Armrest Lid - Repair ?

[JohnboyC]

My armrest lid front catch has broken....and as its a black leather topped Armrest its £65.00 just for the lid at my local Audi Dealer....

I was wondering if the leather top bit of the lid can actually be taken off, and refitted to another good lid .....the reason I ask is that 2nd hand "black cloth" lids seem to go on e-bay for about £20 to £30 as leather topped lids hardly ever appea on e-bay , if I bought a cloth topped lid, could I simply replace the cloth top of the lid with my leather one (maybe with the help of some some araldite)....

OR should I stop being a tight ar$e and go and just buy a lid from Audi ....

 

[pjmspeedy]

For the time it's going to take in getting your leather off without damaging it and then the time in fixing it to the cloth one you might as just go to the dealer. If you do the swap it may not turn out that great after all and you would have just ruined the cloth one too! Seems a lot of effort to save £30 notes.... so like you said "stop being a tight ar$e"

 

[way318]

Same thing has happened to mine last week.

I thought that it might of been possible to just change the front catch, may be not.

 

[mattyboyc]

Same thing has happened to mine last week.

I thought that it might of been possible to just change the front, may be not.

Yep mines broke too

 

[JohnboyC]

Its not possible to repair the lid.....its a new lid time.....

Top tip is not to allow the lid to drop closed, but to gently lower it shut....in that way the completely crap design does not get "stressed" by the shock closure

 

[mattyboyc]

 

[way318]

Think I'll leave it for now, as it not a major issue, plus I don't really use it to store anything in.

 

[quattrojames]

John why not buy a new one this time, and try and take your broken leather lid off. If thats a success then you could buy a cheap fabric lid and try it, and then keep it as a spare, or sell it on. I'm sure you would have no problems selling a black leather lid!

 

[JohnboyC]

Yes James....think I will do that - good idea....:icon_thumright:

 

[rjm180]

If i get a new lid from Audi, are these lids easy to change? The front latch/catch on mine has broken.

 

[VagCabby]

I beg to differ about it not being possible to fix the catch. When I bought my cab a year ago mine was also broken so I set about fixing it. I went to my local scrappy and looked for an a4 but they didn't have any but I did find an a8 with a very tatty arm rest with the catch in tact. I took just the catch from the a8, the a8 catch was wider than the a4 one so I have to do abit of trimming but I fitted it in the and and it works as it should do and has lasted me 9 months so far with no issues. The lid of the on the arm rest comes off by pulling it when open and slightly wiggling it. The leather/fabric parts of the armrest are simply glued in 6 places to the actual plastic lid so it is also possible to just swap these parts over. It's simple Enoch to remove if you lever it gently off with a knife type object. Hope this helps

 

[666markyboy]

fixed mine with 2 small strips of velcro and superglue lol

 

[666markyboy]

or you could use a small magnet and a strip of steel...... plenty of other ways other than fixing the origional clip

 

[crazy88]

Mine is velcro'd on too. It's hard to open, but we never used it anyway, the velcro just stops it flopping about.

 

[Neilb1]

Both the hindges are broken in mine so I will need a new lid from somewere

 

[crazy88]

Mine too, which is why it's Velcro'd on. I couldn't be bothered trying to fix both the catch and hinges. Maybe one day I'll look at fixing it or keep an eye out for a bargain, but for now the velcro works well as I love it being an arm rest, but not so bothered about it being a storage place.

 

[ScottD3]

Is the leather/cloth section of the arm rest screwed on to the lid?


EDIT:=- Ignore that. They are on the B5 but not on the B6s.

 

[Neilb1]

No glued

 

[JasonS]

I replaced the broken clip on mine with a plastic magnetic clasp (sprayed satin black).

 

[simon.m]

i did mine with 2 of these picked them up from range for a cupple of pounds and put one ether side works just as well as the clip did

10 x MAGNETIC CUPBOARD DOOR CATCH Magnet Holder Latch | eBay

 

[AudidriverA4]

i did mine with 2 of these picked them up from range for a cupple of pounds and put one ether side works just as well as the clip did

10 x MAGNETIC CUPBOARD DOOR CATCH Magnet Holder Latch | eBay

Any pic's of them fitted Simon?

 

[Funkyfin2000]

Might do Velcro on mine!

 

[southylad]

Mine is broken aswell was thinking along same lines Velcro or magnet catch when I get round to it

 

[T0m]

RJM180 - The lids are am easy to remove open it fully you'll see the two curved legs that fit into the base just squeeze them together, noting you'll have to use some force and they'll pop out and the lid should be free!!

 

[rjm180]

TOm, thanks. Next time I get 10 mins I'll give it a go. Cheers mate.

 

[simon.m]

Any pic's of them fitted Simon?

will get a pic tomoz

 

[MattS5]

Great stuff, will be good to see a tidy fix for this problem.
I've broken 2 now in 5 years, the last lid cost £30 but Audi seem to have increased the price over the last 3 years and now want £90 for the part.
Ouch.

 

[simon.m]

here is what i did to mine works very well

 

[AudidriverA4]

Cheers Simon

Least I know where to fit them now :thumbsup:

 

[MattS5]

Looks a good solution, just need to cut my drinks holder to allow space to recess them.
Did you screw them in and just glue the metal strip to the lid?

 

[simon.m]

screwed both mate the screws that come with them are small and as i did the lid ones i just did them slow so i could fill if they was going to pop though the cloth but you cant evan tell they are there

 

[MattS5]

Great stuff, will be good to see a tidy fix for this problem.
I've broken 2 now in 5 years, the last lid cost £30 but Audi seem to have increased the price over the last 3 years and now want £90 for the part.
Ouch.

I've just dug out the receipt, it was actually £60, not £30, so just a 50% price increase, not a 200%.......still a ****** rip off.

The black leather part no. is A8E0 864 245 M8 6R If anyone needs it.

 

[sunnyyy]

I just bought at Audi A4 B6 Mittelarmlehne/Armrest lid Standart pur by worldleader on Shapeways (Shapeways - Make, buy, and sell products with 3D Printing) a repair lid for 12€ plus transport, and it fits perfect.

 

[Ajwiggy]

Heres my effort, total cost £free, I had an old mag cupboard catch knokin around in a draw

 

[SmoothAssault]

That's a very tidy looking fix! Nice job!

 

[crazyjay91]

Thanks for this chaps! I ordered two black ones from ebay and fitted them at the weekend.. First time I've ever been able to put my armrest up without emptying the contents into the back of my car!!

p.s. for anyone fitting them, drill a couple pillot holes first!

 

[Gudwin]

Why not to try fix this got them latch? ordered mine on ebay only for 3 pounds.... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/391126719269?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
Dont know yet how ill be changing it but i think its worth it more than cutting something or drilling unneeded holes in cars

 

[Mike.M]

These mods were done as these parts were not available 5 years ago when the thread started.

These days you can buy complete chinese replica lids for about £15 and a pretty good also.

 

[leegsi]

How does it all go together and where can you get a spring?

 

[mattyboyc]

I was given one of those cheap £15 Chinese lids and it didn't fit, the curved hinges were too short and the lugs for the holes were in a completely different location.