Project update...
1) Interior colour changed to all black
2) Original Alcantara for seats (just like OE Alcantara seats), parts of door pads and fake wood trim on dash board
3) 10 channel 600W Dynaudio premium DSP sound system with OE wiring harness (plus 2 subs = total 12 channels)
4) Pioneer mono block for subs replaced with Focal amp
5) Foot well lighting front & rear
6) Direct TPMS for individual tyre pressure monitoring
7) VW MK7 Golf GTI gear knob (golf ball shaped)
8) Steering wheel wrapped with perforated leather and Alcantara
Yeti has crossed 5 years. And right now it feels brand new with the complete transformation of interior, including the change in gear knob and mods on steering wheel. It looks different, it feels different and I'm loving every bit of it especially because I am a fan of all black interior. Yeti feels more premium and truly sporty inside out with this upgrade. Alcantara fakes were available all around the Globe but original Alcantara was hard to find. After quite some searching, found some left over roll in a garage in LA after they did interior of some Ferrari. I sourced Alcantara material with the help of my brother. Upholstery work for converting to Alcantara and black leather for seats, parts of dashboard and door pads - outsourced by Color Glo. If you contact Anish at Color Glo, he will guide you for getting the upholstery work done. Top and bottom part of steering wheel, side part of the door pads (where it was leather earlier, except the hand resting area), fake wood trim on dash board and seat front areas covered with Alcantara. It feels good to hold the wheel now. Alcantara feels quite good to touch and looks very classy. Another plus point is, since Alcantara is synthetic, you don't have to worry about it getting damaged like leather. Another favourite upgrade on the interior is the MK7 Golf GTI golf ball gear knob.. Its just too good and a perfect add on for the all black interior.
Thanks to Color Glo, Kochi for transforming the interior. A hard working team of professionals. Very friendly and helpful guys there. Was there for a week to complete all work as I myself had some DIY work going on in parallel and was fun working with them. Gave me a replacement car for use for the whole week. Was pleasantly surprised with their hospitality. Premium car authorised service centres haven't offered me that level of service. The seat upholstery is not up to the factory perfect finishing but still they have done a good job. Will be uploading pics soon and you can see for yourself the quality of work. Guys knew what level of perfection I expected and they admitted it wasn't up to their own satisfaction. I was happy with their work anyways. Only when you compare factory stitching and fitting side to side, it will be evident, if you observe closely. Since its all black including stitching, its not so evident. So I told them not to worry about it and that they have done a good job. One thing is true that it is almost impossible to find factory perfect work overall. There might be people with expertise in some areas of work but the complete job at factory level perfection is next to impossible to find. It takes not only very skilled and competent people, but a perfect combination of the right tools, garage equipment, time, patience, right spares and a garage which is not busy with too much work, to achieve anywhere close to factory quality of work. That is why, as much as possible, I prefer OE retrofits. Kind of helps preserve the factory finish and quality of the car. So mods outside OE are kept to bare minimum.
Thanks to the audio installation team at Auto tree, Kochi. I had taken their help to do some final bits of wiring in the audio installation and to install all 10 speakers in the 4 doors. Installed the mid range drivers in the dedicated location on the front doors (there is a recess on the metal panel behind door pad where the midrange driver should be fitted. Another set of very friendly and professional guys there and was fun working with this team too. Bought the Focal amp from them.
New sound system has taken the listening experience to a new level with 10 high quality drivers from Dynaudio and 2 subs from JL audio all actively crossed over from 2 amps (10 channel OE amp for Dynaudio system and Focal amp for subs). Being in the rock band throughout school n college, every note played on every instrument matters to me and now I can listen to the strumming of guitar in its true clarity thanks to the mid range drivers n tweeters, and every note played on the bass guitar is clear even in low volume thanks to the Dynaudio woofers and JL audio subs all handling separate range of lows without overlapping but producing the entire range of frequencies without losing out on any part of the music. Its like being in the studio no matter what you are listening to, Rock, Pop, Hip hop, Classical or any genre. Pump up the volume and it feels like being in a live concert. And those Dynaudio drivers can handle good power. Clean, crisp and deep at low volume as well as when maxed out. Sound upgrade Nirvana achieved! I had upgraded my F30 sound system to Bavsound stage 1 with new under seat Ghost subs and Bimmertech match DSP amp. In comparison, Dynaudio sounds better. But Bavsound is still in breaking in period and it is starting to sound better day by day. Lot of tuning options too in the match amp to get that correct audio quality you need. Dynaudio does not give you much control over the DSP but it already sounds tuned to perfection. I don't feel the need to tune it. Both cars audio upgrade has made a good improvement over the earlier setup.
Thanks to Bal tyres, Calicut for Direct TPMS individual tyre sensor installation. TPMS antenna wiring and installation was DIY. Measured values with VCDS and all individual tyre pressures are transmitted and received correctly. System working good. But there is a component security issue it seems (needs deeper digging to be sure), due to which I am not getting the individual tyre pressure displayed on MFD. That part of coding/adaptation is yet to be done, or it could even be that the cluster needs an upgrade. Didn't get time for much fault finding as I've been busy with retrofits and DIYs on F30 too. Have done several upgrades and retrofits on F30 this vacation just the way I have done on Yeti. More on that later.
Foot well lighting wiring and coding was also DIY. I guess the wiring kit was for VW Golf due to which the connectors for under seat lights are a little short in length. Hence haven't connected the lights. Tried out and kept it removed. Need to extend the cables a bit and will hook up the foot well lights.
Here are some clicks. I guess it is safer to put these mobile clicked pics rather than put up good quality pics and get accused of putting up manufacturer pics and doing marketing for the component makers of whatever upgrades I did.
What nonsense! Fact is, with so much work going on with 2 cars together, did not have the patience to sit with camera and click every stage. That's why just random mobile clicks for now.
Alcantara on front seats. All panels black now except for light grey interior trim on the upper part. Note the steering wheel wrapped with Alcantara and perforated leather. Also, the fake wood trim covered in Alcantara.
Note the Golf MK7 GTI gear knob
Rear seats with Alcantara
10 channel DSP Amp for Dynaudio system in its dedicated location during the installation with its OE base and cover (under front passenger seat, it even has dedicated bolting arrangements in the location. Just bolt on). The wire seen here is for the foot well lighting
Mid range fitted in the dedicated location. Dynaudio does not come for Skoda Yeti, hence mid range driver had to be cut out from the casing which was together with the front woofer
Note the recess on the door for the mid range driver
Dynaudio woofer fitted on rear door
Alcantara on door pads and you can see the extra grill for the mid range
Except for TPMS installation, all other upgrades on the inside this time. RDKS antenna is near the rear axle.