Repairing my under-tray

D

Darren C

A2OC Donor
During the drive home from the Scotland social I heard an incredible bang when travelling along the M1. I’ve not been able to source any major issue other than a large crack in the under-tray. On further investigation there was also a smaller crack on the other side too. Both around the winglet areas.

To negate shelling out Audi rates, I employed my soldering iron and cable tie flux and made the necessary repairs. I’ll not win any prizes for aesthetics, but the end result is rock solid and as good, if not better than new.

Hopefully useful to others who have cracked under-trays and maybe seeking a new part - save the pennies.

Cheers,

Darren

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Ha ha, not so perfect when you know where to look mate. Still, not worth 100 notes or so when it sits underneath. Even my obsessive behaviour can rationalise that - just. ?

Sarge said:
Good jaab (as the old Americans say) but now I'll always have that in my mind when I see the rest of your perfect car! :eek:
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Yes, that's good work! All that I'd have done different would have been to back it up with thin alloy plates, pop-rivited in place either side of the break(s).

David
 
Darren C said:
Ha ha, not so perfect when you know where to look mate. Still, not worth 100 notes or so when it sits underneath. Even my obsessive behaviour can rationalise that - just. ?
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Yay, an imperfection on Darren's car!
There is some ground in muck on there Darren, which I assume was cleaned and polished before refitting! ??
 
Not refitted yet Bob - a job for the future.

I’ll make sure I get the trim polish out first mind, just for you. Plus, it’ll no doubt improve the aerodynamics a touch - extra mpg... ?

Jellybean said:
Yay, an imperfection on Darren's car!
There is some ground in muck on there Darren, which I assume was cleaned and polished before refitting! ??
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Hey Darren, so since you have it off the car, do you happen to know what fixings it needs to fix back on. My car does not have an undertray, I have one to put on but no fixings for it so need to get some
 
For this sort of question I did an Ebay search for undertray fittings and Audi A2 - this brings up various kits of combinations of screws in various sizes (self tapping etc), wee folded metal bits that the screws screw into, plastic rivets, etc. that look similar to the bits that came off the time I did take the undertray off mine. If someone else has a recommended link I would go with actual experience, but an awful lot of the fixings are generic, so if you have enough of them in house you should be able to cope (especially if original holes are worn out and you have to use a different location). Best of luck!
 
No idea mate. Everything appears okay, no scrapes, dents or obvious marks.

Unless something becomes apparent, it is possible that I'll never know, but I hope to God that I never hear anything like it ever again.

damadgeruk said:
Do you have any idea if the noise was something hitting the undertray or the undertray giving way?
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Those pictures were taken after I gave it a quick power wash - it was much, much dirtier than that beforehand. That said, it has probably never ever been cleaned. Given the dust and Herculean rainwater in Scotland, which saw a car aquaplane into the central barrier en route home, I'd say it's not in bad condition mate. ?

A2 Louis said:
Come on now @Darren C Boris’s undertray is cleaner than that ?

On a serious note Boris’s is cleaner ??
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Hi Jason,

It is mainly held on by screws, plus a couple of bolts at the top of the winglets. Bear in mind that I have an FSI and it might be slightly different for other engine variants.

I'll take a photo before I refit and post them on here.

Cheers,

Darren

Jason1979 said:
Hey Darren, so since you have it off the car, do you happen to know what fixings it needs to fix back on. My car does not have an undertray, I have one to put on but no fixings for it so need to get some
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Darren, I have fashioned near identical repairs to numerous A2 undertrays, I use some scrap ABS from an old A2 bumper, the black part, a quick rub with the angle grinder to remove the black paint and cut it into strips about 3/8" wide, I then have an old gas powered soldering iron which is udeal as it greats plenty of heat to melt/ weld the plastics together. Using the side of the iron its possible to get a really smooth finish.

Cheers,
Paul
 
Darren C said:
During the drive home from the Scotland social I heard an incredible bang when travelling along the M1. I’ve not been able to source any major issue other than a large crack in the under-tray. On further investigation there was also a smaller crack on the other side too. Both around the winglet areas.

To negate shelling out Audi rates, I employed my soldering iron and cable tie flux and made the necessary repairs. I’ll not win any prizes for aesthetics, but the end result is rock solid and as good, if not better than new.

Hopefully useful to others who have cracked under-trays and maybe seeking a new part - save the pennies.

Cheers,

Darren

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Great job mate...

Nothing worse than those bangs whilst out on the road and not knowing what it was glad it wasn’t too serious


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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