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According to my dealer, if a car has the towing package, the running boards can be installed by the dealership but it voids the warranty. Something about weight and balance.
I installed Romik running boards this past Sat afternoon. Took 4+ hours doing it laying down with minimal cutting of the plastic covers (easily done with kitchen scissors). Passenger side took 3 hours as I had to read and watch some of the videos to get idea. Driver side was a quick 1 hour.
The boards actually don't stick out too far (mine is flushed to the bracket). Also added a strip of 3M tread tape along the edge.
I would live with it for awhile. It doesn’t sit high. Kids will get used to it
^^^This. It sits low and kids will learn to climb in. Our kids were 5 when they learned how to climb into our 2007 Q7 which was considerably higher. Running boards just get your pants dirty and bruise your ankles. And IMO, they are ugly and ruin the clean lines of the Q7.
Last edited by Paul3.2A4avant; 06-18-2018 at 01:40 PM.
According to my dealer, if a car has the towing package, the running boards can be installed by the dealership but it voids the warranty. Something about weight and balance.
We asked. We opted not to go for it.
My car came with the running boards installed from factory and the dealer did the OEM towing package installation for me. Warranty is in full force... not voided. The running boards make it much easier for kids/elderly to step-in/out of the vehicle... and if you have the air-suspension and you can even set the car to a lower stance for additional convenience.
My car came with the running boards installed from factory and the dealer did the OEM towing package installation for me. Warranty is in full force... not voided. The running boards make it much easier for kids/elderly to step-in/out of the vehicle... and if you have the air-suspension and you can even set the car to a lower stance for additional convenience.
I did the same, running boards factory, hitch at the dealer. The issue is more or less a marketing/costing issue. The tow weight is listed at 7700 lbs. By installing both the running boards and the tow hitch, it decreases the total weight the vehicle can tow since the weight of the car increased. While it does not drop by much, Audi would have to re-certify it; and apparently that is not something they want to do. As it was explained to me by the dealer tech, the tow hitch is a square steel bar that replaced an aluminum square bar (standard equipment). There is no additional drilling involved as it is a simple replacement with a beefier part. However, to get to it, they have to tear apart the back end, reassemble, then re-calibrate all the rear sensors. If you are towing close to the limit of 7700 lbs, then yes, adding the running boards could cause problems, but for most, its a non-issue.
I did the same, running boards factory, hitch at the dealer. The issue is more or less a marketing/costing issue. The tow weight is listed at 7700 lbs. By installing both the running boards and the tow hitch, it decreases the total weight the vehicle can tow since the weight of the car increased. While it does not drop by much, Audi would have to re-certify it; and apparently that is not something they want to do. As it was explained to me by the dealer tech, the tow hitch is a square steel bar that replaced an aluminum square bar (standard equipment). There is no additional drilling involved as it is a simple replacement with a beefier part. However, to get to it, they have to tear apart the back end, reassemble, then re-calibrate all the rear sensors. If you are towing close to the limit of 7700 lbs, then yes, adding the running boards could cause problems, but for most, its a non-issue.
Steve
I just don't understand the "recertify" part of things. If they do it at the factory, they know the weight of the running boards. Subtract that from the capacity, make a revised sticker, and place that over the original sticker. It would be a standard reduction in capacity for all vehicles with both options. Would be easy to place an asterisk in the catalog next to the running boards option stating that it would decrease the towing capacity by "x" lbs.
I just don't understand the "recertify" part of things. If they do it at the factory, they know the weight of the running boards. Subtract that from the capacity, make a revised sticker, and place that over the original sticker. It would be a standard reduction in capacity for all vehicles with both options. Would be easy to place an asterisk in the catalog next to the running boards option stating that it would decrease the towing capacity by "x" lbs.
There are plenty of ways to go about it for sure. However, Audi made a business decision to not offer it. As I understand, it was a process change and something with the way the market the towing capacity that dives the decision; according to the tech I spoke with.
12-15-2017, 05:44 PM
