tboooe's modest journey/build thread

[JOS4AUDI]

Nice looks good!! Happy to see u got the filter and installed it. great car.

[tboooe]

incoming....facelift tail lights!

[S5xy]

What do you think of the AWE filter?

[bknewtype]

aaw mang i had a awe filter laying around int he garage i coulda sold u for dirt cheap :X

[tboooe]

What do you think of the AWE filter?

My car *may* feel a little bit more responsive to the gas pedal though I am not sure if its just me hoping to feel a difference. I am also not sure if my 3.0T engine reacts differently than the normally aspirated engines of the V8 coupes.

aaw mang i had a awe filter laying around int he garage i coulda sold u for dirt cheap :X

dude, hook a brotha up! what else you got laying around I can buy???

[tboooe]

incoming...wheels, tires, and coilovers!

[HiTMaNN]

incoming...wheels, tires, and coilovers!

What wheels did you end up getting?

[VicTorious1]

incoming...wheels, tires, and coilovers!

What coilovers are you getting? I'm down between the ST or the H&R.

[tboooe]

What coilovers are you getting? I'm down between the ST or the H&R.

I got KW V1. If you are in Chicago I would avoid STs unless this is just your summer/spring car. The STs supposedly perform identically to the KW V1 but is not made of stainless steel so you may see some corrosion out there. You wouldnt make it the next Taste Of before rust settles in! I do not know much about H&R coilovers.

[ModBargains II]

incoming...wheels, tires, and coilovers!

Congrats! And thanks for the order.
Cant wait to get this done, its going to look killer

[tboooe]

Congrats! And thanks for the order.
Cant wait to get this done, its going to look killer

I hope so Jason!!! Hopefully the tire/offset combo we have will work...they will work right??? :)

[ModBargains II]

I hope so Jason!!! Hopefully the tire/offset combo we have will work...they will work right??? :)

Haha, yes, I looked into it a bit more, and we wont have any issues with the fitment!

[Mops@Nemesis]

Congrats! What wheel/spec you go for?

[tboooe]

Congrats! What wheel/spec you go for?

I went with the Vertini Monacos ET35. I really like the DPE SP-SC5 and was all set on getting them but lets just say some interesting things happened which forced me to go another direction. Though I am not in love with the embossed wording on the rim, I think it will be hard to see in silver and when the wheel is actually mounted. For the price i was going to pay for just DPEs, I got wheels, tires, and coilovers! I will probably use a 5mm spacer in the rear which will make the stance close the stock wheel + 15/20mm spacers that I originally was planning on doing. I am too scared to go super aggressive like you!

I will be mounting them this Thursday and will of course post pics then.

[Mops@Nemesis]

Nice, those are gonna look sweet and Thursday is quick...cant wait to see! Yea, on silver the text is not bad at all...and you can always make sure to park text on the upper side lol. That will be a nice stance and you can always push the 5mm up front and add 10mm to the rear.

[Low2High]

Looks and sounds great sofar i am jellous of all these build threads i have to wait till oct-nov till i can order/buy mine. Keep up the fun

[VicTorious1]

I got KW V1. If you are in Chicago I would avoid STs unless this is just your summer/spring car. The STs supposedly perform identically to the KW V1 but is not made of stainless steel so you may see some corrosion out there. You wouldnt make it the next Taste Of before rust settles in! I do not know much about H&R coilovers.

I'm no longer in Chicago. I'm now in Denver and I was thinking of triple coating the STs with a rust inhibitor, which is what some of the S4 owners have done. Let me know how you like the feel of the KW V1 once you have them put on.

I went with the Vertini Monacos ET35.

Are you going to try and grind down the "Concave" or just leave it. I really like those wheels, but I would want a machined black set. They wording might not be that visible on the silver. Post pics once you've received/mounted them.

[bknewtype]

Love the monacos. Gonna look sick.


Via iPhone

[tboooe]

I'm no longer in Chicago. I'm now in Denver and I was thinking of triple coating the STs with a rust inhibitor, which is what some of the S4 owners have done. Let me know how you like the feel of the KW V1 once you have them put on.



Are you going to try and grind down the "Concave" or just leave it. I really like those wheels, but I would want a machined black set. They wording might not be that visible on the silver. Post pics once you've received/mounted them.

In Denver I am not sure how the ST would hold up. I believe ecrew has the STs so you may want to get in touch with him. There is big difference in price between the ST and KW V1 so I dont blame you for looking at the STs.

As for the wording, I think I will try to grind down the Concave. It cant cost that much and looks like it would be easy to do. Heck, I bet my Dremel would do the job! I dont mind the Vertini wording though. I actually think it looks pretty cool. In your case, in black, it may be as easy as just using a Sharpie to color over the wording to make it look black. Then it wouldnt be noticeable at all.

[tboooe]

Love the monacos. Gonna look sick.


Via iPhone

Thanks man I really like them too. Looks a lot like the DPE SP-SC5 which I really like!

[ModBargains II]

Monaco Can't wait!

[HP18]

mod whore!

[tboooe]

mod whore!

I prefer to be called a promiscuous modder! Though I am honored to be called a whore by the wheel slut himself!

[HiTMaNN]

I prefer to be called a promiscuous modder! Though I am honored to be called a whore by the wheel slut himself!

Lol I am sure your wife appreciates it.

[tboooe]

Update 9 March 2012: Vertini Monaco wheels + KW V1

Here are some quick pics of my recently installed wheels and coilovers. Just want to say the guys at ModBargains are great! My sales rep, Jason (as others have pointed out) is super helpful and patient. He was always willing to answer all my questions. He even called as a courtesy to let me know he wouldnt be available right away when I went to have my wheels and coilovers installed. I also need to give major thanks to their technician, Glen. He took his time and was very careful with my car, which of course I greatly appreciated!! Absolutely no complaints from me and I will be doing business with Jason, Glen, and the ModBargains crew again soon!

I really like the wheels and the wording which really concerned me is not that noticeable once mounted in the silver. The ride is a bit firmer than stock but I think this has more to do with the 30 series tires than the coilovers. Coming from motorcycles, being able to feel the road is important to me. The fitment is not the most aggressive. I will add a 5mm to rear for sure though now as I look at it, I can easily get away with a 5mm up front and 10mm in the rear. The car is lower than I wanted as well. Right now I have about 1/4" space between the top of tire and fender. I was hoping for 3/4" gap so I am thinking about raising it another 1/2" front and rear. Thoughts?

On to the pics:
Wheels: Vertini Monacos, 20x10 ET 35 (equivalent to 15mm spacer on stock 19x8.5 wheel)
Tires: 275x30x20 Hankook Ventus
Coilovers: KW V1
Drop: 1 3/16" front and rear (I actually wanted a little less in the rear, 15/16" so I will be going back to get it adjusted once the coilovers settle)

[S5xy]

Nice! Liking the coilovers so far? Should totally change ur car's dynamics :).

Don't forget to get an alignment done in a couple of weeks after the springs settle! Lots of camber in the rear it looks like

[tboooe]

Nice! Liking the coilovers so far? Should totally change ur car's dynamics :).

Don't forget to get an alignment done in a couple of weeks after the springs settle! Lots of camber in the rear it looks like

Good eye!!! Yup looks like quite a bit of camber. Will align before I get spacers so I can see what size will fit.

[Mops@Nemesis]

Looks great Tommy...congrats! Height looks good to me...might raise the rear just a little to even the gap. 5mm/10mm would look good. I would go 10mm/15mm if it were mine. Brown center caps are bitchin. Shame on Jason for not wiping down those spokes;)

[HiTMaNN]

I don't think I can wait any longer for the tail lights :|

[tboooe]

Looks great Tommy...congrats! Height looks good to me...might raise the rear just a little to even the gap. 5mm/10mm would look good. I would go 10mm/15mm if it were mine. Brown center caps are bitchin. Shame on Jason for not wiping down those spokes;)

Are you rippin on my center caps, or lack thereof?? :) I actually have them but havent installed them. I will add spacers once I align everything. There is a bit of camber at the rear. As for gap, I am thinking its too low all around. I like the space between fender and tire to be more uniform across the top end of the fender. I will probably raise the all corners a bit with the rear a bit more too to have a slight rake. Thank you again for all your help!!!

[TheDapperDriver]

looks good
just needs spacers and caps

[HiTMaNN]

Caps for sure!

[tboooe]

looks good
just needs spacers and caps

Question...are all centercaps the same size? Can I get other ones not specifically made by Vertini? If so, where? I would love Audi ones.

[HP18]

Definitely need spacers!

[tboooe]

Definitely need spacers!

Agreed...gonna wait until I align then see what kind of space I have.

[tboooe]

Update 06 April 2012 - ecodes with amber turn signal delete

I finally got around to installing ecodes that have had for a few weeks. What took me so long was figuring out how I was going to rewire the ecodes to use the parking/city lights as turn signal. With how clean the ecodes looked, I wanted to get rid of the amber turn signal and the parking/city light seemed like a perfect alternative waiting to be utilized! So after some investigating I was able to rewire everything. I found out pin 3 is the turn signal and pin 1 is the parking light. At first I just switched them but of course I got a bulb out error. The turn signal uses a 21W bulb and the parking light uses a 5W bulb. Since the difference in resistance between the two bulbs was too great, the car essentially saw the 5W bulb as infinite resistance (i.e. bulb out). Adding a resistor wouldnt help as it would only increase the resistance and not get rid of the bulb out error. I ended up jumpering pins 1 and 3 together so both bulbs turned on with the turn signal and then covering the turn signal bulb with some aluminum foil (Ghetto I know). I thought about using some heat resistant enamel or something fancy light that but the aluminum foil worked just fine!

The biggest issue was removing the existing 5w bulb so I could replace them with LEDs. These are the LEDs I used http://store.ijdmtoy.com/Mercedes-Er...ree_t10_2r.htm. Without the proper tool the stock bulbs are virtually impossible to remove without breaking the ecodes. I finally relented and took them to the guys at OEM Plus who kindly showed me how to do remove the bulbs. The trick is having a very particular type of plier...but I digress. Anyway, I am very pleased with how clean the ecodes look and how consistent everything is now with LED turn signals. Here are some pics of the ecodes, my rewiring, and the end result.

These have been sitting on my dining room table for 3 weeks...the wifey was not too happy!


Re-wiring the ecode


The end result



The LED turn signal

[tboooe]

Update 07 April 2012 - Added license plate LEDs

Just a simple little tweak. Here are the ones I purchased from iJDMToy:
http://store.ijdmtoy.com/Mercedes-BM..._d36_sku29.htm

Here are some comparison pics. Not much to say about this little tweak other than the LEDs do look a lot more white! Waiting for my interior LEDs to arrive from EU.

[ssv22]

Looks great! Did u install them urself??

[wakesurfin]

I assume the 20's were a bit heavier than the 19s? and the KWs are a bit stiffer... has that helped or hurt the cowl shake?

[tboooe]

Looks great! Did u install them urself??

I did..it was easy. The bulb just snaps in.

I assume the 20's were a bit heavier than the 19s? and the KWs are a bit stiffer... has that helped or hurt the cowl shake?

Good question. Lowering the car definitely helped a lot! Its shame the Alu Kruez is not available for our cars. I am going to try a rear sway bar from Eurocode next.