Anyone replaced S3 lower door trim? Question about colour/painting

[comdw]

My car needs new lower door plastic trims as the old ones were starting to come away towards the rear. I got these from the local stealer (about £80 each, rip off) and was disappointed to find them light grey in colour, instead of the glossy dark grey ones I'd taken off the car. Confirmed with the parts guy that they just came with primer on and had to be painted.

Now in the meantime my car has gone into the (audi) bodyshop for another job. I asked them to paint the new door trims for me, but they've said that the light grey IS the original colour and they don't need to be painted. It doesn't seem right to me - as well as the clear difference in colour, the new ones have a kind of matt texture wheras the old ones are very smooth.

Can anyone who has had to replace these shed any light on this?

 

[jcs356]

I was looking to replace or touch up one of mine which got scuffed in a car park. I asked if it was possible to buy touch up and was told they were pre-painted in the factory and the paint wasn't available separately from Audi. All they could suggest was for me to contact a bodyshop to see if I could get some plastic paint mixed up to match.

 

[comdw]

That's not promising then. I don't think they will look too hot on my black S3, especially with the rear quarter part not matching. I'll have to replace these also or get them all re-sprayed - maybe black!

 

[jojo]

New Side trim fitted straight out the box onto my S3, item is listed as primered on Audi database, but I can assure you it's just standard grey plastic colour with no primer and OE colour which matches the car.

Previously.

 

[god_thats_quick]

I fitted a new one a few weekends ago, as mine was starting to annoy me like jojo's, I ended up having to drill the old screws out. The new part does come painted but on my car it seems a lot lighter (I think you can just about see a difference in the pic jojo has posted) than the rear section on the same side. It might be made more obvious because my car is yellow though. I'm giving it a few weeks before I decide if it's worth replacing the rear section too.

 

[jojo]

I think it's just a case of one being new and the other being a bit used after 6-7 years of use on the car when I fitted mine, maybe some plastic colour restorer will do the trick of matching things up, it's certainly not that noticeable on my car IRL.

 

[comdw]

Hmm, it still looks too light in colour to me (the same colour that any 'black' trim on my old Clio used to turn over time) - my old ones are much darker and have a smoother texture.

Guess I'll just have to try and get used to it, and will almost certainly need to change the rear bits as well. Anyone know how easy these are to remove and how much at the stealers?

 

[mrj0ey]

I did this a few months back. The colour is just a primer out of the box. They need to be painted.

Audi said they could do it for £250, thats the new one plus the old ones as the colour would be slightly different. plus the rear bumper insert, and front grill insert.

I bought a can of holts bumper spry in dark grey (almost exact match) and did the lot mysleft for £10. Looks exactly the same as standard. takes a while to get the things off and paint them but saves you packet.

The colour form audi is definitely just a primer though, need to be painted.

 

[jcs356]

Ah, might give Holts bumper spray in dark grey a try to touch mine up.

 

[god_thats_quick]

Thought I should take a pic to show what the diffence looks like on my car (which granted has had a hard life):

(and yes I know it needs a wash)

 

[jojo]

That's quite noticeable on your car GTQ, mine is nowhere near that difference in colour.

 

[sitrials]

i had the same problem so i just sprayed all my lower trims satin black bumpers and lower door trims