wlmmn

Hi all,

I have an '05 Allroad with about 104K miles on it, and some parts of the interior are rough. I've done a search on trim and there's not a whole lot on the exact part I'm looking to replace, and a DIY posted a while back has all the images broken. I'll get right to the point:

1. Is it possible to polish out the deep scratches on the metal shift indicator? I took my car to an auto interior restoration specialist around here and he said he couldn't do anything for me.





2. If not, is #23 the correct part I need to get? There's a part of the diagram that doesn't seem like it would be a part of it, I circled it in red.




The link to the original page is here and it says the part number is 4B0798151H

3. If it's the correct part number, is there a DIY anywhere that covers how to take this out? I talked to a German car-only independent mechanic around here who said you have to take out the climate control and radio to get to it. He said he'd charge me two hours of labor (and quoted me $437 for the part itself)

4. OK, one last question: I found out my wood interior is Nut Brown by a handy-dandy diagram on these forums, but could you guys tell me what interior leather combo I have for when I eventually get around to replacing the door panels? the genuineaudiparts site says there's pearlnap leather and cricket leather but doesn't have a color guide. Here's the pic:




Thanks in advance!

Irish1004

I've used Mothers Brand "Mag and Aluminum Polish" on the aluminum exterior parts (door blades, skid plates etc.) with great results. You might want to test it out on the backside of the shifter plate or just go for it if you feel it's pretty much a write off.

As to the interior trim color look for a sticker in the spare tire well. It will have the following codes: Exterior color code, interior trim color code and installed option codes.

Google Audi trim codes or search the forum for the code descriptions.

wlmmn

Thanks for the tip on where to find those codes.

About the polish, I remember Mother's Mag polish coming up quite a few times during my search for "trim"....sounds like a good thing to have around for the outside aluminum trim, mine's looking pretty hazy/cloudy and could definitely use a polish. For the interior, though, I doubt it's going to be strong enough for the metal shifter indicator, as those scratches are pretty deep. I'm going to get some of that polish anyways and try it......I'll post pictures here to see what good it did. Hell, I might even try a dab on some of the wood trim pieces too.

If that doesn't get all the scratches out, though, I'm going to need to get a replacement part....do I have the right part number? Lots of money for it, but I'm tired of looking down on all those scratches. I'm not too confident that shokan would have that part out of a junked Audi that would be cosmetically perfect, which is what I'm looking for. I'm picky about interiors.

JustMtnB44

There is a thread somewhere about removing that trim piece and sanding out the scratches with fine grit sandpaper. You can then either leave it as a brushed finish and clearcoat it, or polish it back up again.

Irish1004

If you aren't able to polish out the scratches there is a place that sells used parts on ebay and the Internet and posts pictures of the actual part. They're called Wolf Auto Parts and are located in Waverly/Montrose Minnesota.

wlmmn

Well, I went out and got some Mother's mag polish and 7 different grades of sandpaper. After a good two hours of taping, sandpaper scrubbing, mag polishing, and then two coats of clear lacquer, all I got is a dull and still kinda scratchy finish:




Not quite what I was hoping for. Thanks for the wolf auto parts link; I checked their catalog and they don't have that shifter indicator. I got a bit excited when I saw they had a headlamp switch until I saw it was in the same rough condition mine's in, too.

Trying to find cosmetically perfect used/junkyard pieces seems almost impossible. I think I'm going to have to order a brand new part.

At least the search I did came up with nothing, except for an old DIY with all the image links broken. Would you mind showing me where the DIY you're talking about is?

I might just have to drive the Audi to a dealer sometime and verify that that's the correct part number for that part.

smooth 1

You would be better off buying an aftermarket laminate trim package. Usually you can find them on any website. They offer every color, wood, or metal finish you could think of.

PaperToast

i know a few folks over on quattroworld that restored their shifter plates with good results
it is fairly thick aluminum and can take the sanding

what you need to do is sand it with 3000-3500 grit wet sandpaper and then take some polishing compound to it
that should bring back most of the shiny

wlmmn

Maybe that's my problem, I stopped at 600 grit.

PaperToast

yea prolly

go get a wet sandpaper set that goes from 1000 to 3000-3500 grit.
could try the auto parts stores or an auto paint place.

nice to see a another local allroader