My New Car, Finally Options

[OHirtenfelder]

So it's been a while that I've been back in country and driving 'my' old beat up Toyota Conquest. The time has come and finally I have my 'new' car:







It's a bog standard 2008 Audi A3 Sportback 2.0 Ambition, which is the base model, i.e. manually adjusted seats, cloth interior (which I actually prefer), no steering mounted controls, etc. But I am loving it. It's an absolute pleasure to finally have a car with air conditioning, especially consider here on the highveld in SA, we get temps of 38+degrees in summer, with one of the hottest suns out there. It's also absolute magic to be able to drive and actually whisper to someone while driving (not that I ever need to, but it's good to know that I can).

Yeah, that's it. Polished it up nicely yesterday, and the next thing to do is to wet sand the headlights and fog lights, as per another thread somewhere here on DS. Does anyone have any sort of hints/tips as to how to go about that?

Thanks, and yay for me.

Sorry Moe, but the Panda 100hp was on the cards almost right until the end, when I realised it just isn't big enough to lug around all of my camera gear.

[shandyman5]

Congrats man! You will have a ball with that thing. It is amazing how German cars are packaged so differently around the world. Is that 2.0 a turbo or N/A?

[OHirtenfelder]

Thanks man!

Yeah, unfortunately (for my driving pleasure), and fortunately (for my fuel consumption) it's the 2.0 NA. It's not what I would call 'sporty' in any sense of the word (engine, steering, handling) but the engine does a good job of getting me going, and does wonders on the highway. 1 week down and 1 tank of petrol done, and I'm at 8.3l/100km, which I think is great. It's quite fun trying to see how low a consumption figure one can actually achieve.

[Altostratus]

wild, didnt even know they made 2.slow A3's

the base model in canada is the 2.0t followed by the TDI and the 3.2

[b0mb3r]

congrats man, that chassis is great! :-) I don't know if you are a mod kind of guy but there are plenty of stuff available

[Altostratus]

is that the alleyway behind your house..or do you live in a gated compound?

[OHirtenfelder]

^haha. The alleyway...

No, this being South Africa, a LOT of people live in what we call a 'complex' (not sure what they're called elsewhere), but yeah, in effect, it is a gated compound. Complete with electric fencing.

[shandyman5]

This is a stupid question but did you see them filming District 9 when it was being made like two years ago?

[OHirtenfelder]

Did you see them filming Independence Day? J/K.

I didn't see them actually filming anything, but a lot of the 'riot/chaos' footage they used in District 9 was actual real 'news' footage, i.e. not filmed with the purpose of going in the movie. What I did see was many of the tented camps that were put up as refuge for the foreigners during all of the xenophobic attacks that happened back then.
That's about as close as I got to District 9, aside from them having filmed in and around Johannesburg, but that's the same as it would be for the guys stateside and all the movies filmed in the cities over there.

[shandyman5]

Did you see them filming Independence Day? J/K.

I didn't see them actually filming anything, but a lot of the 'riot/chaos' footage they used in District 9 was actual real 'news' footage, i.e. not filmed with the purpose of going in the movie. What I did see was many of the tented camps that were put up as refuge for the foreigners during all of the xenophobic attacks that happened back then.
That's about as close as I got to District 9, aside from them having filmed in and around Johannesburg, but that's the same as it would be for the guys stateside and all the movies filmed in the cities over there.

LOL, nope but I have seen well over a dozen movies being filmed in NYC. In fact, my Dad was an extra in one from the 80's lol. I was just curious that's all. I didn't think movies were to often filmed in Johannesburg so I was just wondering.

[Altostratus]

^haha. The alleyway...

No, this being South Africa, a LOT of people live in what we call a 'complex' (not sure what they're called elsewhere), but yeah, in effect, it is a gated compound. Complete with electric fencing.

ahhhhh. yeah that makes sense. my dad was doing some work in cape town a couple years back and they made him stay in a gated compound full of foreigners and south african mercenaries as guards. pretty terrifying if you ask me.

[DreiLessons]

Awesome car, man, you'll have a lot of fun with that, i'm sure.


Wetsanding tips.

You'll need:

Wet sand sandpaper of 3 grits: 1800, 2000, and 2200 (optional, but I'd recommend it.)
Painter's tape.
Plastic sealant polish.

Mix some dish soap in water, and soak your 3 grits in the mix for 15 minutes before actually sanding. You'll obviously be working with the 1800 grit sandpaper first, and working your way up to the 2200.

Tape off any surrounding areas of the headlights, to avoid sanding your paint. Apply some soap and water mixture to your headlights before beginning. Take wet sand paper, and begin sanding. I'd spend about 20 min or so at the least (depends how bad your headlights are) on each grit. Make sure that your headlights and sand paper never actually dry while you're sanding.

What you can do after you do the finest grit, is actually rub the back of the sandpaper on your headlights, as an even finer grit, plus it'll act as somewhat of a sealant. Idk if this actually works, but I've been told on numerous occasions it does.

After you're done sanding, wash off any residue on your headlights with pure water, and allow to dry. You'll notice your headlights aren't clear, but rather, worse then before. Don't panic, it's because you haven't applied the polish yet.

After your headlights dry, apply the polish on there, and allow for it to cure. I let mine sit on for 5 minutes while i had a smoke and fantasized about how great the result will be. After it's dried, and cured, just rub it off like you would wax on your paint. Wash off any other residue, remove painter's tape, and voila. Brand new headlights.

Don't hesitate to apply numerous coats of polish on your headlights if you feel one coat isn't enough.

Good luck man, let us know how it turns out.

For sandpaper, by the way, i used rhynowet sandpaper, but 3M sandpaper should work just fine. For polish, I'm not too sure what I used. But it shouldn't be too hard to fine some sealant plastic polish at your local hardware store.

[moe]

Sorry Moe, but the Panda 100hp was on the cards almost right until the end, when I realised it just isn't big enough to lug around all of my camera gear.

But, but it's so cute Anyway congrats man, enjoy being a VAGina.

[OHirtenfelder]

VAGinas for life!!!

Driving an Audi makes me love them even more. Even after having driven god-knows-what test cars at the mag, coming back and driving this car still feels good. It's a good place to be.

Altostratus....are you sure they were mercenaries? You're sure they weren't just guys working for a security companies? The thing is that the majority of security companies have armed guards, many with automatic rifles n stuff as well. Often security is particularly ramped-up when there are foreigners involved.

DreiLessons, thanks for the walkthrough. I'll give it a shot one of these days.

[Altostratus]

Altostratus....are you sure they were mercenaries? You're sure they weren't just guys working for a security companies? The thing is that the majority of security companies have armed guards, many with automatic rifles n stuff as well. Often security is particularly ramped-up when there are foreigners involved..

no idea, but im sure it was just heavily armed guards. we're not used to those in canada

[Bjorn]

Um, what's the difference between heavily armed guards and mercenaries?

[OHirtenfelder]

A Mercenary, also known as a professional soldier or soldier of fortune, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself.

An armed guard is a guy given a gun(often) and told to protect a property/development/vehicle/person, etc. Also, they usually get paid a pittance.

[Bullock]

wild, didnt even know they made 2.slow A3's

the base model in canada is the 2.0t followed by the TDI with led lights and the 3.2

I fancy A3 quite a lot and, and I hope they make it better, because now the A5 and A4s are alot nicer than A3