S3 pre- and post-facelift diffusors interchangeable?

[Qua3ttro]

Hi, just checking something here, hoping someone can confirm:

I have my eye on a 2005 Sportback S-line that has had the rear valance replaced for an S3 one with the S3 diffusor. It's a pre-facelift diffusor (3 door) however, and I quite like the look of the post-facelift (Sportback) diffusor. These are interchangeable, right? Just a matter of unclipping the old one, and clipping on the new one, I thought. Can anybody please confirm?

 

[Ash187]

5 door diffusers do not fit the 3 door bumper!

 

[Qua3ttro]

Really? That's a bummer! How about the 3 door pre- and post-facelift diffusors, can you swap them without any trouble?

Then again: this indicates there are differences in the 3 door and 5 door rear valances, aren't there? How about fitting a 3dr rear valance to a 5 dr, will it not fit properly? The the car, which is a sportback, has the pre-facelift S3 diffusor fitted, but in the pictures I can't see anything wrong with the fitting.

 

[Qua3ttro]

this indicates there are differences in the 3 door and 5 door rear valances, aren't there? How about fitting a 3dr rear valance to a 5 dr, will it not fit properly? The the car, which is a sportback, has the pre-facelift S3 diffusor fitted, but in the pictures I can't see anything wrong with the fitting.

Could anyone please comment on this? I thought the rear valances were the same for 3dr and 5dr, am I wrong?

 

[Ash187]

3 door and 5 door diffusers are different length and cannot be swapped!

pre-facelift difffusers can be swapped with similar facelift diffusers

 

[Ads]

The only 3 and 5 door diffusers that are interchangeable are facelift 2009 onwards for the A3 only (Standard, Sport, S-line models). So to confirm.. Diffusers from 2009 onwards 3dr, 5dr and A3s will all fit each other.
S3 diffusers will not, and neither will 2003-2008 A3 diffusers, they need to be from a car with the same number of doors.

 

[Qua3ttro]

Ok, as much as I appreciate your replies, I'm still confused!

But maybe I should be more clear, so I'll put some pictures up. Here's the car in question:

It's a 2005 A3 that's been fitted with a pre-facelift S3 front bumper (with the mesh fog grilles, not visible in the pics) and a rear valance fitted to what seems to be an 2006+ S-line rear bumper. To the valance, a diffusor is attatched. It's been resprayed/wrapped/whatever in black I think (no OEM black diffusors, right?), but to me it looks like a 3dr diffusor. Apart from the color of the diffusor, it looks ok to me in terms of fittment, although I'm not sure I see a slight gap in pic #2 where the valance meets the wheelarch. I don't see it in the other pics, so it might be just the pic. I haven't seen the car in the flesh (yet), it's quite a drive from where I live.

I want to fit the diffusor as displayed in this pic:

Is that a straight swap?

And on a side note: the exhaust seems to be slightly tucked away under the diffusor, is that a big job to fix?

(and yes, I noticed: the skirts are missing, so that should be taken care of *** well...)

I hope this clears things up and I'm looking forward to your help!

 

[Qua3ttro]

Ok I found this thread that pretty much answers my questions:

http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/a3-s3-...facelift-s3-8p-rear-diffuser-part-number.html