Dash buttons wear

[MintyS3]

I noticed the other day that one of my buttons is showing signs of wear.

My temperature control - button is showing some white so I guess the buttons are actually white and painted grey.

Anyone else have wear? Im a little annoyed with only 28k miles of use.

Can you buy the buttons seperately? or is it the usual Audi thing or whole control unit?

 

[mattyboy199]

think you need a whole new unit. I bought some matt black touch up paint. Works well but not quite the same.

 

[alijames]

I used a permanent Black CD/OHP pen. Looks fine during the day, but the red shows through a bit at night...

Cheers,

 

[leshkin]

I did the same on the 'minus' for temp control on the climate unit. Try adding more layers of marker once the first has dried up. I managed to get mine pretty close to perfect coverage, but on close inspection you still can see it.

The only other 100% option I know of (short of replacing the whole unit) is to take the buttons from another climate control unit from breakers... finding one that has buttons intact is near to impossible though as they are very easily scratched.

It's a shame that such a high quality car has this flimsy finish on the buttons.

 

[1animal1]

i went to halfrauds and bought a small pot of plastic matt/satin paint, a nice thin artist brush and you cant tell unless you knowe its there!! other option was to employ one of these mobile dooods but didnt get around to it in the end....

 

[bl_1969]

Hi leshkin/All,

Any CD pen will do? I have the same issue and it annoys me something chronic!

Cheers

 

[1animal1]

it will but paint will last longer and guarantee that the light dioesnt shine through, you just need to possess some balls to knuckle down and do it

 

[bl_1969]

Gonna grow myself some tomorrow and do it on Saturday then

No Halfords in Czech, well, tell a lie... the closest is a two hour drive up in Prague. Will go down the CD pen route first of all me thinks.

Cheers Mucka's!

 

[clcollins]

I've bought some of this stuff, not used it yet, should be good for the plain surfaces, not sure how to use it on buttons with symbols though.

http://www.plastidip.com/home_solutions/Plasti_Dip

 

[WildBruce]

There must be a way to get the buttons new, it is common enough that they would have to be replaced. The one that looks bad for me is where you turn the lights on. I was considering just scratching all the paint off, so the whole thing glows red, but had second thoughts

 

[1animal1]

no way that anyones found apart from stripping another unit which is a total **** of a job

 

[jojo]

I guess we are talking about facelift dashboards right? I don't have any button wear problems on my CC buttons.

 

[1animal1]

cheers for your input jojo

 

[leshkin]

At least there is something good about the pre-facelift cars

 

[1animal1]

yup and they have 22000mm gudgeon pins mate.....

 

[Essflee]

There big pins

 

[1animal1]

you better believe it

 

[Essflee]

Ha ha ha...always the trump card hey...

 

[1animal1]

you know it...and thats why you shouldnt engage in any pre versus post action...cos you WILL get shot down boyo

 

[Dani_B19]

So does that mean that the pre s3's have a stronger internal set up than the post s3's?

 

[jojo]

So does that mean that the pre s3's have a stronger internal set up than the post s3's?

100% YES!









But you can't buy a frikin silicon TIP off the shelf for it!

 

[Dani_B19]

So what bhp and torque can they handle?
Well join my group buy!!!!!!!!

 

[henners]

Just seen on ebay an 'AUDI A4 S4 CLIMATE AIR CON CONTROL PANEL *NEW 8D0820043' for £30, looks just like the one in my S3 (although sadly I don't have heated seatshttp://www.audi-sport.net/vb/images/smilies/unhappy.gif)

If this part number is for the front panel only, does that mean I could be able to replace only the front panel on mine??

If so, anyone got any idea how I'd find out the relevant part number?

I would be ecstatic if I could fix this!

 

[leshkin]

It's for a A4, so wouldn't fit a narrower dash of A/S3 unfortunately

 

[henners]

yeh thanks, I just thought that maybe if it was possible to get the front panel only for an A4, it might be possible to get the equivalent for an A/S3? Don't want to fork out the hundreds of pounds for a full replacement unit!

 

[leshkin]

These are very rare. If they are the same size, it might be possible to swap buttons over from the A4 controller, but it would involve dismantling it quite a bit. Not sure if it's worth the effort though, as felt tip pen trick worked pretty well for me... Cost/effort against benefit is what matters at the end of the day.

 

[SWAMP DONKEY]

If you were to go down the route of replacing the unit, where would be the best place to get them?

 

[1animal1]

dealer

 

[<tuffty/>]

I've bought some of this stuff, not used it yet, should be good for the plain surfaces, not sure how to use it on buttons with symbols though.

http://www.plastidip.com/home_solutions/Plasti_Dip

I have ordered some of this now... Supposed to be a rubber feel matt black finish... I have a few plans involving the fitting of a Liquid gauge and the aftermarket stereo fitting kit in mind atm... will look into using it on a couple of wear patchs I have on my centre console too. I'll let you know how I get on..

<tuffty/>

 

[Maz]

Try www.nirro.co.uk (VW/Audi Breakers in East London)

I picked up a 2nd hand facelift climate control unit from them in mint condition for £120. Audi want just under £500 for a brand new unit...