# blacked out grille



## C3MH. (Jan 26, 2010)

hey all,

really feelin the blacked out grille and thinking of picking one up, but have some questions:

1) where to buy? a quick search on ebay yields:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/2009-2010-20...s&fits=Model:A3|Year:2009&hash=item2ebb9c96ef

2) how's the grille installed? how's the audi badge installed?

3) anyone have pics of a blacked out grille with chrome audi badge? even better if the A3 is lava grey  :thumbup:


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## Dubd Sailor (Dec 1, 2008)

Lol @ super rare


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## aznsap (Aug 7, 2010)

1 can of plasti dip and some work to remove the grill:


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## C3MH. (Jan 26, 2010)

wow thanks for that, I hadn't even considered plastidip... looks good :thumbup:

Is the bumper easy to remove? And how hard is it apply the plastidip?

EDIT - looked it up, didn't realise it was just a spraybomb... seems easy enough. will look into this tomorrow :thumbup:


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## drew138 (Dec 3, 2006)

Sweet ottenger black mesh grill in the for sale parts forum


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## Rob Cote (Dec 6, 2006)

I second plasti-dip. Definitely takes the abuse of stones and debris without showing any signs of chipping. this kinda shows it:










I just made a change though


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## neu318 (Feb 18, 2003)

ECStuning has a sale on the black grills. I just got it and will be installing it today.


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## Gbeav (Jun 12, 2010)

I used wrap on mine.


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## C3MH. (Jan 26, 2010)

Just put on the 5th coat, will post up pics tonight.

I just taped up the front, took about 20 mins.. probably would have been faster and easier just to remove the bumper lol.. looks good so far :thumbup:


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## neu318 (Feb 18, 2003)

Just finished installing mine. What a pain the tabs were. Here are before and after pics.


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## Dr Chill (Aug 24, 2011)

FK grille. Took 2 hrs to install including bumper removal. Getting grille off of bumper was the hardest part. DRL's are Philips.


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## C3MH. (Jan 26, 2010)

Thanks for the suggestions! Here's how it turned out:


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## TurboChrisB (Feb 25, 2012)

MUCH iimproved! Looks great.


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## cldub (Jul 2, 2010)

Are we just posting pictures of our grills?  

Had mine professionally painted


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## sleepy3 (Feb 6, 2012)

lol sorry all these grills pics are reminding me of http://youtu.be/8fijggq5R6w


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## UTE (Nov 12, 2011)

Do you have to remove the grille to change out the plate filler only?

Bill


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## rawaudi (May 15, 2010)

UTE said:


> Do you have to remove the grille to change out the plate filler only?
> 
> Bill


Nope, if you have the regular plate holder then you remove the two screws behind the plate and it should lift off the grille. The plate filler snaps in place and then has two screws at the bottom of the filler.


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## krazyboi (May 19, 2004)

rawaudi said:


> The plate filler snaps in place and then has* two* screws at the bottom of the filler.


Four


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## cldub (Jul 2, 2010)

krazyboi said:


> Four


Yup. Four and some clips, easy peasy


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## KiltedCasper (Oct 21, 2011)

UTE said:


> Do you have to remove the grille to change out the plate filler only?
> 
> Bill


Except that on the 2009+, the grille and plate holder are a single piece. Pre-facelift cars can just swap out the plate holder/filler.


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## Willie Gee (Feb 27, 2012)

Rob Cote said:


> I second plasti-dip. Definitely takes the abuse of stones and debris without showing any signs of chipping. this kinda shows it:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Did you plastidip the front lip as well? I kinda like the look, I'm thinking it could work on my panda as well.


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## Rob Cote (Dec 6, 2006)

Negative although I don't see why you couldn't use Plasti-dip. It holds up extremely well to stone chips. I've said it a billion times, but I'm still really impressed.


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## mike3141 (Feb 16, 1999)

KiltedCasper said:


> Except that on the 2009+, the grille and plate holder are a single piece. Pre-facelift cars can just swap out the plate holder/filler.


The plate holder is just snapped into the grill.


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## sleepy3 (Feb 6, 2012)

mike3141 said:


> The plate holder is just snapped into the grill.


does this need a front plate delete though? pre facelift s line


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## Rob Cote (Dec 6, 2006)

That IS the front plate delete. You're looking at the back side of it.


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## mike3141 (Feb 16, 1999)

This is the plate delete panel for a pre-facelift:


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## Willie Gee (Feb 27, 2012)

NoOb question,

Are you removing and re-gluing the rings? Or just buying a new set and gluing those on?


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## TBomb (Sep 23, 2009)

Willie Gee said:


> NoOb question,
> 
> Are you removing and re-gluing the rings? Or just buying a new set and gluing those on?


The rings on the OEM grill actually snap in place. There are like 10 tabs that hold them in. Snap them out - snap them back in :thumbup:


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## Sir Ville (Dec 25, 2011)

An original black grille as it comes from Audi.


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## Willie Gee (Feb 27, 2012)

:thumbup:

Thanks! One more question, any ibis white A3s with a black Vortex lip?


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## cldub (Jul 2, 2010)

Sir Ville said:


> An original black grille as it comes from Audi.


Show off :laugh:


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## cldub (Jul 2, 2010)

Willie Gee said:


> :thumbup:
> 
> Thanks! One more question, any ibis white A3s with a black Vortex lip?


This bugs me, but it's Votex, not Vo*r*tex :thumbup:


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## Willie Gee (Feb 27, 2012)

noted. :thumbup:



cldub said:


> This bugs me, but it's Votex, not Vo*r*tex :thumbup:


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## rawaudi (May 15, 2010)

cldub said:


> This bugs me, but it's Votex, not Vo*r*tex :thumbup:


But isn't vortex the same as fourtitude? :screwy:


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## krazyboi (May 19, 2004)

rawaudi said:


> But isn't vortex the same as fourtitude? :screwy:


Yes, but cldub meant the body kit is votex.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk


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## cldub (Jul 2, 2010)

krazyboi said:


> Yes, but cldub meant the body kit is votex.
> 
> Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk


:thumbup:


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## rawaudi (May 15, 2010)

Oooo, you guys are super smart.

So your saying the votex kit is the same as the Blitz Bodykit used in the Fast and the Furious on the eclipse? Strange, since one is JDM ya know.

I gave value added info earlier, so I felt as thought I could troll....... :wave:


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## Willie Gee (Feb 27, 2012)

ahem, back to the noOb any pics of an ibis white A3 with a black Votex lip?


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## Sir Ville (Dec 25, 2011)

cldub said:


> Show off :laugh:


... and proud of it ...


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## cldub (Jul 2, 2010)

Willie Gee said:


> ahem, back to the noOb any pics of an ibis white A3 with a black Votex lip?












You can use this to photoshop it or whatever...paint works too i guess



Sir Ville said:


> ... and proud of it ...


I would be too!


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## carfanguy (Aug 12, 2005)

Is it possible to remove the chrome around the grill without taking the bumper off? It looks like its removable on ecs's site.....

http://www.ecstuning.com/Audi-A3-FWD-2.0T/Exterior/Body/Grille/ES5958/


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## TBomb (Sep 23, 2009)

carfanguy said:


> Is it possible to remove the chrome around the grill without taking the bumper off? It looks like its removable on ecs's site.....
> 
> http://www.ecstuning.com/Audi-A3-FWD-2.0T/Exterior/Body/Grille/ES5958/


Without destroying the grill surround in the process? Probably not. That thing has a ton of clips and even with the grill out of the bumper (and bumper off of the car) I still broke my grill surround. Not that I cared since I was replacing it, but still. I highly doubt you can get it off without both taking the bumper off the car and the grill out of the bumper.


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## everfresh59 (Jul 26, 2010)

TBomb said:


> Without destroying the grill surround in the process? Probably not. That thing has a ton of clips and even with the grill out of the bumper (and bumper off of the car) I still broke my grill surround. Not that I cared since I was replacing it, but still. I highly doubt you can get it off without both taking the bumper off the car and the grill out of the bumper.


I concur, I just tried this on the weekend and gave up... just too many tabs to remove the grille surround without breaking them. I had a roll of dimes that I was using to stick in between the tabs, but there are 2 tab on the inside middle which look like they need to be broken to be able to remove.

But then I found this and was sad... http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthre...SI-Project&p=55961745&viewfull=1#post55961745


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## dsbloom (Oct 31, 2011)

That sucks to hear about the tabs, I am interested in replacing my grill soon. Regarding the plate delete, are there any grills that don't have any brackets for a plate? Or at least a very minimal bracket? Like the RS3 grill? That doesn't cost $900.


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