sciroccorrado
A2OC Donor
... have you managed it sub 1 hour yet though 
Service Offered: Retrofitting Cruise Control
- Thread starter timmus
- Start date
timmus
A2OC Donor
... have you managed it sub 1 hour yet though
I'm too much of a perfectionist. If I really concentrate and don't have any conversation, I think I can do it in 1hr 10mins. Any less than that and I'd be cutting corners (not routing the wiring as elegantly, for instance).
Beagles
Member
I'm currently around there for a wedding. Had I thought about it earlier, could have tried to find a time that might have worked for us both, never mind!
Skipton01
Admin Team
42mins for me - whilst having lunch on the Duxford social a few years back. No corners cut, cable routing all good, trim replacement accurate and included coding time. However I did have the loom pre-made.
sciroccorrado
A2OC Donor
No arguments from me about your attention to detail Tom
I'd far rather it was done right than in a record time.Kramretsimis
Member
Tim , I’m new to the group I have a 1.4 tdi 2005 I’m committed to having CC retrofitted, can you give me a cost with parts included, I live St Helens M/Side but I can travel to you if it’s reasonable distance, my email is
[email protected] thanks in advance.
timmus
A2OC Donor
HI Mark,
I've sent you a private message through A2OC rather than an email. You'll see at the top of your screen that you have a message waiting to be read.
Kind regards,
Tom
timmus
A2OC Donor
Hello folks,
Having spent the majority of Summer 2019 in Central Europe, upgrading A2s with almost every optional extra you can name, I returned to the UK believing I'd be here until 2020. However, an opportunity arose to spend a week in the Republic of Cyprus and the internationally unrecognised TRNC 'rogue state', which I couldn't turn down.
My unexpected week away was, though, book-ended by some A2 work. I did a cruise control retrofit not long before I departed and, having returned last night, I did various electrical repairs today. The satisfaction of upgrading and/or repairing A2s just never fades.
For those who've messaged me over the last week, please accept my apologies for the delay; I'll be replying to them all over the next few days.
Cheers,
Tom
Having spent the majority of Summer 2019 in Central Europe, upgrading A2s with almost every optional extra you can name, I returned to the UK believing I'd be here until 2020. However, an opportunity arose to spend a week in the Republic of Cyprus and the internationally unrecognised TRNC 'rogue state', which I couldn't turn down.
My unexpected week away was, though, book-ended by some A2 work. I did a cruise control retrofit not long before I departed and, having returned last night, I did various electrical repairs today. The satisfaction of upgrading and/or repairing A2s just never fades.
For those who've messaged me over the last week, please accept my apologies for the delay; I'll be replying to them all over the next few days.
Cheers,
Tom
Aidan62
Member
H Tom,
I was impatient to retrofit cruise control and so as soon as I had bought my car (and before I discovered the wisdom and services on this forum) I ordered a retrofit cruise control kit from Germany on eBay. It came with a column stalk branded as AutoMega - Quality autoparts by Dello and a short wiring loom. It cost around £45 delivered. I have not had time to fit it yet (or even work out what I need to do). Seeing your comments would you recommend bining it and buying a genuine stalk ? I guess I don't want to put it on and then have to replace it in 6 months.. I would rather fit and forget. I also notice that it is slightly different from the one you pictured. The "resume" is on the front switch and the push button is just "set". Pressing top or bottom of the end button (as in your picture) is probably easier to use.
Thanks
Aidan
I was impatient to retrofit cruise control and so as soon as I had bought my car (and before I discovered the wisdom and services on this forum) I ordered a retrofit cruise control kit from Germany on eBay. It came with a column stalk branded as AutoMega - Quality autoparts by Dello and a short wiring loom. It cost around £45 delivered. I have not had time to fit it yet (or even work out what I need to do). Seeing your comments would you recommend bining it and buying a genuine stalk ? I guess I don't want to put it on and then have to replace it in 6 months.. I would rather fit and forget. I also notice that it is slightly different from the one you pictured. The "resume" is on the front switch and the push button is just "set". Pressing top or bottom of the end button (as in your picture) is probably easier to use.
Thanks
Aidan
depronman
A2OC Donor
you have bought the earlier CC stalk, its OK but not as intuative to use as the latter rocker switch stalk
The loom will be for the LH drive car and as such will be about 3 foot too short
The stalk you have, you slide the slider outwards to set the CC speed or once set to speed up, the button on the end is pressed to slow down
I've used both types, and prefer the latter rocker button style, but the earlier one that you have worked OK as well
Paul
The loom will be for the LH drive car and as such will be about 3 foot too short
The stalk you have, you slide the slider outwards to set the CC speed or once set to speed up, the button on the end is pressed to slow down
I've used both types, and prefer the latter rocker button style, but the earlier one that you have worked OK as well
Paul
Aidan62
Member
Ah, OK. I'll need to attack the loom then! Sounds like this is not going to be a 30 min job. ?
The later style does sound to be an improvement... still anything is better than nothing. I drive 60 miles daily on (relatively quiet) motorways and after a month of A2 I am beginning to realise how much mental energy needs to go into managing speed. It will be good get get back to just pushing a button and letting the car do all that work...
Sounds like this is not going to be a 30 min job. ?The later style does sound to be an improvement... still anything is better than nothing. I drive 60 miles daily on (relatively quiet) motorways and after a month of A2 I am beginning to realise how much mental energy needs to go into managing speed. It will be good get get back to just pushing a button and letting the car do all that work...
The significant difference that I found between the Chinese cruise stalk copies and the Audi original was that the connection from the stalk buttons/switches to the body of the component was a thin plastic ribbon connector (which was already kinked on mine) in the copy, and a proper fabric-tape-wrapped cable in the Audi original. When it came to getting @timmus to fit cruise, I decided to go with the authentic stalk that he was able to supply and left my cheap one on the shelf. The loom I was able to buy was also about a foot too short so I'd have been splicing in an extension had I done the job myself - in the end as DIS was being fitted it made more sense to ask Tom to do both with his usual quality and attention levels. Several thousand easy motorway miles later it was well worth the investment.
sciroccorrado
A2OC Donor
A classic example of Buy cheap, buy twice there ....
Exactly. And also a bit of misplaced bravado on my part to begin with ; my first thought was "I've read on A2oc that Tom does these all the time, there are various tutorials and threads where people have managed this themselves, it's just a stalk and a bit of wiring, how difficult can it be?". I prevaricated on doing it myself because of having to remove the air-bag to fit it. Then a year later I saw Tom actually undertaking the process (as part of the DIS job) and I realised *exactly* how difficult it can be - to do it properly.
timmus
A2OC Donor
Hi Aidan,
If you have a look at my original post in this thread, you'll see that there are two photos. The first photo shows the 'new style' cruise control stalk, which is so much easier to use than the older type. Whenever I do a cruise control upgrade for fellow A2 owners, I always supply an Audi original of this stalk.
What you've purchased is not only of the older style, but it's also a cheap Chinese copy. Even the Audi original 'old style' stalk has reliability problems, so I'd not recommend fitting what you've bought. Only once have I been asked to retrofit a cheap third-party cruise control stalk, and within a few months I was asked to replace it with an original Audi stalk. In comparison to the wiper stalk on the other side of the steering column, you'll be able to feel the difference in quality. As Robin says above, he decided against fitting a third-party stalk once he assessed the difference in quality.
Should you decide that you'd like me to do the installation (with or without the supply of genuine Audi parts), you know where to find me.
Thank you for your kind words and vote of confidence.
Cheers,
Tom
Last edited:
Aidan62
Member
OK, thanks, Guys. I will consign that stalk to the dustbin of experience and I will see when I can get a Tom job done. TBH I fancy the idea of DIS so I may get two jobs done at once... That said it is not my immediate priority since my ABS light came on yesterday and VCDS says it is the front right sensor which is the one that I replaced about a fortnight ago (after I broke the original removing the wheel bearing). It was an eBay sensor so maybe there is another "buy cheap buy twice" - I had a quick look today and there is nothing visibly amiss. I will get myself a decent sensor and swap it in... winter is not the time to be driving without ABS!
It's not wasted - you could offer it to a BMW driver since most of them seem to be ordered without that option ticked!