antirich

Just curious, has that rear spoiler helped with keeping dirt/salt off of the rear window and hatch?

Pretty surprised how quickly dirt accumulates in that area.

D_Frost

It actually hasn't helped too much (hard to say definitely since my car is black)... since the (dirt/water mixture) spray is actually from the tires/underside turbulence behind the car when going fast... Besides that, it did seem to have helped reduce rain from hitting the rear window.

D_Frost

Stage 3 is in...




K04 in:


Got the APR downpipe/HFC installed at the same time... allowing the test-pipe file to be used...



Edit:
The APR downpipe/HFC in combination with the test pipe file is a great combo as the turbo spool up is practically instant (thanks to less back-pressure). There's plenty of power and that's how a Q5 should come from the factory Unfortunately, I had to go back to stock cats (and non-test pipe file) as the Remus exhaust didn't play too well with the HFC since there's excessive drone in cruising RPMs. There's plenty of growl at idle but the lack of a "trunk" means the drone fills the entire cabin.

Going back to stock cats, the increased back-pressure has slowed turbo spool up (more like stock) but there's still plenty of power on tap in the upper RPM band. This keeps a lot of the luxury that the Q5 possesses. As the transmission is still learning the new power, only time will tell about the fuel mileage.

(images are courtesy of Dion @ Achtuning)

D_Frost

Since the grille arrived, took some time to get the grille installed today...



Since the design of the Caractere bumper is different, some modifications had to be made. (notice that small triangular piece that was cut out of the grille and now on the ground)


The foam that sits in front of the crash bar has been removed and I've opted to use matte black vinyl to cover it. There were also slight tweaks to be made on the clips for the PDC sensors as they weren't quite deep enough for the PDC to clip on securely. After some work with rerouting the HomeLink transmitter and some tucking of cables connecting the PDC system, I'm pretty satisfied with the results.

ThunderDent

Dude ..........

There are no words.......

D_Frost

Hehe... I have 2 words for any one with a Q5 interested in the grille... "Do it."

LOL

Planning a photo shoot when weather clears up. It really hasn't been cooperating much here...

ThunderDent

No doubt. You def need to run clean black. Wow...

D_Frost

Yeah, that's why I'm considering not putting any badges up front. They don't need to know what I'm running inside

ThunderDent

When I look at the all black against my white, to me it looks like it needs the europlate to break it up.

With yours being all black, and with your body kit, that thing looks completely sick now that you have the gloss black mesh look. It makes the thing look completely grounded.

It's probably the best looking Q5 on the planet right now, And would give any Audi a run for it's money in style.

Well done.

D_Frost

Thanks! Yeah, it took a little while to get to used to not having anything across the middle (since the OEM grille still had a plate filler through the middle of it). But the more I look at it, the better it looks. So probably no badges or plates at this time, until something else comes to mind... maybe I'll start working on the engine bay haha...

I'm really looking forward to your build now... it's almost time for us to get our Q's together for some photos