Fixeroh

Excellent find and thanks for sharing! Doubt I would attempt this before next spring however. Just can't see tinkering on my new car during the winter months even in my garage. Amazing how car models can vary between countries.

aj6

Except that this specific tinkering can be done at your office desk inside your centrally heated abode...

arU4ic

I just wanted to report that I love the new defused air vents, could just be psychological, however, having air being defused feels so much more consistent inside the car, particularly with heat, A/C is great too but it's much more noticeable when the heat is on.

Just sayin'

HopefulA3Owner

This sounds like a great modification to make. Can you tell if there is a difference with how delicate it is? i.e. does removing those support portions make the entire vent a little more fragile?

aj6

I had the same question while I was doing this mod. The simple answer is that it doesn't make it more fragile in use.

The plastic you're removing is an added mold component that prevents the inward "push" of the center ring, which would pull the flaps towards the center creating a divergent flow to the edges of the vent. Once that plastic is removed by the procedure in the mod, you're left with three seemingly fragile guide tabs. While they are very fragile during the process, once the parts are put back together those tabs are fairly locked in to their respective guide channels and do not experience much of any shear force. The part which they are attached to is bounded 360 degrees by the air vent diffusion flaps, which do a great job of holding it exactly in position.

So your question may be, "if I do this mod is there a chance I'll break off the tabs during normal use?"; if you do the job correctly and properly fix any broken tabs along the way (which I had to for a couple), then you have nothing to worry about.

HopefulA3Owner

Works for me. Once I get the A3, I'll see if I can muster up the courage to attempt this, lol. Just scared of damaging something...

Thanks!

arU4ic

No, only during deconstruction is it fragile, the female parts that receive the plastic tabs protect them perfectly, so I do not believe that any fragility is added by this surgery.

Spoonie G

Just did mine. But I screwed up on the last one and broke off one of the spider legs Hope my glue job holds up. I love the vents now. Crazy why AofA thought that the U.S would be too much of a hassle. I guess they didn't want to answer all the support calls from people asking how to use them?

arU4ic

Yeah, I broke one too… didn't even bother glueing, vent works fine. Enjoy.

Spoonie G

Lol. Thanks.. That's good to know. Even the vents on these cars are cool.