Rear towing point cover

[chinnyhill10]

Hi,

The rear towing point cover appears to have vanished from my A3 (Dolphin Grey). Any ideas how to replace it?

Cheers.

 

[Ice Kay]

eBay ? Dealer ?

 

[chinnyhill10]

Have emailed Stoke Audi and also an Ebay seller. Kind of hoped someone might know where to buy one off the shelf in the right colour. Expect I'll end up spraying :-(

 

[mike foster]

You can't buy this part in any other colour except primer !

 

[chinnyhill10]

Yep, just found this out :-(

Dealer wants 35 quid to spray it. Have enquired at a local body shop as I have a scratch I want dealing with so may be best to get both done at the same time.

 

[mike foster]

Yep, just found this out :-(

Dealer wants 35 quid to spray it. Have enquired at a local body shop as I have a scratch I want dealing with so may be best to get both done at the same time.

Presumably the £35 is to provide a new one and also spray it ?

 

[chinnyhill10]

Hah! If only!

20 quid for the part. 35 quid extra if I want it sprayed. They did point out that their body shop is "off-site". Which translated means its an indie somewhere. So might as well cut out their markup.

 

[mike foster]

Hah! If only!

20 quid for the part. 35 quid extra if I want it sprayed.

****** hell ! I suppose it will need baking but that seems ridiculous !

Your body shop will probably do it for (next to) nothing if they have mixed the paint for something else.

However, it is plastic, so maybe the process is much more complicated ?

 

[chinnyhill10]

I imagine the Audi pricing is down to the fact they don't have their own bodyshop. So they will pay a trade price and then add the usual markup.

Years ago I went to school with a kid who's Dad owned a bodyshop and he did alot of work for the local Vauxhall dealership. The dealership didn't have their own body shop so just sent everything down the road. He often had brand spanking new cars in to be repaired because someone at the dealership had pranged them.

 

[chinnyhill10]

All replaced. Had the part sprayed while some other work was done so it was 100 quid in total for the paint. Was told the 35 quid price from Audi was about right by 2 local bodyshops.

I've just fitted the part and cable tied it on. There are holes to do this on the part itself and inside the hole.

I suggest everyone gets a long thin cable tie and just hooks theirs up. The part has a hole at the bottom and there is a hole on the left hand side of the hole where it goes which fits beautifully. Ensure the tie doesn't snag in any of the plastic pegs and snip any excess plastic from the tie.

It's the easiest and cheapest "mod" you can make to your A3 this weekend. It won't make your car go faster but it'll save you about 50 quid + hassle if the worst should happen.