# 2015 S3 Sepang with SS seats



## Xanlith (Apr 19, 2014)

She's on the boat and due to set sail today or tomorrow. Should be arriving the 14th or 15th of April in Brunswick, GA.

First four things to do as inspired by Ryan are going to be

1. c-quartz for entire exterior
2. 3M Clear PPF for entire front, mirrors, entire rear bumper
3. 35% tint side and back window
4. Halo EFX or find a black optics grill replacement

After that I will probably enjoy the car for a few thousand miles and get to know it for awhile before I consider an ECU reprogram. Haven't decided which one to go with yet, seems like they all are pretty good.

Later on I may do the following to tighten it up if it isnt tracking the way I want:

-H&R SS Springs
-Sway bar

Finally I may or may not get into:
-Air intake
-Turbo delete
-Exhaust mods

Pretty excited to finally have the car I fell in love with when the first SS seat photos circulated years ago on its way. Its been killing me to watch all of you get to play with your S3s so glad I'm going to be able to join you this month.

--jl


----------



## lilmira (Feb 4, 2014)

Let's see who will get it first. Mine is still making its way from the east coast to the west. The weather is warming up here, perfect timing for summer tires.


----------



## s3xy (Jan 31, 2015)

A turbo delete?? Lol why would you want to delete the turbo ??


Sent from my 2015 Audi S3


----------



## nlz242 (Feb 23, 2011)

s3xy said:


> A turbo delete?? Lol why would you want to delete the turbo ??
> 
> 
> Sent from my 2015 Audi S3


APR's april fools this year was a turbo delete kit, probably just a reference to that


----------



## Xanlith (Apr 19, 2014)

nlz242 said:


> APR's april fools this year was a turbo delete kit, probably just a reference to that


Spot on my man. Amazing what removing the word muffler from that line implies. 

http://www.goapr.com/products/turbo_delete.html


----------



## RyanA3 (May 11, 2005)

looks like a plan!
good luck with her.

-Turbo delete ftw! LMAO


----------



## Xanlith (Apr 19, 2014)

S3 landed last night so I imagine she'll be on a truck later today or tomorrow. Might be enjoying a sweet drive this weekend!


----------



## jsausley (Dec 2, 2011)

Xanlith said:


> S3 landed last night so I imagine she'll be on a truck later today or tomorrow. Might be enjoying a sweet drive this weekend!


Did you order through Leith/Audi Raleigh? Would you be terribly weirded out if I asked to meet up at some point? :laugh: I've got my S5 on order but I seriously, really considered an S3 with SS seats and I'd love to see the car.

There's a Cars & Coffee in Burlington this Saturday! I'll be bringing the Atom, assuming it's not raining.


----------



## Xanlith (Apr 19, 2014)

jsausley said:


> Did you order through Leith/Audi Raleigh? Would you be terribly weirded out if I asked to meet up at some point? :laugh: I've got my S5 on order but I seriously, really considered an S3 with SS seats and I'd love to see the car.
> 
> There's a Cars & Coffee in Burlington this Saturday! I'll be bringing the Atom, assuming it's not raining.


Yeah Audi of Raleigh on Capital Blvd north of I-540. No not a problem at all, I'm actually going to be doing the same thing later this week before I buy it. If I sit in it and the leather and seats don't sing to me like I expect them to I still could walk. My connection with the car is pretty critical to me. I'm not sure that I'll make it out to Burlington but I'm sure we can meet up somewhere for you to take a look at it assuming I get everything signed by then.


----------



## nlz242 (Feb 23, 2011)

We don't get blue stiching on Blue sepang cars, right? I remember seeing a couple of pictures of an S3 with blue stiching on the Super Sport Seats... remember thinking it was pretty cool looking... Silver is also fantastic and is perfectly fine too, mind you.


----------



## Xanlith (Apr 19, 2014)

Unfortunately no we do not get the blue stitching. That was a special vehicle build that you saw. It did look awesome though. Silver stitching is all we can get. I don't think doing Audi Exclusive will even be able to get you that stitching.


----------



## davewg (Jul 30, 2001)

Xanlith said:


> S3 landed last night so I imagine she'll be on a truck later today or tomorrow. Might be enjoying a sweet drive this weekend!


Great news! Looking forward to seeing pics and thoughts if you go through with it.


----------



## lilmira (Feb 4, 2014)

mine is here FINALLY. so excited, can't wait to bring the girl home.


----------



## nlz242 (Feb 23, 2011)

Xanlith said:


> Unfortunately no we do not get the blue stitching. That was a special vehicle build that you saw. It did look awesome though. Silver stitching is all we can get. I don't think doing Audi Exclusive will even be able to get you that stitching.


Figured. Well SS seats look fantastic with the silver stitching too so it's not a big deal. 
Do post a couple pictures when you get the car, can never get enough of em  
That's the combo id like to get, when i decide to pull the trigger, sepang + super sport. Still have a least one year to wait tho.


----------



## lilmira (Feb 4, 2014)

Took her home after a year of wait.


----------



## Alloy07 (Jul 16, 2014)

BEAUTIFUL !!!! love the color and the SS seats. Looks very classy IMO, looks like the seats really add to the interior. How is the comfort level ?


----------



## Xanlith (Apr 19, 2014)

I've had her for about 25 hours now. Managed to get tint installed this afternoon. Went with Formula 1 Pinnacle 35. I've had that film on my last 3 cars and have had no complaints with it or the installers. Even managed to get a repeat customer discount to make it a steal. Here is what she looked like as I picked her up from Formula One. Made my heart sing. Dropping her off for cQuartz tomorrow before a weekend trip to Florida so I wont miss not having her for the two days while they do the paint prep and cQuartz application.


----------



## turbo slc 2.9l (Dec 4, 2003)

After a long wait, your not wasting any time making it your own! Tint looks good:thumbup:


----------



## Xanlith (Apr 19, 2014)

So I've intentionally been driving in comfort mode for the first 300 miles in an effort to control my enthusiasm and heavy foot while I'm getting all the electronics and features of my S3 configured the way I like it. Today I flipped it over into dynamic mode expecting a fairly small changing in handling and performance.

Boy was I surprised. Dynamic mode was such a drastic change, I starting wondering if maybe I *shouldnt* get an ECU flash.  Of course that thought was summarily dismissed seconds after I had it. I will say that the really annoying throttle/gas pedal uncertainty went almost completely away in Dynamic mode and things are much more exciting. 1st gear in comfort mode almost doesnt exist it shifts so quickly and none of the growling or downshifting is anywhere near as spirited or enthusiastic. I'm now considering introducing the real S3 to my wife and letting her drive in dynamic mode since even she commented on the throttle/gas pedal uncertainty and shes coming from a Mazda 6 which isnt exactly a track vehicle.

In any case today I drove around with a permanent smile on my face which I haven't experienced while driving in a very long time.

Mods are definitely going to happen to this car though....soon.


----------



## lilmira (Feb 4, 2014)

I only got about 450km on it so I'm mostly staying on comfort/auto too. I did flip it to dynamic a few times just to check it out. It sure woke the car up. Give it another 100k or so I'll be using dynamic mode as much as I can.


----------



## lilmira (Feb 4, 2014)

It doesn't hurt to wait if you can resist. With the machine tolerance nowadays, a few hundred km is probably sufficient, think about how many revs the engine has gone through. I'm not going balls to the wall just yet but rather gradually increasing throttle input. I feel like the car is crying already driving it that easy. The more important thing for me is cold start in the morning new engine or not, I religiously use light throttle until the engine is fully warmed up. I always see people going heavy throttle in the morning and I know that their engines are still cold, makes me cringe.


----------



## silvrevo (Mar 11, 2010)

Xan,

Can you contrast these SS seats with the stock s3 seats?

Anymore room in the SS, any less?

And also do you have more headroom, if you remember than the stock s3 seats.

It was said before the SS seats do sit lower, because of the lack of power motors underneath. 


Thanks a lot!

Also just heard these SS seats are standard in the TTS.....

Thanks Xan!

Go hammer on that car and set those rings!


----------



## Xanlith (Apr 19, 2014)

silvrevo said:


> Xan,
> 
> Can you contrast these SS seats with the stock s3 seats?
> 
> ...


Sure. I've been tinkering with them over the last few days to get them dialed in to my liking. I found the manual setting this morning that tilts the seat bottom up to provide more thigh support. That setting which is a lever on the front left of the seat also happens to make the seat feel like its cradling you even more than it already was the way it was set from the factory. Interestingly enough I discovered that the seat was jacked all the way up when I picked it up and it took me a day of fiddling to realize I was literally sitting as high as the seat would go which is why my head would brush the ceiling from time to time. I'm 5' 11" but like to recline a bit when I drive so I cranked that down all the way to the floor (lever on the left side of the seat) and now I really feel like I'm running sporty and have several inches of headroom. I used to be able to see the hood and now I cannot which to me really immerses me a lot more and it definitely feels lower than the stock S3 seats though I will admit I didn't do a lot of fiddling with the stock seat height on my test drives.

In any case I'm 215 and by no means a small man but the SS seat bolsters wrap around me nicely. They aren't as tight as I'd like them to be if I were say racing on a track but for every day driving they offer more than enough support for spirited onramp acceleration without sliding around. Smaller people like my wife will slide around more and wider guys will probably feel the seats are perfect. For me I'd say they are damn near perfect since I plan to be using the car for everyday comfort driving 99% of the time and dont want the bolsters poking into me all the time.

Lumbar is power controlled and there is upper lumbar and lower lumbar I guess. This is the first seat where I actually felt more comfortable with lumbar support. Usually I crank it all the way down so its not poking me in the back. I suppose if I did that with the SS seats I'd get deeper into them and the bolsters might give me the support I'd want on a track. Might have to try that next drive.

Hope that helps.


----------



## Xanlith (Apr 19, 2014)

itr_1211 said:


> Thought you have to wait at least 1200 kms before opening her up?


I guess I should define opening her up. I'm not using launch control but I'm also not accelerating like I'm in a Buick any longer like I did for the first 300 miles where people were literally passing me in Corollas. 

All I've done is stepped on it a bit more than usual and done maybe a 0-60 in 5-6 seconds without flooring it. I'm also not doing this a lot, just trying to learn how she reacts to different throttle inputs at different speeds.

That said, I did get her flashed today by our local Unitronic vendor Apex Tuning in Apex, NC. I just couldn't resist and while I wont be able to see what she really does for another 800-900 miles, the difference just at idle in Dynamic mode with the 1.5+ tune is startling. I actually flipped the car back into comfort mode because dynamic now keeps the car a touch over 3000 RPMs in second and third gear which is great when I want to thrash someone but not enjoyable when I'm in 35 mph stoplight surfing territory. I'll give some more feedback as I play around with the tune more since I've only had it for a couple hours.

I guess the only other observation I have after a few more days of driving her is that I'm not super impressed with the continentals she came with. They seem really loud compared to what I'm used to so I'm hoping I can find some good replacements when its time to replace them.


----------



## TheLocNar (Apr 6, 2015)

Love those seats! Congrats!


----------



## Xanlith (Apr 19, 2014)

Well I found the first cheap part on my S3. I received my license plate in the mail today and went to go put it on and couldn't get one of the screws to come out of the rear license plate holder. It was spinning freely but not coming out of the nut it was screwed into. I had to lift and unscrew at the same time to get it to release. Once I had the plate off I was rather unhappy to see that Audi used a metal nut retainer in an unreinforced plastic frame so putting any torque on it what so over strips the plastic and lets the nut spin. Horrible design. It looks like the dealer stripped the first one but I can't complain too much because as I was putting the plate back on I apparently did the same thing to all three of the other ones. It took very little torque to break them. So little torque that I didnt feel like my plate would have stayed on properly. Every other car I've had you could tighten up pretty strongly. Not this one.

Worst part is the replacement part is like $127 for a piece of plastic and 4 metal nuts from what I can find online. Hoping I can find a better quality aftermarket solution.


----------



## Xanlith (Apr 19, 2014)

Got my Halo EFX install on my grill, front splitter, fog surrounds, and rear valance. Looks great and really makes the car look mean. Also had gloss black vinyl wrap done on the window surrounds.

Also had Xpel clear PPF installed on entire front, headlights, mirrors, rocker panels, door cups and rear bumpers.

Now its time to just enjoy the car for awhile before I mess with anything else.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Flying Tomatoes (Nov 29, 2012)

super sport seats for the win:beer:


----------



## Xanlith (Apr 19, 2014)

itr_1211 said:


> Didn't waste any time. Love the black front grille. How long did it take to do it?


Dropped it off at 10am and they had it ready by 6pm. There are a few tiny bubbles in the window trim vinyl but they should be gone in a few days.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## drexplode1 (Sep 28, 2006)

Different question:

how many levers for seat adjustment are there on the manual super sport seats?

backrest forward and back?
thigh support up and down?
seat height up-ish and down-ish?
seat position laterally forward and back?


----------



## drexplode1 (Sep 28, 2006)

drexplode1 said:


> Different question:
> 
> how many levers for seat adjustment are there on the manual super sport seats?
> 
> ...


Sara from Audi chat:

Sara said: 

Yes, there are three: one to adjust the lumbar support, one to adjust the height, and one to adjust the backrest angle. There is also a handle underneath the seat to lengthen/shorten the upper thigh support.


----------



## ScrotchiGTI (Aug 30, 2001)

Xanlith said:


> Got my Halo EFX install on my grill, front splitter, fog surrounds, and rear valance. Looks great and really makes the car look mean. Also had gloss black vinyl wrap done on the window surrounds.
> 
> Also had Xpel clear PPF installed on entire front, headlights, mirrors, rocker panels, door cups and rear bumpers.
> 
> ...



Glad you like it. I just bought a Black Honeycomb grill and will be doing the same blackout to the rest of the trim.

-Scott


----------



## rmr (Jul 24, 2012)

Xanlith said:


> Got my Halo EFX install on my grill, front splitter, fog surrounds, and rear valance. Looks great and really makes the car look mean. Also had gloss black vinyl wrap done on the window surrounds.
> 
> Also had Xpel clear PPF installed on entire front, headlights, mirrors, rocker panels, door cups and rear bumpers.
> 
> ...


WOW. Looks great!


----------



## Xanlith (Apr 19, 2014)

ScrotchiGTI said:


> Glad you like it. I just bought a Black Honeycomb grill and will be doing the same blackout to the rest of the trim.
> 
> -Scott


Hey Scott,

Definitely digging it though I must admit, my wife has driven it more since I got it done than I have. 

Would love to see the photos of the honeycomb once you have it blacked out.

I'm going to give it a wash tonight for the first time since it was blacked out so I'll see how well everything set. 

Great job on the install though!


----------



## Xanlith (Apr 19, 2014)

Xanlith said:


> Well I found the first cheap part on my S3. I received my license plate in the mail today and went to go put it on and couldn't get one of the screws to come out of the rear license plate holder. It was spinning freely but not coming out of the nut it was screwed into. I had to lift and unscrew at the same time to get it to release. Once I had the plate off I was rather unhappy to see that Audi used a metal nut retainer in an unreinforced plastic frame so putting any torque on it what so over strips the plastic and lets the nut spin. Horrible design. It looks like the dealer stripped the first one but I can't complain too much because as I was putting the plate back on I apparently did the same thing to all three of the other ones. It took very little torque to break them. So little torque that I didnt feel like my plate would have stayed on properly. Every other car I've had you could tighten up pretty strongly. Not this one.
> 
> Worst part is the replacement part is like $127 for a piece of plastic and 4 metal nuts from what I can find online. Hoping I can find a better quality aftermarket solution.


So I finally got my custom license plate and could no longer procrastinate on dealing with the cheap factory license plate bracket on our cars. I purchased the following new bracket off of eBay because I liked the reinforced attachment points for both the new bracket itself and the license plate.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281487696317?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

When I received it I was disappointed to see that it was too small to fit the screws that hold the factory bracket in place so I embarked on a mission to remove the factory bracket entirely in hopes of attaching it directly to the vehicle. I carefully used a pair of needle nose pliers to remove the 4 captured nuts from the factory bracket before continuing to prevent scratches to my paint. I then used some fishing line and sweated through the North Carolina 98 degree heat and humidity to loosen up the double sided tape at the top and bottom of the factory bracket that helps keep it attached to the vehicle. Once I had the factory bracket off I noticed 3 factory drilled pilot holes beneath the factory bracket. Unfortunately they didnt line up with this new bracket either and now I was really concerned.....until I noticed that the new bracket I purchased has 4 feet that fit perfectly into the holes I removed the 4 captured nuts from on the factory bracket. I couldnt believe my luck and quickly replaced the double sided tape on the factory bracket and reattached it. I then screwed the new bracket into the factory bracket after lining up the feet and the now empty nut holes. The fit was nice and tight and I have no concerns about it flapping around. I may go back and add some double sided tape in a few areas to be extra secure but its definitely not necessary.


----------



## BlueAudi (Dec 10, 2014)

Xanlith, so you mounted the new bracket on top of the factory bracket--cool. When you used 4 screws to attached the new bracket through the empty nut holes of the factory bracket (where the original nuts were), what were the new screws screwed into? Was it plastic behind the original bracket, or did you use new nuts, or something else? I have the same overtorqued nut problem you do, so a big thank you for figuring this all out!


----------



## Xanlith (Apr 19, 2014)

The kit comes with two pointed sheet metal screws for all intents and purposes. I screwed those right into the original bracket about half and inch to the left and right of where the screws holding the original bracket onto the car are. The screws easily bite into the plastic and make their own new holes. The only thing the four holes that had the spinning captured nuts do for us is allow the feet of the new bracket to sit in them so everything is flush. I suppose they also provide some stability from twisting as well but they are not what holds the new bracket to the old.

Make sense?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## BlueAudi (Dec 10, 2014)

Xanlith said:


> The kit comes with two pointed sheet metal screws for all intents and purposes. I screwed those right into the original bracket about half and inch to the left and right of where the screws holding the original bracket onto the car are. The screws easily bite into the plastic and make their own new holes. The only thing the four holes that had the spinning captured nuts do for us is allow the feet of the new bracket to sit in them so everything is flush. I suppose they also provide some stability from twisting as well but they are not what holds the new bracket to the old.
> 
> Make sense?
> 
> ...



Yes! Thank you for the additional info. This does make sense.


----------



## BlueAudi (Dec 10, 2014)

Xanalith, how did you attach the black plate frame without the original nuts? Thank you! (Btw, nice plate frame -- I have two of them -- how did you decide if the Audi logo goes on bottom or top?)


----------



## rickmz (Jun 21, 2015)

Xanlith said:


> I've had her for about 25 hours now. Managed to get tint installed this afternoon. Went with Formula 1 Pinnacle 35. I've had that film on my last 3 cars and have had no complaints with it or the installers. Even managed to get a repeat customer discount to make it a steal. Here is what she looked like as I picked her up from Formula One. Made my heart sing. Dropping her off for cQuartz tomorrow before a weekend trip to Florida so I wont miss not having her for the two days while they do the paint prep and cQuartz application.


beautiful car


----------



## 1anG (Jul 14, 2011)

*Seats*

Can you post a picture of the seats


----------



## Xanlith (Apr 19, 2014)

BlueAudi said:


> Xanalith, how did you attach the black plate frame without the original nuts? Thank you! (Btw, nice plate frame -- I have two of them -- how did you decide if the Audi logo goes on bottom or top?)


The new bracket comes with silver screws that work with the brass colored threads on the bracket to attach the plate and frame and I used the caps that came with the frame to hide the silver screws. If you look at this photo you can see the 4 brass threaded areas to screw into clearly.

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/ODQ3WDE2MDA=/z/bw8AAOxycD9TVyu-/$_57.JPG

I actually didnt even think about the Audi logo now that you mention it, I just innately put them on the bottom.


----------



## BlueAudi (Dec 10, 2014)

Xanlith said:


> The new bracket comes with silver screws that work with the brass colored threads on the bracket to attach the plate and frame and I used the caps that came with the frame to hide the silver screws. If you look at this photo you can see the 4 brass threaded areas to screw into clearly.
> 
> http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/ODQ3WDE2MDA=/z/bw8AAOxycD9TVyu-/$_57.JPG
> 
> I actually didnt even think about the Audi logo now that you mention it, I just innately put them on the bottom.


Thanks. On closer inspection of your photos, I see the brass colored threads you are describing. Cool!


----------



## rickmz (Jun 21, 2015)

lilmira said:


> Took her home after a year of wait.



Beautiful ride. Now I wish I opted for the SS seats in my ride


----------



## lilmira (Feb 4, 2014)

Noticed a few stitches in my backseats (used may be two times so far) are coming off in the weekend while I was conditioning the leather. I'm guessing that the thread end underneath the leather came loose. Stopped by the dealership on Monday and now they are sending me new seats. Ok I'm impressed.


----------



## Revolver1966 (Mar 30, 2014)

lilmira said:


> Noticed a few stitches in my backseats (used may be two times so far) are coming off in the weekend while I was conditioning the leather. I'm guessing that the thread end underneath the leather came loose. Stopped by the dealership on Monday and now they are sending me new seats. Ok I'm impressed.


Try to buy them old seats back!


----------



## lilmira (Feb 4, 2014)

I'll ask them what they do with it. It's such a stupid problem. A good seamstress can probably do a patch job but taking the leather out might be the only way to stop it from running. This usually happens to my sweat shirts, but those I'll just throw them out when it gets bad. First time I have this problem with a car.


----------



## Xanlith (Apr 19, 2014)

Wow, now I need to go inspect my seats for loose threads. Thanks for posting lilmira.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Xanlith (Apr 19, 2014)

So I noticed an oddity today that may or may not be expected behavior. When I've switched into Dynamic mode during a drive, the vehicle displays S instead of D for the mode on the central info display and the car idles higher and shifts more aggressively. That's expected behavior. I noticed today though that when I turn the vehicle off while its in Dynamic mode and then turn it back on the next day or whenever, its still saying its in Dynamic mode but displays D and definitely performs like its in comfort mode. Is that normal with all S3's or is my Unitronic tune maybe causing a problem? Ryan do you have that problem?


----------



## scope213 (Feb 19, 2015)

Same here. I think that's just how it's set up. Also, I have no tune. 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk


----------



## Revolver1966 (Mar 30, 2014)

It reverts to D on start up


----------

