DTH Carbon Fiber Engine Bay Cover – Review

[CHECKERED]

I wanted to add some bling to the engine bay, I was thinking about getting an 04 oem cover but then figured I wanted more. So I purchased the DTH carbon fiber engine bay cover for a mere $200.
http://shop.dthaus.com/category.sc?categoryId=3

So here is the review of this product.


Quality of material is 7/10


There is some cloudiness in the resin in the corner.





If you hold the part to a light you can see some minor holes where the carbon fiber fabric has been stretched, this is a minor issue because it is completely undetected once the cover is in the engine bay. Otherwise the carbon fiber looks gorgeous for such a complex shape.





Fit is 8/10


The cover fits snugly but the very top part looks like it need to be strait were it curves up. Here is a close up picture.





Otherwise it fits well all around the edges of the engine bay.


Installation difficulty is 1/10 (2/10 if you don’t the oem cover)


You do have to spend some time to get it to fit, but only takes about 10minutes, and if you don’t have the OEM cover you will have to purchase the bracket and some other minor parts.


Value for the money is 7/10


200 bucks for a fancy cover might be too much for some, but then again you all drives AUDI’s…so whatever.


more pics

[ClayFighter]

I like it, thanks for the writeup! Obvious questions to follow... where'd you buy it from? This would compliment those with Carbonio's.

[iconoclast]

ill sell you my interior trim to match. 9pc set.

[CHECKERED]

I like it, thanks for the writeup! Obvious questions to follow... where'd you buy it from? This would compliment those with Carbonio's.

http://shop.dthaus.com/category.sc?categoryId=3

I'm getting the Carbonio tomorrow...lol

ill sell you my interior trim to match. 9pc set.

PM sent

[Ele7eN]

very nice. do you know if someone makes a replacement battery cover?

[ClayFighter]

http://shop.dthaus.com/category.sc?categoryId=3

I'm getting the Carbonio tomorrow...lol


PM sent

Let me know how that turns out. The fitment on mine was horrible.

[zachf88]

didn't know Greg was still selling parts..... he stopped responding to my emails eons ago!

[V8S4Fun]

For sure, would like pics when you get the intake on

[CHECKERED]

For sure, would like pics when you get the intake on

that will take a while...I am going to dremal all the parts that don’t fit correctly then add heat reflective material to the sides and then add weather stripping all around to completely seal the box from the engine bay... I will do a write-up with lots of pics but like I said it's going to take some time.

2 weeks







LOL.

[simona]

to each his own but no one really looks under the hood too much.... It does look cool but for 200 bucks?

[CHECKERED]

to each his own but no one really looks under the hood too much.... It does look cool but for 200 bucks?

unless you go to way too many Cars and Coffee and Audi Meets

[V8S4Fun]

unless you go to way too many Cars and Coffee and Audi Meets

Lol...2nd, worth every penny in that case!

[S4DTM]

I'm getting the Carbonio tomorrow...lol

Have fun losing power

[Tonkaman]

very nice. do you know if someone makes a replacement battery cover?

http://www.ecstuning.com/stage/edpd/...ategory=Engine

[CHECKERED]

Have fun losing power

I am going to dremal all the parts that don’t fit correctly then add heat reflective material to the sides and then add weather stripping all around to completely seal the box from the engine bay...

Not only that I have a very accurate G-meter that also calculates horsepower, I already did a base run, will post the results before and after

Here is a preview


STOCK base run with 91 octane (this is net Horsepower, NOT WHEEL NOT CRANK, but net after friction, drag and air resistance, this is that is left to actualy move the car)





Second one





STOCK base run with 93 octane

[MOFSTEEL]

^There are actual dyno results posted somewhere on this forum.
This topic has been covered time and time and time again.

[GhostSquadGarage]

Have fun losing power

He could gain it back and more with our intake pipe to match that Carbonio though

[CHECKERED]

^There are actual dyno results posted somewhere on this forum.
This topic has been covered time and time and time again.

What I think is going on, is that under dyno conditions:
in a hot garage with a fan that doesn’t pull air from outside but simply recirculates hot air, and doing a run after run, there would be a loss of power using an aftermarket intake due to heat soak, this heat soak is minimized with the stock air box, and that’s why you would see more horsepower with oem intake and less with an aftermarket one.
However on the street there is minimal heat soak and therefore should not have a loss in power.
I hope that’s what the G-meter will show.

[B18b1ex]

What I think is going on, is that under dyno conditions:
in a hot garage with a fan that doesn’t pull air from outside but simply recirculates hot air, and doing a run after run, there would be a loss of power using an aftermarket intake due to heat soak, this heat soak is minimized with the stock air box, and that’s why you would see more horsepower with oem intake and less with an aftermarket one.
However on the street there is minimal heat soak and therefore should not have a loss in power.
I hope that’s what the G-meter will show.

I've dyno my car twice and one of the was a dyno day I set up for 6 V8s if I remember correctly all of them made the best pull on the last run of 3.

[vividracing]

Nice write up, quite detailed. Looks good.

[CHECKERED]

I've dyno my car twice and one of the was a dyno day I set up for 6 V8s if I remember correctly all of them made the best pull on the last run of 3.

Can you post the dyno results?

Theory: As oil heats up it becomes less viscous and is easier to move around resulting in more power on the dyno on the third run vs the first.

[B18b1ex]

Can you post the dyno results?

Theory: As oil heats up it becomes less viscous and is easier to move around resulting in more power on the dyno on the third run vs the first.

The runs are posted here:

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...highlight=dyno

And this is from my car alone on an earlier day.

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...highlight=dyno

Hope this helps.

[F16HTON]

didn't know Greg was still selling parts..... he stopped responding to my emails eons ago!

You have emailed me? maybe they are getting caught up in a spam filter [email protected]

[CHECKERED]

Intake is on…teaser pics…full write up and Gtech dyno numbers coming soon to a forum near you.

[ArcticV8]

stay away from DTH like the plague

[4Rings3Liters]

That looks sick.

[sakimano]

any 'big picture' pics? these are all so close up. I'd like a view of the whole engine bay

Looks amazing by the way. Cheers.

I wanted to add some bling to the engine bay, I was thinking about getting an 04 oem cover but then figured I wanted more. So I purchased the DTH carbon fiber engine bay cover for a mere $200.

So here is the review of this product.


Quality of material is 7/10


There is some cloudiness in the resin in the corner.

[V8S4Fun]

Nice, does the carbon fiber match on them?

[GotRS?]

You must be able to make something out of the RS ones on the engine?

[CHECKERED]

Nice, does the carbon fiber match on them?

it does not, the DTH cover is the ‘show’ 2 by 2 twill that looks nice but does not add any structural integrity. While the Carbonio cover is a 3k plain weave which is aero space quality and adds structural rigidity
Even thou is doesn’t match it looks nice to have carbon fiber on both sides of the engine bay.

You must be able to make something out of the RS ones on the engine?

I am looking into a company that will lay the carbon fiber over the stock covers, because of the complex shape and the fact that the middle logos have to stay visible the process becomes exponentially more expensive. If I find a viable solution, I might offer the covers to the Audi community, however the cost will be more than most people are willing to pay for covers no one really sees. Cost will probably be around $300-$400 for both.

[mike-2ptzero]

stay away from DTH like the plague

Zero complaints from any customer that has ordered a product in the last 10 months.

BTW the CF cover in this thread is kept in stock on the shelf in my office and is shipped out the following day.

[jjaram]

Interesting. I thought about purchasing one from Purems.

http://www.purems.com/products/product.php/II=2640

I wonder how the quality compares to Greg's.

[mike-2ptzero]

Interesting. I thought about purchasing one from Purems.

http://www.purems.com/products/product.php/II=2640

I wonder how the quality compares to Greg's.

Same since Purems sells our CF engine bay cover.

[Lake Powell]

Does anybody have a link for the Carbonio Intake, search results no good?

[CHECKERED]

Does anybody have a link for the Carbonio Intake, search results no good?

a link to buy or a link with info?

[Lake Powell]

a link to buy or a link with info?

A link to buy please!

Thanks-

[CHECKERED]

http://shop.achtuning.com/index.asp?...S&Category=795

[Ike]

What I think is going on, is that under dyno conditions:
in a hot garage with a fan that doesn’t pull air from outside but simply recirculates hot air, and doing a run after run, there would be a loss of power using an aftermarket intake due to heat soak, this heat soak is minimized with the stock air box, and that’s why you would see more horsepower with oem intake and less with an aftermarket one.
However on the street there is minimal heat soak and therefore should not have a loss in power.
I hope that’s what the G-meter will show.

So wait... you trust a Gtech but you're questioning dyno results?

Many many cars lose power from intakes nowadays since most stock airboxes are pretty free flowing. So, if you do something to mess with the air going over the MAF sensor on one of these cars there's a pretty good chance you'll lose a little something, or at least not gain.

[cellg8]

Installation difficulty is 1/10 (2/10 if you don’t the oem cover)


You do have to spend some time to get it to fit, but only takes about 10minutes, and if you don’t have the OEM cover you will have to purchase the bracket and some other minor parts.

Looks awesome. Thank you for sharing. My car did not come with the engine bay cover so I assume I would need to nuts & bolts to make this fit according to your statement and according to other CF Cover threads.

I was talking to DTH via PM but he said nothing is needed with his cover. Is that right?

[Smitty2A4]

Bumping this to ask a possibly stupid question, when installing the cover do the two tabs at the top sit under the rubber strip that runs along the entire top plastic tray? On mine it seems like there is no place for the tab on the left side to fit, the right one is fine. This picture shows the tabs that I am talking about.

http://www.purems.com/images/datapag...NECOVER_dp.jpg