awdinut

If a plexi shield is added behind the bars to keep debris off of the radome would it be OK, or will the radome be confused by the bars ? I want to put a later grille on my W12; the 2009 grille with the vertical bars. But the vertical bar ACC grilles look odd with the barless gap at the bottom...even worse than the horizontal ACC grille. So trying to figure a way to make the non-ACC grille work on my ACC equipped car.

awdinut

No, unfortunately, there is an ACC and non-ACC version of both vertical and horizontal grilles. I do not know how to load a photo into a post that is not in my camera, so I cant show examples of each. If one grille would work for both, then Audi probably would not have gone to the trouble of making two types....but I'm hoping there might be a way to make it work. The vertical grille with a blacked-out space for the ACC is ugly.

Jack88

I assume the non ACC grill could be modified to work simply enough but the issue would be your sensor would be exposed and all with it, so that might look worse.

CorrieHiatt

My car, which was rebuilt from salvage before I bought it, was rebuilt with a non-acc grill and had the "ACC" part cut out. The ACC sensor works fine as far as I know, it just doesn't look too good. Your call.

awdinut

My goal is to have a vertical W12 grille with NO missing section AND have a functioning ACC. If possible.

TSHong

I don't know about the radar effect of the grill in front of the sensor but I think the problem would be if you had to adjust the ACC radar. Without the access point, would would have to remove the whole bumper cover to adjust the ACC radar. You might not ever have to adjust it but if you did, what a PITA without the proper grill.

BTW, any fishmouth grill will fit, it's just your visual preference on what you like. I too think the 08-09 W12 vertical grill looks the best. That is why I used it on my 05 W12 when I had her. I much prefer the gloss black vents of the W12 grill vs the platinum gray of the S8 grill.

Although you are right about the look but for me the ability to adjust your ACC radar out weights the slightly better look of the non ACC grill.

awdinut

Thanks for your input ! And also for providing the photo so everyone can see what I am talking about. I did not know that the ACC section is removable on the grilles, if that is the only reason its there, then I would put the non-ACC version on my car and take my chances. Although I think I would put black plexi on the backside of the slats in front of the radome.

On my horizontal ACC grille there are raised bars molded into the cover that are painted silver to mimic the missing bars;I dont understand why Audi did not do that with the vertical grilles. Why leave an incongruous looking, gaping black space to break up the bold look of the vertical bars ?

And here's the important question: can the adaptive function of the cruise control be turned off or deleted by Vag Com ? Because I would do without the adaptive function to have the grille look that I want.

TSHong

It might be that the vertical grills are much bigger than the horizontal grill? Don't know for sure but there is a reason why they did so. I always figured it was radar interference but ACC is very important to me so I never questioned it.

I don't know if that is possible but you don't have to use it I guess.

richard-tx

If you delete the cruise control completely then you are in effect throwing away about $3k in options. As long as you are happy with never having cruise control again, then do what you want. There is no way to convert ACC to standard cruise. If the radar gets blocked and you try to use the cruise, you will get a "cruise not available" message.

If it were mine, I would leave it alone,

awdinut

I would not want to have a car with out cruise control, but I can do without the adaptive part.