Accident Repair Thread.
 

As some of you may know our A8 was damaged the night before the meet. We have had the car since it was a baby, about over a year old I rekon. Have now had it eleven years anyway and with it just hitting 70k miles with the reliable four speed box, there is no way in hell that this car is going to get scrapped or sent to A8 Heaven (Sorry Ian) +++

So tomorrow I will start a writeup with lots of pictures of my progress. The damaged items are one headlamp, one indicator lense, the bumper and bonnet. The Raditor (I think) is also leaking.

I have as of now just managed to open the bonnet, it was stuck. I managed to open it by removing the broken grill and putting my hand underneath the latch. I have just now taken one light the bottom grils & headlight washers out and disconnected the undertray. Had to stop due to lack of light, Pics also to come in the morning.

Tomorrow I will put her on axel stands, take off the undertray, front bumper bonnet and radiator, I am hoping to get the parts for Tues/Wed at the latest.

Wish me luck folks as I am a compelte novice, any tips and pointers would be most welcome. +++

I have spent most of the morning taking off the bonnet, front bumper, lights, little pieces of trim.

I have now ordered a new grill, upgraded to an S8 one, a new bonnet aswell as a radiator and some metal pieces that go along the bonnet. I will try and patch & respray the bumper up myself.

Next bit is to get the new radiator on.

Pics of current progress & damage.


http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1244467483

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1244467483

Front end off, ready for new parts.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1244467483

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1244467483

Was your S8 showing its engine bay off in sympathy, or just hot :D

- Nice job so far, should be straight forward enough, and that bumper should patch up to a very acceptable finish I would have thought.

LOL

Had it open to see what the A8 should look like, in terms of how far the radiator had been pushed back etc.. It does seem quite straightforward, if not a little scary seing her like that! Thank God for A8 parts with whom I just placed a big order! Very good service +++

Singh,

Well done fella. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. :respekt:

one thing i'd really like to know is with teh old bonnet, how do you fancy stripping all teh paint to see how easy it is to do a polished ali finish?

I'd love to have a go at this. If you weren't so far away I'd be willing to oick up teh old one to see how it went.
At worst you have a perfect 'practice panel for a rotary polisher :D

What would be involved to get this ali finish you speak of? Could give it a go I suppose..

I would suggest the best way to achieve polished aluminium would be to media blast the paint off (media not sand, but something like walnut shells). then polish using a 3 stage polishing wheel that fits to a hand drill finish with a rotary and metal polish.

You would then be banned from the road as a danger to other motorists for driving around with a giant mirror!!! :ROFL:

nitromors!!!!

and there are a number of wrapped cars with polished finish

First job today was to take the car to the local air con specialist to get the air con degassed so I could get the condesnsor infront of the radiator off. After that I got the radiator off, took a while because of a siezed up bolt, was about to put the new radiator on but realised it had badly perished from the bit where the Auto transmission fluid pipe would attach to, one call to A8 Parts and they are sending out a replacement for Thursday. Just a small setback, but fingers crossed it should all be done Friday. Have sent the bumper to a very good local bodyshop to be patched up and re sprayed, didn't want to experiment and wanted a proper job so thought this was best, luckily they had the right paint there (Aluminuim Silver LY7M) in stock, so that will be ready for me tomorrow at 12PM. Currently the bill for all the parts is around £600. Without A8 Parts and without all the knowledge on this forum that gave me the confidence to go ahead with this, I would be looking at thousands. I'm guessing the bonnet alone would be at least £600 from Audi, so thanks everyone. +++
Will get some pics and a status update to you soon!