DIY: Protection screen for intercooling radiator

[13S4]

They are pop rivets. If you push from underneath it will stick out enough that you can pull the entire thing out (center piece, and surrounding plastic).. When you want to put it back together you just push the center piece back down and it clicks into place. It's the same concept as a drywall anchor that you can reuse. Hold the surrounding plastic piece down and push up from underneath. I can do it without tools but it hurts the fingers a bit.

I don't recommend pushing it through as it could go all the way through and fall below your inter-cooler. I've dropped a screw down there once and it was a bitch to get out.

This is similar to what the piece looks like when it's out.

[Gordon Shumway]

Thanks very much for the help. I'll take another crack at it tomorrow when I have some more light.

[Gordon Shumway]

Thanks again for the help. I was able to get to it this afternoon. Popping those little posts up through the rivets killed my fingers, but it definitely worked. After the plastic cover came off, the grill snapped in without any problems. If felt very secure even without the extra clips. There is no chance I could get my sausage fingers through the bottom to snap the clips on anyway, so I am content to leave them off!

[audibmi]

Popping those little posts up through the rivets killed my fingers

ha ha, try taping a quarter on your fingers next time to push the rivets up. that's what i did

[cspcrx]

Just installed the ecs audi plastic cover. As stated before 10 min job start to finish and i do not see why the push clips are needed. The way it grabs the top and bottom of the cooler its held on very well!

[SASKCHAUCH]

Just did the diy mesh style last night.. thanks to op for the write up. found a few good sized rocks sitting under the Intercooler, thank god they never damaged it.

Would wear long sleeves doing this job.. that mesh is stupid and cuts you up.

I had my leather gloves on but .... had taken them off to adjust something and ended up placing my hand right down on the cut side of the mesh.... it made a pop pop sound as I punctured 8 holes 1/4" deep in my palm... every time I work on the car I end up bleeding.. hah

[subiesleeper]

So my car came in the other day and I inquired about the inter cooler protective screen and apparently they are coming with them from the factory now. I am picking it up next week and I will confirm or deny this.

[Dr GP]

I just got my OEM protector in the mail yesterday from ECS tuning....... What a piece of shit. I bought before the sale above and it was $130 + $25 for the clips (+$60 customs fee's). If I knew how cheap it was going to be I would have definitely done the DIY mesh. This piece seriously looks like it should come from a vending machine.

I think I had enough Wasps & Bee's stuck in my IC to protect it from rocks anyway.

I would tend to agree. I did the DIY protection the weekend. Took about 90 mins . BUT I had to cut 2 pieces since I found a hole in the mesh on my original piece. Secondly, the dimensions used by the OP were not good. I cut the 24" mesh to 28 "(the width of the intercooler) and then had to cut an inch or 2 off the upper side to slip the mesh between the radiator and the A/C condenser.Llook OK, but who sees it. I can't imagine that any piece of plastic would provide any more protection than this affords

[Moose201]

So my car came in the other day and I inquired about the inter cooler protective screen and apparently they are coming with them from the factory now. I am picking it up next week and I will confirm or deny this.

Please do let us know. My car was delivered only two months ago and does not have the screen so I ordered one from ECS (on backorder). If what you are being told is true, I might just have to reach out to my dealer about this.

[VW2S4]

Doing this now.

Unfortunately I could only find a roll of mesh that was 35' long.... so I could provide mesh for the rest of the board if anyone needs it:D

[The_Transporter]

WTF is wrong with Audi??? I've owned several cars with totally exposed radiators & even a factory supercharged car with an exposed heat exchanger that NEVER required covering or protection. Audi needs to recall their cheap, weak setup and replace with a setup that doesn't require modification. This whole issue is extremely disappointing for a car of this caliber.

[Moose201]

So my car came in the other day and I inquired about the inter cooler protective screen and apparently they are coming with them from the factory now. I am picking it up next week and I will confirm or deny this.

So did your car come with it or not?

[isles1]

So did your car come with it or not?

His signature says he is picking up the car on 3/2. I am picking up mine on the same day, so I'll post my findings some time this weekend.

[Moose201]

His signature says he is picking up the car on 3/2. I am picking up mine on the same day, so I'll post my findings some time this weekend.

Great, thanks.

[subiesleeper]

So my car came in the other day and I inquired about the inter cooler protective screen and apparently they are coming with them from the factory now. I am picking it up next week and I will confirm or deny this.

So I picked up my car yesterday and the intercooler protection does not come with the car. I do not think they understood what I was talking aboot. That is my first mod so going to order it tonite.

[Moose201]

So I picked up my car yesterday and the intercooler protection does not come with the car. I do not think they understood what I was talking aboot. That is my first mod so going to order it tonite.

Mine just arrived yesterday from ECS and I'm in the process of installing it as we speak. As others have stated, the oem screen is really a piece of poo. There is money to be made in the aftermarket by building a similar piece that snaps in place but is made of metal or more robust plastic.

[isles1]

So I picked up my car yesterday and the intercooler protection does not come with the car.

Picked up my car today. No screen. Build date: 1/2013.

[subiesleeper]

Picked up my car today. No screen. Build date: 1/2013.

Ordered the grille from ecs today so will do that when it comes in.

[VW2S4]

how come cars with exposed radiators don't have this problem? I've seen plenty of porches with exposed rads...

[drob23]

Mine just arrived yesterday from ECS and I'm in the process of installing it as we speak. As others have stated, the oem screen is really a piece of poo. There is money to be made in the aftermarket by building a similar piece that snaps in place but is made of metal or more robust plastic.

Yea, the SA I bought from had *no clue* what I was talking about, and the service dept of my local dealership thought it should already be installed (according to some mechanical drawing). It's pretty appalling that a car this expensive shortchanges a part like this - probably $2 plastic part. OTOH crying about it will do nothing, so the only real recourse is to just suck it up and put the $80 Eurocode part on. It's a pretty easy install and the piece of mind is priceless - having the car die on the highway, get towed, be out of commission a few weeks, cost you $800 out of pocket and the frustration of dealing with AOA to recoup the money is just a nightmare I don't want to live...

[mcoomer]

Just did this on the new car and found that 24 X 34 won't fit correctly. Cut it 24 X 28.5, folded it 1.5" at the bottom then again at the top to hold everything in place. Fits perfectly. The plastic push rivets are kind of cheesy but at least they're in and out in no time. Done in about 45 minutes, even with trimming three times to get the right dimensions.

BTW...looked at three A7's at the dealer on Friday and none had the OEM protection screen installed. Salesman wasn't aware of the problem or the screen.

Mike

[The_Transporter]

how come cars with exposed radiators don't have this problem? I've seen plenty of porches with exposed rads...

My EXACT thoughts! Massive Audi fail.

[tboooe]

Just did this on the new car and found that 24 X 34 won't fit correctly. Cut it 24 X 28.5, folded it 1.5" at the bottom then again at the top to hold everything in place. Fits perfectly. The plastic push rivets are kind of cheesy but at least they're in and out in no time. Done in about 45 minutes, even with trimming three times to get the right dimensions.

BTW...looked at three A7's at the dealer on Friday and none had the OEM protection screen installed. Salesman wasn't aware of the problem or the screen.

Mike

Just to be clear then, the dimensions of the intercooler is 21x28"? (Assuming you folded 1.5" top and bottom). How did you fasten the mesh to the intercooler?

[Tracker_168]

how come cars with exposed radiators don't have this problem? I've seen plenty of porches with exposed rads...

To be fair, just because you see Porsches on the road without radiator protectors, does not mean its a non-issue. A quick google search turned up radiator guards being sold for everything from the Boxster to the CGT. There are also several Rennlist postings about this problem on some P-Cars.

[mcoomer]

Just to be clear then, the dimensions of the intercooler is 21x28"? (Assuming you folded 1.5" top and bottom). How did you fasten the mesh to the intercooler?

No, the intercooler is considerably shorter than 21". I didn't measure it separately but I'd say it's approximately 10-12" by itself. I cut the hardware cloth to 24X28.5", folded 1.5" on the bottom, and had probably 3" on the top to fold and tuck inside the AC condenser. At 28.5" the fit from side to side is nearly perfect.

I have a 2013, and when I initially cut the 24X34" piece of mesh and test fitted it I found that AC condenser was exposed by probably 2" on each side at the widest point of the grille and I had a lot of excess mesh at the top. Turned it sideways, trimmed and down, and have a nice fit now. You could probably cut it to 28" and be OK but at 28.5" the mesh contacts both sides of the plastic surround inside the grill which helps hold it in place. With the folds at the top and bottom and contact on both sides, the mesh is held away from the front surface of the intercooler and condenser with no room to shift due to vibration. No other means of fixing it in place was used.

Only thing I think I'm going to change is the color. I'm planning on popping off the license plate frame, filling the holes with epoxy, and plastidipping the grille a matte black. When I do that I think I'll do the mesh at the same time. It's not terribly visible right now (in fact, I showed the wife the before and after and explained the benefit so it's wife approved) but it will be even less so painted black.

Once I get another crack at the car (it's the wife's so some begging will have to happen) I'll pull the enclosure top off, stick a tape measure in there, and get some pics.

Mike

[tboooe]

No, the intercooler is considerably shorter than 21". I didn't measure it separately but I'd say it's approximately 10-12" by itself. I cut the hardware cloth to 24X28.5", folded 1.5" on the bottom, and had probably 3" on the top to fold and tuck inside the AC condenser. At 28.5" the fit from side to side is nearly perfect.


Mike

Sorry for being dense but I dont understand your math (or my lack of math). So you but the screen to be 24" tall, folded 1.5" on the bottom, leaving 22.5". You folded 3" on top so does that mean the screen is now 19.5" tall which is considerable taller than the 10-12" intercooler?? Again, sorry for not understanding your explanation.

[theedge111]

Sorry for being dense but I dont understand your math (or my lack of math). So you but the screen to be 24" tall, folded 1.5" on the bottom, leaving 22.5". You folded 3" on top so does that mean the screen is now 19.5" tall which is considerable taller than the 10-12" intercooler?? Again, sorry for not understanding your explanation.

Look at the very first post in this thread...guys that do the DIY screen instead of the oem one cover a lot more then just the intercooler, I'm guessing its easier to fasten and install it that way.

[tboooe]

Look at the very first post in this thread...guys that do the DIY screen instead of the oem one cover a lot more then just the intercooler, I'm guessing its easier to fasten and install it that way.

Thank you! That was the piece I was missing. I thought this was only for the little intercooler.

[mcoomer]

Yeah, I covered everything from the bottom of the intercooler to the top of the AC condenser. I know that the intercooler is the primary concern but frankly it's such a simple thing to do that the full coverage protection seems like the way to go. 1/4" 24X60" mesh was less than $10 at Home Depot. Very cheap insurance indeed.

[cspcrx]

I need to get a signon to AW so I can see how to do the small one behind the fog light on the drivers side. We have lots of rocks on the roads here in Arizona!

[mcoomer]

I need to get a signon to AW so I can see how to do the small one behind the fog light on the drivers side. We have lots of rocks on the roads here in Arizona!

Do a search for intercooler in the BS S4 forum and you'll find it on here. I've seen at least one thread that covered the small one too. To be honest, I'd forgotten to look at that.

[BlackOne.eight]

Just did this on mine, took about 1.5 hours, I used two offset layers of 1/2'' 19 gauge (slightly thicker) hardware cloth with the sides rolled over on each other to lock in tight. The lower intercooling rad was clean but oddly enough I saw two impacts in the top main rad.

Thanks NWS4Guy for the idea! I have a 700+ mile trip this weekend and will see how this holds up. Cant even see from 5+ feet away, pics are 2ft then 5ft.






Was too thick to wrap over top and tuck in between the two rads, so I just bent to a 90 degree angle and secured it down. Added some black duct tape on the edges to keep from scratching.




Anyone know what the connector circled in red is? One on each side just hanging there:

[GeoJoe]

I know this is function over form and all that and good work BlackOne.eight... but damn, this looks like your Audi drove though a chicken house. I need to do this too but it's gotta be sprayed black first.

[NWS4Guy]

No clue what that hose is, looks new for the B8.5. At cheap cost for a lot of piece of mind. My S4 is my DD, took delivery 12/22/09, now has 37.2K miles on it, no damage to the IC radiator at all.

[rs4dreams]

I have 8800 miles on my 2013 and had a look at my intercooling radiator while getting gas this morning.

The results were not so pretty. A lot of the "blades" seem to be damaged. Do you guys think this is enough damage to cause problems? I'm definitely going to do the DIY or get the plastic piece from ECS now! Though based on the size of the impacts on my radiator (really tiny, affecting 1 "cell" at a time), I actually think that both of the solutions won't be very effective in stopping such impacts.

http://imgur.com/zq3odPa

[BlackOne.eight]

I know this is function over form and all that and good work BlackOne.eight... but damn, this looks like your Audi drove though a chicken house. I need to do this too but it's gotta be sprayed black first.

Haha, yea it does in that pic (the rad cover completely covers it when on), but its barely visible from a normal view point outside the car. On the plus side I can remove it easily in the future and paint it with something that will stick well.

I picked up some rustolem flat black spray paint but later read up on how hard it is to paint galvanized steel and opted to skip it since i needed it done asap.

http://diynovice.wordpress.com/2009/...vanized-metal/

[Gotchaa]

I painted my hardware cloth black with rustolem 2000degree flat black automotive paint, seem to be fine, it will chip over time no doubt. I used 23 gauge, will likely use a heavier screen after a few hundred miles if I see it's not effective. I also found a few small rocks, and some dings already as well as some fried bees :)

[mcoomer]

Anyone know what the connector circled in red is? One on each side just hanging there:

I saw those as well. There is a white piece inside of that that almost looks like a giant, nylon torx fitting. I'm betting its an adjustment for the headlamps since there's one on both sides that run towards the back of those fixtures. Straight guess though.

Mike

[Soulsaman]

Hey guys!

Finally picked up mine early this month! Amazing car!

So while at the dealership, the first thing I did was to look and see if my S4 came with the black plastic inter-cooler protector thing and there was nothing there (car was built on the last week of Jan/13).
I then mentioned this and the problems I've read about here to my SA and he wasn't familiar with this issue at all. He was nice enough to ask me for any photos of the grill and agreed to look into this for me.
I was at least hoping to get the grill installed by them.

He got back to me about a week later and told me that the protector grill is not an OEM part but an aftermarket item.

Anyway, no plastic grill protector for me. Time to get creative and take care of this myself!

[kiznarsh]

A lot of the "blades" seem to be damaged. Do you guys think this is enough damage to cause problems?

Bent fins (which are very common) won't cause any leaks, but technically they become less efficient with less air circulating around them to extract the heat. As long as there aren't any punctures, you're good.

I then mentioned this and the problems I've read about here to my SA and he wasn't familiar with this issue at all.

This just baffles me and makes me wonder how much the service advisors really know. There's more to a car than knowing the major service intervals or what kind of oil it needs. I remember I told the VW SA about the cam follower in the 2.0 FSI motor and how I plan on replacing it before it craps out on me. His response, "wait...why do you need to do that?"

Because I'd rather pay $50 to get a new one than pay $2k on replacing my camshaft and high pressure fuel pump!

Are they really this dense or just play dumb to get more service in their shop?