dryadsdad

I'm new so weak on Audi nomenclature but I believe I have a 2018 A5 Cabrio Premium Plus that's either a B9 or an F57 or both. I haven't a clue what the two last alphanumerics mean - only that I've seen them used.

On our previous cabrio, a BMW, the wind deflector made a major improvement in the enjoyment of riding top down as we'd like to mostly do in our new for us Audi. However, the A5 car did not come with one. I purchased an eBay one that the seller said was OEM but it didn't come close to fitting. I ordered another eBay that we had to force in but the way it installed would have caused it to wear a hole in the left side bulkhead upholstery. The seller refunded my money and did not wish the item sent back so I have that now and no clue what to do with it.

Anyway, the car seems calm w/o a deflector. Do most cabrio owners use these? The OEM one and the aftermarket both worked the same. A horizontal component covered the entire rear compartment secured by four studs that should fit into four holes in the car. Attached to the front of this horizontal piece is a hinged screen that's the actual deflector. It hinges up to the vertical affording the wind deflection or so I suppose. This seems a clumsy way to get a blocking piece across the car blocking wind from passing back to front as the car moves.

If anybody has such an OEM deflector for sale, I'd like to buy it or can anyone suggest a deflector that will work with our car? We're empty nesters now so don't need the backseat.

Cabbie57

I only drive convertibles, and I never use a wind deflector. I just got a new A5 and the first thing I did is put the wind deflector in the basement w/o even opening it. Did the same on my previous BMW and Mercedes. I don't like how they look, I don't like looking through them in the rear view mirror, and I don't think they make all that much difference. I also don't use them for much the same reason I don't drive around with my windows up. If I was going to buy a convertible and then see how much I could reduce the wind in my hair I probably should have bought a vehicle with a metal roof to begin with.

AgMaple

That was helpful.

mashani9

If you are driving with the top down but windows up to keep the interior calm and sound levels lower, than my experience is that the biggest thing you will notice that is different with the deflector up in that scenario is some air blowing through the center column and below / around your seats and then whirling around there a bit. You feel the difference mostly on your legs, not your upper body. I don't feel that it reduces the sound levels or wind in your hair very much. I haven't bothered to re-install my deflector since I took it off as that doesn't bother me at all, it's not that big of a difference maker to me.

The OEM deflector works just like you are describing BTW. You insert it into the holes, press down so the hinges "lock", and then flip up or down the deflector. You can open and close the top with the deflector in place without it contacting the top however, I don't know why your 3rd party one would do that unless it wasn't snapped down all the way.

Cabbie57

He asked "do most cabrio owners use these?" I'm giving him a data point.

dryadsdad

I'll agree to the implied response that a wind deflector isn't mandatory as it has been on several convertibles we've owned. Our metric for this aspect of the car is if we can listen to the MMI and talk to each other both in reasonable volume levels. In the case of this car we can. I posted here curious if someone went from this to a wind deflector to get a report on any difference.

In our case, both of us, especially me, dislike driving top down windows up because it seems close to changing the cab into having a huge sun roof which to me isn't a cabrio at all but a coupe with a hole in it. Maybe over the time this thread exists on the front page, I'll hear from someone who, like it or not, uses one so I get an opinion. Barring that, maybe I'll hear from someone who'll sell me their OEM one. If not, no biggie.

BMWdud-e

We use ours most all the time. It definitely reduces wind noise, making conversation and music much more effective, and better still it keeps my wife's hair out of her eyes. It also keeps things from blowing around in the backseat . While we usually wear soft brimmed hats while we're driving with the top down, the wind will still whip her hair into her eyes without it. We've used it so much whatever the Locking mechanism is is now a bit worn, so if we hit high speeds (90mph+) or large headwinds at 70 it knocks itself down. AFA windows, if there's a strong crosswind the windward side window goes up, and they all do if it starts to drizzle. I've learned over the years to keep an eye on oncoming traffic to see if they have their windshield wipers on to know if it's time to pull over and put the top up. We shuttle between Texas and Florida quite often, both of which will have small showers that can be easily driven through with the top down and windows up with the wind deflector in place.
I barely notice the screen looking through the rear view mirror, and AFA looks I'm a form-follows-function guy, so couldn't give a ****.

dryadsdad

Thanks. Where did you get your deflector/blocker? The OEM one I looked up was about $900 which seems pretty steep to me. The aftermarket one doesn't fit correctly or at least the one I eBayed doesn't.

BMWdud-e

Ours came with the vehicle when we purchased it 4/23. 2018 S5 Prestige with 21k miles, had been a corporate lease its first 3 years with only 7k, then a CPO. It was like new. We've since put on 40k of our own.

dryadsdad

Oh, well. I was out of luck since ours didn't have one. I guess the search will go on.