JohnHa

I hope this may be of some help to others seraching on battery drain. My 2005 A3 battery went flat so, after recharging it, I decided to measure the current when (I thought) everything was OFF. I got a reading of about 1 Amp. Strangely the reading was about 3 Amps when the battery was flat. First, I had forgotten to ensure all the doors were closed to ensure the courtesy light was OFF. Second, it took about 30 seconds for the initially high reading to fall to a few tens of milliamps. I reasoned it must be something to do with the alarm ...

I bought one of these Hatchback Car Boot Sound Proofing Bundle from www.deadening.co.uk for £79.99 and installed it. It made a huge difference. It was very easy to do. I removed the trim at the back (where the tailgate lock goes) by pulling it up. I removed the two side trims (two screws along the top edge plus two clips - it just pulls out (though you need to unscrew the trim panel screw near the seat belt exit to get access to the second screw). I laid the butyl on the floor, in the wheel well, over the wheel arches and then used up the scraps wherever it seemed sensible. I added the foam below the parcel shelf, under the carpet covering the wheel well and used the rest on the inside of the trims (I did not cover in front of the speaker). I put back the trims and all was done. The car is now much quieter, quieter even than when I had filled the boot with sponge cushions. I would definitely recommend doing it.

Tony I did some Googling with searches like audi carpet, audi trim etc and came across lots of posts and videos. I then found Socket Socket's youtube videos where he has 41 videos showing in great detail how he stripped the carpets and trim and doors; and how he applied sound proofing to his BMW. There are two videos showing how effective it was and it was magic. I haven't watched all the videos yet. It took him a long time - I am sure he said 6 days to lay the stuff in the cabin (number 35). It looks like he used Car Builders Sound Deadening glued direct to the metal, in some cases doubling it, in others laying four layers. He then applied mass loaded vinyl of two thicknesses (number 37) and? or? foam acoustic liner (number 34). Car Builders is an Oz company. Removing the Audi front seats seems dead easy - I saw videos Audi TT Interior Teardown and MK1 Audi TT: Remove The Carpet which showed exactly how. I doubt the A3 is much different.

Tony I have just done some tests on my recently purchased 2005 A3 Sportback 1.9TDI. My previous car was a high end Vauxhall Omega which was very quiet and I was quite surprised to find out how noisy the Audi is. As a quality car I had expected it to be far better soundproofed. The main problem I find is I cannot hear the radio unless it is set unreasonably high. I have some thick foam cushions for wheelchair users and I distributed them over the boot floor and in the footwells in front of the rear and passenger seats. The difference was amazing! Suddenly the car radio was easy to listen to and the whole car sounded much quieter and more luxurious. I concluded it was road noise coming up from the floor which is the main problem. After adding it the engine noise did not intrude so it does not seem to be noise from the engine bay. I had come to the forum to see if anyone had fitted soundproofing mats and to see what they had used, how difficult it was to lift the carpets, how effective it was reducing noise and whether it made a mess of the interior because the carpets no longer fitted properly. I need to do that search ... A web search of car soundproofing found sites like How to Quiet Road Noise in a Car in 4 Simple Steps which recommended Dynamat (best, expensive) and the cheaper FatMat. Both are fairly thin with a self adhesive side and you roll them onto the metal as in this video. I will be very interested in anything you discover.

Thanks. The dashbard is an alternative in which case I guess taking power from the cigarette lighter might be best. However, I find that when I plug a USB adapter into the cigarette lighter I keep knocking it with my hand when changing gear or reaching for the handbreak 😞. I could run 12V from the lighter and put the 12V to 5V converter near the hands free device. I thought of getting the 12V from the internal light and running the USB cable along the top of the windscreen. Another route might be to pick up the 12V from the light switch to the drivers door and run the cable up the doorway pillar. Mine doesn't have the "light switched on when the vanity mirror cover is opened" or it would be simple. I'll have anther poke around ...

I did a search but couldn't find any suggestion. I would like to fit a bluetooth hands free kit for my phone such as a Jabra Freeway in-car speakerphone. Has anyone any good ideas for picking up 12V, converting it to a 5V USB supply and running the cable to the driver's sun visor, all unobtrusively? Or are there better solutions? I found Bluetooth Alternative? but it seems to involve quite a bit of work! Many thanks.