My afternoon's work

[Johnmed]

Originally Posted by tc4332

Good one John.
Wigan Machine Mart is just across the field from ours. If you need them again and are stuck for transport give me a shout. I'm not always available but if poss would be able to help if needed.
Had the afternoon in Southport and came home to a whiteout. Great fun first thing today spinning on ice, and now snow on top of it. I have just managed to light up the little yellow car symbol, the one with two squiggly lines under it.

Nice work Ray. You get about. Thanks for that too. I appreciate it.

Machine Mart is my new fav' shop. I'd tried Euros, Screwfix and even Halfrauds. Always nice to have some fun in the car but be completely confident too. Not ****ing about in a RWD or even some of the less capable FWDs.

All the best.

[The_Laird]

Originally Posted by mattylondon

Did you drive to Machine Mart without the rear bumper?

I've driven mine with no rear bumper when it's been in for repair and respray.

[NOR_KNet]

Nice job. Looks awesome.

I have the same westfalia kit laying in the basement for my 09 A8 4.2 TDI.

Did you cut the hole in the bumper yourself? Is there any marks on the inside of the bumper where to cut?

Did you have any problems regarding wiring?

Regards
Kenneth

[Johnmed]

Hi Kenneth.

Thanks mate. There are markings on the underside of the bumper to cut. And it's on the underside so you don't have to be super neat. I chopped it out and sanded the edges down.

I used these 2 videos from a guy on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjeHKWNJoIk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjeHKWNJoIk

He is fitting a towbar to his A6, which is essentially the same process bar the worm gear mechanism that we also have on the D3.

This thread was useful too: http://www.audiworld.com/forums/a8-s...ence-part-1-a-

I didn't use the Westfalia electric kit, which would have simplified things, because of the costs. And my brother in law did most of the elctrical side of things, as that's not my forte.

I didn't need to remove all the boot trim, you do have to drop the rear silencers down, two bolts each and bend the heat shield out of the way a bit. The trickiest bit was making sure I didn't ruin trim, scratch the bumper and connectors. And getting the nuts on the underside of the car. Had to have the wife turn the bolt above (after I explained how a ratchet works) while I held the nut underneath.

It is a time consuming job. Prob took 6+ hours of wrenching, the same again to wire it in, cos we didn't use the Westfalia electric kit. The Westfalia kit is superior and will no doubt last forever, so if you already have it or can justify the £200 price I'd recommend it, as it almost plug and play.

Any other questions please feel free to ask. I haven't actually towed anything yet. But fingers crossed it's all wired in correctly.

John.

[Johnmed]

Originally Posted by The_Laird

I've driven mine with no rear bumper when it's been in for repair and respray.

Good man. The only thing you lack are parking sensors. No big deal.

[Johnmed]

She tows for the first time!

Pic in towing mode

[Johnmed]

With the generic electric kit you have the indignity of having to manually select towing mode. I know. It's appalling. Once in towing mode it locks out the rear suspension I believe and the rear parking sensors still function, which is a slight annoyance, but hey. I'll live with it. Dynamic mode is greyed out on the MMI and you get a buzzer with the indicators.

The 8 tows like a beast. You'd barely know you were pulling anything.

[roberto]

Originally Posted by Johnmed

With the generic electric kit you have the indignity of having to manually select towing mode. I know. It's appalling. Once in towing mode it locks out the rear suspension I believe and the rear parking sensors still function, which is a slight annoyance, but hey. I'll live with it. Dynamic mode is greyed out on the MMI and you get a buzzer with the indicators.
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my A8 was factory fit towbar and im sure i had to select manually too ?
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The 8 tows like a beast. You'd barely know you were pulling anything.

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unless you were towing this
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or this
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[Johnmed]

HA!

[tc4332]

Roberto,
I like the big red pumpy thingy in the first photo.
Can I steal it for use in my water effect?