# KDS Detailing wet sand Audi A8 to S8 body conversion



## Kelly @ KDS

Hi members :wave:

Not been on here for sometime and this i hope will be first of many threads by myself in 2010 :thumb:

I will start with this detail as its more than just your standard detailing job and more of what i am about 

This car came to me around 3 years ago, this is when i first starting taking photos and videos using a camera phone , the owner of this car which has been a customer for over 13 years gave me a spare camera he had as a gift after watching me trying to get the best pics from a phone of his car :thumb:

I have now worked my way up to a decent SLR for the latest pics and hope to get a HD camera for videos very soon .

The car below is a Audi A8 4.2 petrol quattro , at the time of the conversion a new S8 which had just been released cost around 80k and the owner could not afford an S8 so wanted me to make his car look like one :doublesho

In the first pictures i have of before a had all ready fitted S8 mirrors and wheels (did not take pics before this as the owner was staying with just the wheels and mirrors at first) .

before

early style front double grill



















this shows the rear with 2 single exhaust pipes



















picture across the standard boot lid showing a flat line



















Between the owner gathering the correct chassis no and myself contacting the local audi dealership the parts ordering started .

First the ordering of the front and rear bumpers and all the correct grills , chrome trim , fixings and fittings , this task alone was a nightmare as no one was sure what was needed and if it was going to work .

Front bumper , grill and trim painted ready to fit

S8 on top and A8 below , its only when you have them next to each other that you can see how different they are



















front striped down










rear bumper removed ready for S8 bumper



















This is what had to removed to gain acess to remove rear bumper




























here is pics showing the A8 to S8 exhaust



















the boot lid was replaced for a S8 item too i have no during pics of it but will show on the finished shots .

The rear end built back up with not much problem really , it was just like replacing like for like even the exhausts fitted correctly with the correct audi clamps and fitting kit .

the rear bumper had to be changed only to make room for the quad exhausts it looks exactly the same as the original bumper apart for around the exhausts .

The complete rear lights have been change for later style since these pics and they are plug and play too .

The biggest problem was when it come to fitting the later style front lamps , the wiring looms have completely changed from one model to another which i was not aware of until deep into this project .

The lights had to be change as the shape of the outer plastic lens covers are different to fit to the front grill new shape .

The owner wanted the daylight running lamps and found a S8 with such lights so used the chassis no to order them .

after many many hours decided the only and best way was to not modify the car or loom in anyway as this meant the car can be returned to original without complications .

So this meant stripping down the new and old lamps and making 2 to fit the customers requests .

here is the standard light with zenon low beam and normall hallogen high beam and hallogen turn lamp between with the plastic cover removed .










A dremel was used to cut the plastics apart










The original lights i cut the clear plastic lens as this was not going to be used and cut the backing of the new lamps as this is not going to be used either .

original light saved backing and damage front cover










this stage both lights A8 and S8 stripped down ready to make one correct light .










The is the new s8 lamp with front cover removed and casing damaged so to save the s8 front cover to fit over original lamp .










same light with led daylight running lamp removed










The end results goes like this ,

Used original backing as keeps fitment , and wiring connectors correct for car , 
removed the daylight 5 led lamp and zenon lamp (as this is high and low beam due to led lamp is where the high used to be so is bi operation (hi and low)) from S8 new lights ,

Made the S8 lamps fit into original backing and modified wiring inside the lights to all function correctly .

Lastly bonded the new S8 lense cover to original backing incasing the S8 workings and lamps .

To look like this










You wolud never know that not factory










The next problem was solving the warning light son start up on the dash board , this is because the A8 standard light has a high resistance 5w side light bulb , and was also looking for a high resistance 55w high beam bulb , which in their place was lower resistance leds and zenon high beam .

The solution was to use heat sink resistors of the right values to fall the dash computer that the bulbs the correct ones .

Here are the during pics with mouldings and petrol flap removed to wet sand complete bodywork



















The bonnet had to be change (to S8) too due to the different front grill and lights

I dont have any pics of the wet sand process as years ago only took pics for a record of bespoke things i carried out , of course now i do take pics of every single thing i do with a couple of threads coming very soon with 450+ pics for 2 different cars just got to get my head around the best way to tackle them .

Found 2 during wet sand pics clearly showing full wet sand right to the very edges



















Here are the finished shots showing the flawless flat paint work :thumb:

You will be able to see the slight lip that is shaped into the S8 boot lid

reflection shot of rear wing showing my car










up closer










up even closer










different angle of the customers business partners car notice they have matching number plates










And finally the finished car
































































Since these pictures i have fiited double S8 optional extra arm rests (cost for parts alone £1345 )

Fitted lighting under the door mirrors as S8

Ski load through (optional extra )

The parts bill for all of the S8 parts come to over 12k in the end without painting and labour etc .

The owner was over the moon with the results and chuffed with having a A8 that looked like an S8 with perfect finish paint .

And here is a video Sorry for poor quality this could be using camera phone or very cheap camera






Thanks for looking

www.kdsdetailing.co.uk

Kelly


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## Alfa GTV

Stunning work and car :thumb:


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## declanswan

Good skills.


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## ross-1888

i love reading you write ups. they are good and it seems that wet sandin you have mastered to a fine art. 

but.

i have one question, Why is it in every detail your blue bmw always appears in at least one picture. lol do you doo it on purpose or is it just because the car gets photographed in the car park


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## Mini 360

Nice work! 

Must ask tho.....if he has TWO Audi S cars why not just get an S8 in the first place? Still a couple of superb cars though!


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## Mirror Finish Details

Stunning Kelly. That is taking detailing into the next stage.


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## mouthyman

fantastic work, the transformation is really good,


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## [email protected]

wow thats a cracking job and an awesome looking car


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## ahaydock

Amazing work :thumb:

Maybe you can work out how I can get LED number plate lights to work in my MY10 59 plate TT lol? Not even the built in resistors work - something to do with the new pulsed Canbus being used? Sure I'll get there soon...


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## alexf

thats insane! :doublesho


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## Johnnyopolis

Thats FANTASTIC work  

A great read and thanks for sharing 

ATB

Johnny


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## Escort God

great work 
the front looks so much more menacing now much better


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## tdekany

Stunning work!!!
1 thing though - the front gap is huge. No S8 ever comes like that Sits higher than the rear. He should have changed the suspension as well.

However your work is: :thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb:


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## Tiauguinho

Very good work you did there 

But your customer is a lame poser...


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## lambchop16v

Outstanding workmanship, car looks fantastic.

Your car also looks stunning in the reflection shot.

Aaron


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## Gleammachine

Nice insight into the other side of your business Kelly, love A8's.:thumb:


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## colarado red

nice work there


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## GlynRS2

Superb work with your usual great attention to detail and fantastic finish :thumb:

I just hope that your customer hasn't looked at the used prices of genuine S8's lately.


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## -tom-

very nice work 
:argie:


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## Dan Clark

Brilliant.

You work is stunning mate - total different league.


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## Auto Detox

Very nice insight into the work carried out on the Audi Kelly 

Baz


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## sfs

Stunning work. I'm always amazed just how much disposable income some people have.


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## Leemack

Great work mate - What a beast of a motor


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## yetizone

Wow - Truly stunning work and superb attention to detail throughout - especially the work on the lights. A really good read. The car looks stunning as a result of all the hard work put into the project. Great stuff! :thumb:

But, I still can't help thinking that the owner would have been better off keeping his A8 as is and then watching the used car market and waiting for a genuine S8 to depreciate a little. Then, eerr, he actually would have a proper S8? Just a thought!


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## chappo

i just love reading/looking through posts like this, 

top marks mate.


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## Saqib200

Top work there - it must be great to stand back and look at the achievement, the transformation is huge.


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## ads2k

Truly amazing quality of work :thumb:


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## Shared

Very nice results as usual and a pleasure to read through with a brew in hand, I love the work with the headlights, its great to see someone prepared to get really stuck into something like that and work it all out.


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## Kelly @ KDS

ross-1888 said:


> i love reading you write ups. they are good and it seems that wet sandin you have mastered to a fine art.
> 
> but.
> 
> i have one question, Why is it in every detail your blue bmw always appears in at least one picture. lol do you doo it on purpose or is it just because the car gets photographed in the car park


Bit of both really , oh and my car is not in all the details i do  wait and see for more threads from me to prove it .

I use my car because yes its in the car park and its mine ,
Also if someone steals the reflection pictures (as i do know this has happened to a few detailers , then passed on as other detailers work) it will have my car in so keeps it my work . 
This is why i either have my signage , logo or my cars in the shot too .

I use the car for reflection shots to show how flat the paint finish is after wet sanding this way everyone can recognise the shape of a car and its the same car everytime keeps it simple and easy to show and compare on pictures .

When using a car for reflections shots then taking multiple zoomed in shots it clearly shows if any orange peel is still present . A car is a very good way of picking up all the small detail when used as a reflection shot in the same way as using a workshop wall in the background with equipment spread out everywhere is

If you took photos of trees etc in reflection shots there are no straight sharpe lines to focus onto to highlight orange peel of lack of , and every tree is different so not comparison .

Hope this clears up things

Kelly


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## Kelly @ KDS

Mini 360 said:


> Nice work!
> 
> Must ask tho.....if he has TWO Audi S cars why not just get an S8 in the first place? Still a couple of superb cars though!


Must of viewed it wrong or i did not make it clear enough .

Even if he had both cars The A8 cost 35k and S4 10k when a new s8 in the spec he wanted was 80k plus and a long waiting list

Not sure which bit confused you so here

The owner partner (business) not sexual :lol: has or did back then have a Audi S4 not an S8 .

Thats 1 owner 1 car A8 and another partner with reflection shot of his car with matching plates Audi S4

Only one Audi A8 that was converted to look like a S8 (same car)

They Have now got Audi S8 real one and late RS4 both on my website , with them both looking at Audi R8 v10 and Aston martin :thumb:

Kelly


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## ant_s

brilliant work! Very enjoyable to see the car transform aswel as some detailing, enjoyed the read but i think the S8 number plate and badges are too far, its not a S8 even though it looks like one so shouldn't have the badges


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## Kelly @ KDS

ahaydock said:


> Amazing work :thumb:
> 
> Maybe you can work out how I can get LED number plate lights to work in my MY10 59 plate TT lol? Not even the built in resistors work - something to do with the new pulsed Canbus being used? Sure I'll get there soon...


I had it the easy way early car with late lights , would not want to get involved with the later wiring looms at all :wall:

Kelly


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## Kelly @ KDS

tdekany said:


> Stunning work!!!
> 1 thing though - the front gap is huge. No S8 ever comes like that Sits higher than the rear. He should have changed the suspension as well.
> 
> However your work is: :thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb:


Are you sure

Here is a real S8 with same wheels (remember all got air suspension and can be raised and lowered a little )

this is before detail










and the A8 conversion with same wheels










just thought of one thing thou the S8 engine is heavier than the V8 4.2 so this would sit different , thou in the flesh did not notice

kelly


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## Kelly @ KDS

Alfa GTV said:


> Stunning work and car :thumb:





declanswan said:


> Good skills.





Mirror Finish said:


> Stunning Kelly. That is taking detailing into the next stage.





mouthyman said:


> fantastic work, the transformation is really good,





jonto said:


> wow thats a cracking job and an awesome looking car





alexf said:


> thats insane! :doublesho





Johnnyopolis said:


> Thats FANTASTIC work
> 
> A great read and thanks for sharing
> 
> ATB
> 
> Johnny





Escort God said:


> great work
> the front looks so much more menacing now much better





Tiauguinho said:


> Very good work you did there
> 
> But your customer is a lame poser...





lambchop16v said:


> Outstanding workmanship, car looks fantastic.
> 
> Your car also looks stunning in the reflection shot.
> 
> Aaron





Gleammachine said:


> Nice insight into the other side of your business Kelly, love A8's.:thumb:





colarado red said:


> nice work there





tom_k said:


> very nice work
> :argie:


Thanks guys :thumb:

kelly


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## Justin182

Great work, but what a waste of money IMO


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## Kelly @ KDS

Guys i may have some during wet sand pics on another of my very old pc's will have alook tonight when i get in and post them if i find them , as i wrote before on another one of my threads , dont laugh as still learning pc etc but had loads of pics of all the early details and when my average laptops memory was nearly full i decided to condense down all the photos to 30 or 40 of each car and some to only 10 pics , 

Of course now got hard drive and better laptops and now learnt alot more about IT :thumb:


kelly


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## Ronnie

amazing work well done lad. love the lights. tell me the backs of the lights how did they look after cutting did u plastic weld them or glue them. Just out of curiosity.


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## remonrace

Nicely done!


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## Perfection Detailing

Very nice work Kelly


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## Ducky

As ever I am in awe of your skills as a detailer! :thumb:


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## dave-g

wow, you've done an amzing job there!! looks lovely in that colour and that finish is just wow!!

quick question though, how hard was the separating of the lights? i want to split my gti xenons but people keep saying don't do it, whereas a handful say its fine?? is it really that bad!?


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## ross-1888

kdskeltec said:


> Bit of both really , oh and my car is not in all the details i do  wait and see for more threads from me to prove it .
> 
> I use my car because yes its in the car park and its mine ,
> Also if someone steals the reflection pictures (as i do know this has happened to a few detailers , then passed on as other detailers work) it will have my car in so keeps it my work .
> This is why i either have my signage , logo or my cars in the shot too .
> 
> I use the car for reflection shots to show how flat the paint finish is after wet sanding this way everyone can recognise the shape of a car and its the same car everytime keeps it simple and easy to show and compare on pictures .
> 
> When using a car for reflections shots then taking multiple zoomed in shots it clearly shows if any orange peel is still present . A car is a very good way of picking up all the small detail when used as a reflection shot in the same way as using a workshop wall in the background with equipment spread out everywhere is
> 
> If you took photos of trees etc in reflection shots there are no straight sharpe lines to focus onto to highlight orange peel of lack of , and every tree is different so not comparison .
> 
> Hope this clears up things
> 
> Kelly


ah now i see why. thats a great idea.:thumb:


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## ChrisJD

Excellent work, car looks great. A lot of work there.

A nice read too:thumb:

Chris.


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## Teabag

lovely work, very in depth... but i have to say... i like your car the best.. especially with those CSL wheels


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## Ducky

Who owns the red Integrale in the pictures? :thumb:


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## FrazzleTC

That's an amazing piece of work! I notice that in one of the pictures the interior is now red. Did you do the interior too?


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## nicp2007

very nice mate, that is awsome, 

my mate has just bought a A8L and it is an awsome bit of kit,


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## ALANSHR

Fantastic work by you as always, great attention to detail and the finsih you get from the wet sanding is pure class. Some really good work o the conversion as well, loving the interlagos m3 as well, assume its yours?

Never sure about look-a-like coversions though, especially one this good, the guy must have spent a fortune, would it not be better buying the reall thing or at least going a route that doesn't aim to make it something it is not. I appreciate that its still a 4.2 quattro in this instance but hopefully oyu get my point. Rememeber all the m3 copies....


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## dsms

Excellent work as usual!

Question, do you ever just normally correct paint without full sanding?


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## Depaip

Laborious work, but great result, the cost of the transaction?


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## rsdan1984

stunning reflections!!


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## d3m0n

nice work! 

OT - im sure ive seen that beemer round my neck of the woods?


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## Max M4X WW

Great work, Not sure if this has been asked as I've not read the whole thread - but what did you do with the valves on the exhaust?


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## Kelly @ KDS

Ronnie said:


> amazing work well done lad. love the lights. tell me the backs of the lights how did they look after cutting did u plastic weld them or glue them. Just out of curiosity.





dave-g said:


> wow, you've done an amzing job there!! looks lovely in that colour and that finish is just wow!!
> 
> quick question though, how hard was the separating of the lights? i want to split my gti xenons but people keep saying don't do it, whereas a handful say its fine?? is it really that bad!?


The lights , i cut the lense plastic cover that was not to be use , and the same for the backing too .

The reason for cutting the plastics was just because the male and female channel around the covers was so deep that even thou i tried to with scaples and tiny knifes i could not cut away enough of the bonding glue to seperate the 2 halfs cleanly .

So cut the plastics then could work on a small section at a time cutting away the plastics until i could gain access to the bonding glue .

It is possible to remove lense covers and i have done in the past .
All depends if you can cut enough of the bonding glue (sealent) away to seperate lense form light with cracking the plastic or early glass covers .

The lights where around £700 each so was not going to risk trying to save all four light and brake them when i only needed two .

I have fitted angel eyes to a rew cars with no problems just depends on construction of light .

The lights were bonded back with windscreen glue . you would not be able to tell they have been apart .:thumb:

Kelly

www.kdskeltec.co.uk


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## Kelly @ KDS

ant_s said:


> brilliant work! Very enjoyable to see the car transform aswel as some detailing, enjoyed the read but i think the S8 number plate and badges are too far, its not a S8 even though it looks like one so shouldn't have the badges


I know what you mean , really tried my best to with the customer to leave it de-badged 



Justin182 said:


> Great work, but what a waste of money IMO


Down to the owner if he wants it done then all ok .

Its all relative , i could not tell the difference between a £5 bottle of wine or a £2000 bottle of wine , so to me anything more than £5 is a waste . 
But to others they will gladly tell you that there is a difference and its worth every pennie .

You could say the same about £7000 on some wax comparied to £100 or even £10 . 
Is it really worth that much more ????? , but does it matter as long as someone wants to buy it , then people will sell it .



remonrace said:


> Nicely done!





Perfection Detailing said:


> Very nice work Kelly





Ducky said:


> As ever I am in awe of your skills as a detailer! :thumb:





ChrisJD said:


> Excellent work, car looks great. A lot of work there.
> 
> A nice read too:thumb:
> 
> Chris.


Thanks Guys :thumb:

Kelly


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## Kelly @ KDS

Teabag said:


> lovely work, very in depth... but i have to say... i like your car the best.. especially with those CSL wheels


This will be a large thread once i have finished the latest plans 






































































































Ducky said:


> Who owns the red Integrale in the pictures? :thumb:


Thats a customers car been looking after a few for many years , the one in the back ground is a full detail which will be on here asap :thumb:

Kelly

www.kdskeltec.co.uk


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## Nanolex

Outstanding job! On the M3 too! :thumb:


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## Kelly @ KDS

Nanolex said:


> Outstanding job! On the M3 too! :thumb:


Once this has been fitted by myself and filmed some videos then i will start a thread of my car i think i have over 2000 pics from last 4 years and still got to run through them before hand thou .

Just a tease this is what i am hoping to fit very soon , been sitting at the workshop for a couple of months and been gagging to fit it :wall:

Just got too much work on at the mo .

Full charged cooled supercharger kit :driver:










new manifold with blow off valve










manifold with cooling element










and just a little belt driven charger :doublesho



















not sure some how that the weather is right for a road test thou :lol:

Kelly

www.kdskeltec.co.uk


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## Kelly @ KDS

The owner of the Audi A8 and the other owner of the S4 in the reflection shot used to own these cars before hand .



















Both repainted by myself many moons ago :buffer:

Kelly

www.kdskeltec.co.uk


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## gt5500

kdskeltec said:


> Its all relative , i could not tell the difference between a £5 bottle of wine or a £2000 bottle of wine , so to me anything more than £5 is a waste .
> But to others they will gladly tell you that there is a difference and its worth every pennie .


Yeah but in this case the owner has a bought a £5 bottle of wine and put the label from a £2000 bottle of wine on it in the lame hope that someone may think he has a £2000 bottle of wine. Of course all the wine connoisseur's will know that he is pretending and everyone else couldn't give a toss but some people are just strange. But at the end of the day like you say its his money as long as you got paid for the work who cares. On the subject the work you have done is first class, if I ever need any work doing I would gladly drive all the way to your shop.


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## wafik

Stunning work! looks 100 times better now with the sline kit bumpers!


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## po-low

That looks well nice.

The colour is rather nice too.

Although the upgrades have cost a fair wedge, it seems like the owner has saved a fair few quid over buying an S8.
And im sure the owner will be happy with the fuel savings he'll be making with his S8 replica than what a real S8 would cost to fuel/run.

I know I would.


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## trebor127

Looks good mate....Love Audis. Sure the saving is a great thing aswell but if it was me, i'd always think ''hmmm i'm driving an a8 and not an s8'' lol but even so GREAT car! :thumb:


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## Fargo

A lot of hard work but well well worth it. Stunning car and fantastic work, something to aspire to!!


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## Mr Gurn

Think that is the brightest paint work i've ever seen!!!!!! 



Top job!!! well done!


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## Nick_S

The finished shots are absolutely incredible!!! Although I must say, I actually prefer the A8 front end on that.


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## scooby73

Nice work the modifications look great! The finish on the paint looks superb!:thumb:

Look forward to the thread on your M3!


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## Mike Hunt

I bet the insurance company will be over the moon to know he's driving with bodged head lamps. Nice paint finish though.


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## The Beast

[email protected]!!!

Nice work man!!


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## Select Detailing

Cracking Results Kelly.

Setting the standards.

Gareth


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## Kelly @ KDS

wafik said:


> Stunning work! looks 100 times better now with the sline kit bumpers!





po-low said:


> That looks well nice.
> 
> The colour is rather nice too.
> 
> Although the upgrades have cost a fair wedge, it seems like the owner has saved a fair few quid over buying an S8.
> And im sure the owner will be happy with the fuel savings he'll be making with his S8 replica than what a real S8 would cost to fuel/run.
> 
> I know I would.





trebor127 said:


> Looks good mate....Love Audis. Sure the saving is a great thing aswell but if it was me, i'd always think ''hmmm i'm driving an a8 and not an s8'' lol but even so GREAT car! :thumb:





Fargo said:


> A lot of hard work but well well worth it. Stunning car and fantastic work, something to aspire to!!





Mr Gurn said:


> Think that is the brightest paint work i've ever seen!!!!!!
> 
> Top job!!! well done!


Thnaks guys :thumb:



scooby73 said:


> Nice work the modifications look great! The finish on the paint looks superb!:thumb:
> 
> Look forward to the thread on your M3!


M3 thread will be a long way off 

Kelly


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