Thanks folks. They keep me (and my wallet!) busy but I wouldn't have it any other way. One day I might get a picture of them all together - a family portrait!

It does seem that blue has been the preferred choice in recent times! Over half the fleet are blue of some shade or other. It can cause a bit of confusion when I need to put one into my mechanic.

Me - "I am needing to book one of the Mercs in for an MOT"
Him - "Which one?"
Me - "The blue one"
Him - "Which one?!"

well as updates go it may be a slight good one but no pics yet

Other than pouring petrol in and doing the miles, she has been a joy... the list of stuff to do is sort of going up and down... stuff being added and taken off all the time.
So what has been ticked off?
New indicators, OE new magneti marelli all the way from sunny Poland, a price for a pair less than the cost of one in the UK and fitted the chrome bulbs which flash orange.

HID's fitted (thank god)

Wheel spacers fitted (12mm at the front and 15mm at the back (could have actually gone to 20's by the look of it)

Got Craig booked for Thursday to recode a new key, going Bentley style I think and have ordered a nice new genuine key fob.

Found some all red rears in the USA and they are in transit, ordered the green indicator bulbs to be here when the lens' lands.

Clear side repeaters and chrome bulbs also

Got rid of the horrible manky number plates and fitted some new ones (could not believe in all the times the plates have been changed not one person had bothered to remove the old sticky pads, disgusting arm breaking job but worth it for my OCD)

Bought the metal pipe replacement for my water leak which does look like it is coming from between the oil cooler and block, will be a job for the holidays.

So what has been added to the list?

Well the front wheel bearings are screaming their nuts off more, so they need urgent attention.

The upper arms on the front suspension are knocking slightly and as the mileage is what it is it may be worth doing them all as it will be stripped down.

The stereo needs looking at as it has the 10k click issue on the volume knob, would love to rebuild rather than replace.

Am on the hunt for a genuine S8 grill as mine is cracked

Has anyone ever thought about using 1st gen RS6 aero wiper arms and blades?

and may be on the hunt for some RS6 brake caliper's in the new year as some previous owner decided to paint the standard HP's and the rears in red, yay, lets highlight it has standard **** caliper's and make them standout... too chav for me am afraid.

Other than that she is purring but I am thinking exhausts too... anyone ever made headers and a complete x-piped system for an S8?

oh and I recoded my gearbox, it had 00101 as the soft coding and I was able to get it to accept 00111. Has anyone actually got a list for the coding's as this seems a better change but I'd like to see what the numbers mean.

Lamda sensors appear to be throwing a code (for c2 s1 if memory serves)
G28 speed sensor is throwing a code on the engine
as is the gearbox brake switch
and I have learned that she can pass most things but a petrol station, my boy is loving it as he has got nearly all the V Power lego within a week lol

http://i1246.photobucket.com/albums/...psggrpnow9.jpg

In the run up to the car's annual MOT all the front suspension arms top and bottom had to be replaced.
Finally replaced the screaming wheel bearing.
4 new tyres and decided to have the wheel refurbished whilst they were off.

Got a new grill to replace the damaged one in the pic, that will be done tonight.

Painted all the aluminium trim down the sides satin black and repainted the awful red calipers satin black also.

MOT was this morning and she sailed through with no advisories...

Just need to find time to repaint the bodywork and she'll start to be how I want.

Not a bad car for £1000 and 149k miles.

That is really looking good. +++

There is a thread for gearbox codings somewhere on this forum. I recoded my facelift based on the recommendations and couldnt be happier.

Well done mate, impressive and really good looking 8 +++

Yep, you can get 20mm spacers on the rear.

And the green bulbs aren't great unfortunately - a bit dim behind red lenses, unless you've found some higher watt versions.

If you can find some green LED Cree bulbs I think you would find them much better Jim +++

What are 'Cree' bulbs? I've tried loads of different green LEDs with no luck. I just get a faint green spot for each LED.

CREE is American company in the forefront of LED development and manufacturing they were first and most successful to develop widely available commercial high power LEDS. These days CREE is often used to describe high power LEDs but does not necessarily always mean they are from CREE Incorporation, kind of like you can call vacuum cleaner a Hoover.

There are companies from far east that are catching up and surpassing them now like Samsung and ETI with their flip chip LED's, which have the chip turned upside down and therefor have better heat transfer enable them to run at higher currents and with better efficiency giving more watts per area and more lumens per watt.

Thanks Ainars and Neil.

Is this what I should be trying? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2816841070...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

How would keep my '8 on the road without you guys? +++