larryV

The pre-marked lines that already came with the panel appears to be slightly different between Mark P's S-line and my SQ5. His looks fairly straight on all edges, while the pre-marked line on my panel is ****-eyed, at least the top-most edge one. So I just ignored them and made my own new lines with a sharpie. I simply measured the width of the hitch, and using the left and right edges of the entire panel as a reference, made my own lines centered on the panel to accommodate the exact width of the hitch. I made the initial rough cut just inside my lines with a dremel wheel, and widened it later when doing the finishing with a burr, using blue painters tape over the original lines that I made as visual aid to help me keep things straight and smooth. The horizontal cuts were just "eyeballed" and I later refined them with the burr.

JoeMM18018

I ordered the trailer hitch on my Q5. Thanks to all members on this forum, I asked the dealer to request the hitch panel be sent with the car. When I stopped yesterday to look at the car the dealer showed me the panel. When I get time, I will be trimming and reinstalling.
Thanks guys.

sarchib

Larry, thank-you very much. I really appreciate the detailed explanation. Stuart

JaXeN

Wow, they're not joking when they say "clean diesel"... Look at those shiny exhaust tips and internals!

Mark P

Ha, thanks, that's at about 4300 miles and never having cleaned the tips

Redd

Nicely done, Mark. Do you make house calls? <G>

I was surprised that the dealer didn't follow the installation instructions, which call for modifying the valance ("diffuser") panel. Or that Audi didn't ship a precut one in the kit, considering that mechanics aren't machinists.

I was thinking about looking for a spare panel from a junkyard, just in case I wasn't happy with a DIY cutout on that. I'll need electrical access, so the hole will be bigger on mine.

Coolieman1220

So do you have to cut off the electrical connector tab to fit the cover with the smaller cut? I'm not to keen on cutting the tab. is there any other way around this?

tenspeed

Nice job, looks good!

When I cut a panel like that, I drill four large holes. One in each corner to have a rounded corner. You can use a uni-bit or a counter sink.

I then cut the straight line between the holes with a razor knife. The first few passes, I press a flexible six in metal ruler along the line to act as a guide. I also use some black plastic door edging to finish the job.

Redd

Coolie-
If you are good at fabrication, one option would be to cut the main opening for the hitch receiver, and then very carefully cut a "door" over the electrical connector. Clean cuts, no mistakes, and you would be able to hinge it and add a small catch (or Velcro strip) to keep it close when you didn't need to be plugged in.

I'm surprised Audi doesn't sell a replacement diffuse panel (or supply one when the hitch is installed) that is precut, with a panel or door for the electric, and only needs some paint. Maybe we can get one of the guys making mud guards in China to run some off if Audi can't grasp the concept.

Mark P

The tab would hit the cover, so either cut off the tab, cut a hole in cover, or relocate the elec connector. I considered bending the metal tab, but couldn't get suooprt to do so and my guess was the weld would break first and I didnt want to deal with that. I grabbed the elec cover as if it didnt have a tab and felt comfortable with that as a result so I just cut it off. You could also add a new tab in a different location. Since I'll rarely be uding the elec connector, I was happy with my result and the minimal effort put in