Great job! The red looks much better! How did you find the alternative interior parts? Did you go looking for them or did the dealer mention they had them?

 

Will take you for a ride when you visit Carmel this year!

That is an interesting story. I put an ad on 'Wanted Parts' in the classified section of R8Talk forum right after I negotiated the purchase of the car on January 7th, 2013. That car had not yet arrived via an Intercity truck carrier from where I bought it back East when a fellow in Sacramento email me about the 'red' interior he had in his possession! It was from a new '11 v10 coupe which came with a 'red' interior from factory. The owner also had a MB AMG SLS with a similar 'red' cabin and he wanted it changed on his R8! So he had his Audi dealer order a custom set of 'Audi Exclusive' seat covers and door panels in 'Black with deviating red stitching'. The cost was nearly $10K. A similar 'Amulet Red' nappa natural leather covers for two seats, headrests and door panels would have cost me about the same amount had I ordered them from Audi! That is why these exchanges are so rare - the expense is prohibitive! The 'red' interior from Sacramento had only 600 miles of use when it was removed from their almost new v10 coupe! At the moment I was contacted about their interior, I had no idea if the coupe covers and door panels would fit a Spyder! But I took a chance and bought it right on the spot. They made me a pretty good deal. Drove to Sacramento and picked it up the next day!

I then contacted 'Customer Relations' at Audi USA. Sent them a long email with photos. They 'researched it' (according to the response I got from them a few days later) and was told it couldn't be done, period. I didn't believe them and went ahead with my project. Next, I contacted two Audi dealerships in my area and the Audi factory representative for Northern California. They never bothered to even answer my emails. So the total aid, input and assistance from anybody associated with Audi on this project was ZERO, ZILCH, NADA!

By now, I had studied the issues closely (read every post in forums and asked local tech shops) and figured out what the possible issues were in the 'transfer' from Coupe to Spyder! R8 Coupe sport seats are different from R8 Spyder sport seats! The difference is that the coupe's seats have a tilt forward mechanism. The Spyder does not. The latter can tilt only via the electric controls at the base of the seats. Otherwise a Spyder seat is exactly like a coupe seat. Since the 'Amulet Red' leather interior I purchased came from a coupe, I could not use the original hard foam backrests from my Spyder. These have not 'hole' to accept the reclining mechanism latch. So I needed to use the coupe's hard foam backrests, which I acquired for the purpose of this particular interior exchange. I was now ready to go forward. The next step was choosing a shop to do the work correctly. I researched that until I found two local craftsmen that I could entrust with this delicate work.

The shop I selected for the exchange of covers re: seats is a highly recommended local upholsterer in the Carmel area - 'Andy & Me Upholstery' in Sand City, CA (831) 899-3311. The proprietor Robert Graham did all the work himself on this project. The steel frames under the hard foam is universal to both coupe and spyder models. There is a bracket on both Spyder and Coupe seats so that you can attach the reclining latch. I was holding my breath until we stripped the original Spyder seats and found that the frame was able work perfectly with the coupe hard foam and latch. The heating wires had to be integrated into the 'roll' which is part of the electrical wires controlling all the functions. All of these modifications made this job take a little longer than usual. The seats were tested at the end and no 'error' codes remain. Total labor for this part of the project was $750.

I decided on a local stereo/alarm shop to do the door panels - KarTunes of Seaside, CA (831) 394-1700. Owner Tim Haines did this particular job himself. I am interested in replacing the speakers (I have the base stereo and not the Bang & Olufsen) and I needed Tim to verify the size of the speakers required for this possible upgrade. KarTunes are masters at taking-off & putting-back-on door panels - they do this several times a day on a variety of cars! This job took a little bit longer than expected (3 hours) on my R8 because the selling Audi dealer back East had done a 'rattle-noise' repair inside the door panels using the Audi recommended 'goop' to solve these annoying squeaks! So Tim had to scrape the 'goop' off certain parts of the inside of the panels to facilitate the exchange the internal parts needed. And then 're-gooped' the new door panels to prevent future rattles inside the door! Total labor for this part of the project was $285. Tim is recommending that I replace the standard 3 speakers per side (except the center channel speaker in dash for which we have not found an upgrade yet!) with a set of Morel Virtus (VIRTUS 2-way / 3-way « Morel) for about $949 plus install cost. I might do that next. While at Tim's shop, we also direct wired my 'Valentine One' radar detector to the top of the windshield, using a 'Savvy' connector from Valentine to access power.

All together, this was a very interesting project! I got extremely lucky in finding someone with a new v10 coupe's 'Amulet Red' interior that was selling it! What are the chances of running into that situation? One in a million! Next, I found a way to adapt the covers to my Spyder seat frame, using the hard foam backs of a coupe. Finally, I found a pair of craftsmen in my area that were able to do the job promptly and expertly! I couldn't be happier with the results. 'Lava Gray' with a Red Leather interior is rather rare to see in an R8! But it is a beautiful combination and I am delighted with the results!

I now have the OEM 'Black w. Alcantara' seat covers and Door Panels available for sale. If anyone is interested, please 'pm' me.

Saludos,
Eduardo

PS One of the interesting things that I found in examining the internal components on these Audi OEM sport seats is how much of the content is made in....Poland!

 

great info

 

Ahhhhh... much better!

 

looks fantastic Eduardo, great combo..

 

Amazing job! Your passion for the details has my respect. That interior looks tremendous.

 

I think the red nappa leather suits the car better now. Great job