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From YourSITE.com Technical Features The exterior of our Project A3 DSG has been fairly extensively modified. With the muscular Nothelle widebody kit, aggressive Schmidt wheels and other small touches, one wonders just what’s left to do. One new piece that has popped onto our radar as an interesting addition to help finish the car off is Oettinger’s sport grille.
Oettinger was kind enough to ship one of their first production grilles to us for installation just in time for the Dubwars event in Southern California. Once again, Exklusiv Motorsports and head man Derek Scott were called to perform the install. Unfortunately, with our to-the-wall schedule and the grilles having just arrived, Oettinger was unable to include any instructions in the well-packed box before it was rushed out to me but no big deal, the install appeared fairly straight forward. Packaged with care, the new grille was pulled out and was on the floor to investigate. My first impression of the piece was the exceptional quality of the grille frame, upper area, and number plate area. The satin silver frame appears to have a high-quality finish, with the area that extends up under the hood looking virtually OEM in quality. Examining this more closely, it appears to be an OEM piece that has been bonded to the grille frame – some great attention to detail.
The grille mesh is of a nice plastic make that seems durable, yet flexible. Similar grilles we’ve seen on the market are made of metal, though the finish on plastic tends to be more durable on plastic versions. However, if something larger should come into contact and damage the grille, Oettinger says replacement pieces are available and inexpensive. To install the grille, the front bumper needs to be removed. Derek and Paolo from Exclusiv were quick to undo all of the screws that hold in the plastic shrouds in place underneath the car. This must be done before the front bumper can be removed. Screws in the fender wells and under the car are all key in removing the plastic pieces to be able to gain access to the bumper bolts. Once the bumper is removed the front grille is undone fairly easily. About a dozen simple plastic tabs need to be wedged out with a flathead screwdriver, taking all of two minutes. The honeycomb mesh of the grille comes separated from the frame and has to be installed using the supplied screws. The screws actually use holes that exist in the bumper, making lining up the grille no problem, though we played with screw lengths, grinding some shorter to tailor the fit.
One thing we learned in the install is that Oettinger makes the honeycomb mesh bigger than it needs to be so the two horizontal areas of the mesh were trimmed were it meets the back of the number plate area. To get the top portion of the grille to fit flush, some additional trimming was needed. This is a little bit extra work, but it will ensure a clean factory look once installed once dialed in. The grille allows more clear view of the silver radiator and top of the aluminum core through the mesh. You might like this look, though we preferred it not so visible. Exclusiv added a quick coat of black spray dye to minimize the view from in front of the mesh. With that complete, the bumper was replaced. The front wheels were re-mounted and the car lowered to the ground. As we stood there at Exclusive, someone said what we were all thinking aloud. “It looks like the front of the Audi from I, Robot.” And it did, it really looked like the Audi RSQ designed for the movie. We all liked the way it looked but there was something missing. THE RINGS!
The grille doesn’t come with any Audi rings to affix to the mesh. The OEM grille has the rings of course but after popping them out we realized they have about eight tabs that wouldn’t attach to the honeycomb mesh very easily. One option might have been to shave down the tabs and use some kind of glue gun or windshield goo to hold them onto the mesh. The other option is to get a stick-on ring badge made for the back of another model. The next day at work I started looking at the back of the beautiful A8L, A6, and Q7 in the showroom of Audi North Scottsdale. These rear ring badges are larger than the ones on the A3/A4/S4 and needed to be to make things look right. A quick visit to the parts department netted me a badge from the back of the A6 and the A8 – nearly the same in size, but with different part numbers. After some analyzing, we determined that the A6 badge was flatter to conform to the trunk surface while the A8L was slightly curved from top to bottom to fit on that trunk. Little things like this show the attention to detail that Audi really puts into their cars. The good thing about the rear rings on the cars is that they come with an adhesive built into the back of the rings that make for easy attachment onto a surface. Now the honeycomb mesh doesn’t have a lot of surface area to stick the rings to; so for temporary purposes I only put the rings on when at a car show or event and have been driving without them to reduce the risk of falling off while driving.
One last option we thought of, though not one we’ve decided to do, is to continue the RSQ / Le Mans concept look and get the smallest set of rings we can, and mount them on the hood, just above the grille. We’re not entirely sure we like the idea though, so we’re still kicking it around. Overall I think the new Oettinger grille gives the front end a very dynamic look that further accentuates the single-frame grille design. I really like the striking contrast of the silver finish against the Murano Green and think it ties in well with the S4 mirrors and wheels that we installed earlier. The grille’s installation was fairly easy, even with the minor modifications that had to be done. These alternations have been noted and passed back to Oettinger.
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