mylai996

Looking to get a RS4. Dealer has the color I wanted with a good deal but with aluminum trim in the interior. I like carbon trim much better. Wondering if anyone has done a trim change from piano or aluminum trim to carbon or vise versa. Wondering about the difficulty and cost. Anyone got any ideas?

star607

cost for trim is $2300 from oempl.us but if it's anything like a vw the trim change should be easy.

ToblertheDog

...ELSA estimates ~20 labor units for each area...this includes removal & installation. I believe there's ~9 areas that would need to be swapped (dash L, dash R, tranmission surround, front door L, front door R, rear door L, rear door R, & rear ashtray cover front/rear). Assume a 3-hr job by dealer @ whatever current labor rate...perhaps if you buy the car they'll cover the labor.

You could do it yourself but would probably want access to the written procedures (and/or a couple speciality tools...although not required).

Looking at EKTA, the list prices for these parts in carbon are:

Ashtray cover front: 183.62
Ashtray cover rear: 230.78
Front Trim L: 300.68
Front Trim R: 377.15
Retaining frame for shifter: 318.35
Front Door Trim L: 318.35
Front Door Trim R: 318.35
Rear Door Trim L: 318.35
Rear Door Trim R: 318.35

GMG sells a Carbon Interior trim kit that may be cheaper than a direct swap thru a dealership.

sparkhill

That said, the CF does work pretty well in the RS4. A few people have swapped and it is pretty easy save one or two moderately challenging pieces. Search the S4 forum too as the swap would be the same.

daveak05

Alum looks really good on black interior...it would be my choice everytime

Gorobei

It took me probably 1.5 hours and that was with me taking my time so I didn't break anything etc. Doors are a super-cinch, shifter surround is fairly easy, front ashtray cover is a little tricky, and the two main dash pieces take a little patience and most of the time. Probably spent 45 minutes on that.

If you don't want to spend $2300 on OEM pieces, you can buy from carboncopy designs. They overlay OEM pieces with real carbon and they look fantastic. It's what I did and it looks great and is less than half the price. Carboncopy also has some very useful writeups on the swap process on their website.
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John Stahmann

My dealer did the swap for a customer - traded out the piano black in a titanium car for the carbon in a non-titanium car. Your dealer may be willing to do the same if they have another car.

Also, there may be someone here willing to swap you out, too.