M3 CSL on grey though!
 
Oh, just checked the Imola car posted earlier and I rekon mine works better with the chrome mirrors, ill take some pics tonight and you can judge for yourself.
 
slightly off-topic but that grey S3 at the start has a black grille and lower grille, mines faded and looks very light grey, whats the best way to get it black again? I can then have a go at making the surround black too...
 
use AG bumper gel its brilliant on all you black trim, top tip use a small sponge to apply it and keep that sponge with the bottle.
 
anyone know how to get the grille out, i'm usually quite good at just having a go, but cant work this one out :wacko:
 
Just pick at it with your fingers, mine just pulled out with gentle teasing. They are just clipped in place.
 
i used a very small screw driver and started on the inner side of the grill and the bottomr left corner. it just pops right out.

I took mine off last night and then chicken'd out as i didnt like the look of it without the chrome... i know it will be different with the painted part back on instead of just having no part there atall.. but im gonna wait till i have a spare before i do it i think now.
 
So does that include new rings, S3 clip + badge and surround made from black plastic rendering it unchippable or just an original audi one sprayed black?
 
tempting , tempting ......................



but will it make my S3 look like a astra ????? at they have a all black grill ????
 
heres mine. Did it last night, rubbed it down with 400grit, 2 coats of plastic primer and top coat of satin black. Looks much better IMO. Thinking about doing the Audi rings too...hmm
DSC02009.jpg

DSC02006.jpg

DSC02008.jpg
 
Oh no, everyone's copying me. Makes a change for me to be ahead of the game!

Anyone had a go at painting the rings on the bootlid black?
 
jcs356 said:
Oh no, everyone's copying me. Makes a change for me to be ahead of the game!
Click to expand...

Hey i swear it was my idea!
When I look at my car I think it looks fine as it is..but then I see the dolphin S3 on the 1st page and get mixed feelings. Now I can see my A3 has a totaly different grill to the S so may not lok so good blacked out :confused:

Those black de-chromed S3s look pure evil imaging them at night with the xenons
 
I'd suggest that if you have ally mirrors then leave the rings but if your mirrors are colour coded then go for black rings!

Black rear rings would look good and a doddle to paint, but then what about the chrome S3 logos - black too?

Hmm, might look good on my Imola!
 
audi upgrades
I’ve been thinking of doing this mod for a while, the pictures look good, think I’ll do it but I’m in the ‘keep the Audi rings chrome’ group.

DPM you wrote that the S3 grill will fit the A3, I have always thought that it would, but in other threads the common thought is that it won’t, have you seen it done?
 
clcollins: Just done one today for a lad who had a 1.8 A3.

silver75: The Audi rings do pop off the OEM grille and i'm sure we could attach them to the mesh grille for you.
 
DPM said:
silver75: The Audi rings do pop off the OEM grille and i'm sure we could attach them to the mesh grille for you.
Click to expand...

Would that mesh Grille fit an S3 bumper???
 
Think i prefer OEM.

chrome grill matches up with ally mirrors and the little chrome detailing in the car, like door pulls, gear stick legend and surround etc.
 
I had a go at this at the week end, seeing as there is no other chrome (other than the Audi rings) I think it looks much better black IMHO

My S3 is Silver, I have a couple of pics if anyone wants to see the effect on a Silver car, I dont seem to be able to post pics though
 
Go onto Photobucket upload the pics and then post the URL onto here. I am intersted in see this on different coloured cars other than black.
 
Looks good but im still yet to see a car that looks better than the grey one
 
Was thinking about doing it to mine so did a photoshop. Not sure. Keep it standard or change??

I think the black gives it a more sporty look, but still like it standard too. Hmm, what shall i do?


s3keildf28x6-1.jpg

s3keildf28x6Blackg.jpg
 
leecs3 said:
heres mine. Did it last night, rubbed it down with 400grit, 2 coats of plastic primer and top coat of satin black. Looks much better IMO. Thinking about doing the Audi rings too...hmm


Click to expand...
What products are you using on your car? Got a lovely shine to it
 
DPM said:
silver75: The Audi rings do pop off the OEM grille and i'm sure we could attach them to the mesh grille for you.
Click to expand...

Could you do this with the rings attached as I dont want to mess about with my OEM one and do we get a special AS.Net discount? :eyebrows:
 
DPM said:
...Audi don't sell the front rings by them selves...
Click to expand...
Yes they do - I bought a spare when my front one got chipped - (and before I put the black one on). Less than a tenner from memory.
 
jcs356 said:
Oh no, everyone's copying me. Makes a change for me to be ahead of the game!

Anyone had a go at painting the rings on the bootlid black?
Click to expand...
i've got a black A3 with the rings on the back in black, as well as a black grill/surrounds and the audi badge on the front is also, yes you guessed it, black.

no pics yet, but if someone wants to see, i'll get some pics of it.
 
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