Replacing drivers door for C6 avant
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From: Ontario, Canada
Replacing drivers door for C6 avant
Hi there, I have a 2006 A6 3.2 Avant and I'm thinking about replacing the drivers door due to pretty severe rust. I don't have any avants near me that are parting out but there's a couple of sedans. Can I use the sedan's driver door for my avant? I was doing some research and apparently it will work besides the glass not fitting. Is it possible to put my avant's inner shell on the outer sedan door shell (so the interior colours match) and also use the glass? Or is that way too complicated and is not even worth doing? This is all very new to me and unfortunately there's not too much information out there for this kind of project. I also saw from someone else that the body lines will be different? Has anyone tried this and had success? Another question... would an A4 avant driver door fit on my A6?
Thanks!
Thanks!
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From: Lake Tapps, WA
Forget the A4 platform - it is a smaller vehicle than the C6 A6 platform. In looking at an Audi dealer website, the outer door panel appears to be the same for the sedan and the Avant, which makes sense for cost-effectiveness manufacturing both vehicles. The same goes for the components of the door, e.g., glass, inner panel, etc. To verify, you should check the P/Ns of your door and the donor door to ensure there is no difference.
AudiWorld Senior Member
Joined: Sep 2019
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From: Canada, Toronto
Hi there, I have a 2006 A6 3.2 Avant and I'm thinking about replacing the drivers door due to pretty severe rust. I don't have any avants near me that are parting out but there's a couple of sedans. Can I use the sedan's driver door for my avant? I was doing some research and apparently it will work besides the glass not fitting. Is it possible to put my avant's inner shell on the outer sedan door shell (so the interior colours match) and also use the glass? Or is that way too complicated and is not even worth doing? This is all very new to me and unfortunately there's not too much information out there for this kind of project. I also saw from someone else that the body lines will be different? Has anyone tried this and had success? Another question... would an A4 avant driver door fit on my A6?
Thanks!
Thanks!
What is not identical is if you dont buy exact trim package is inner shell and wiring.
If you have Bose - its different then regular
If you have keyless - its different.
Ive done the swap on mine and it was an incredible pain in the *** because I had to swap everysingle wire down to the bare metal because mine has keyless and bose.
Rear door also match from sedan, but you need to swap the top glass portion from your old doors.
Also mayor pain in the *** but doable. Done those as well.
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AudiWorld Newcomer
Joined: Oct 2023
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From: Ontario, Canada
Thanks for the help everyone! I found a 2008 A6 3.2 sedan near me that I’m going to check out today. If that doesn’t work out there’s a 2006 A6 3.2 sedan that is a bit closer. A random question just popped into my brain though. Will my original key work for this new door?
AudiWorld Senior Member
Joined: Sep 2019
Posts: 1,272
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From: Canada, Toronto
Thanks for the help everyone! I found a 2008 A6 3.2 sedan near me that I’m going to check out today. If that doesn’t work out there’s a 2006 A6 3.2 sedan that is a bit closer. A random question just popped into my brain though. Will my original key work for this new door?
Also, grab your Paint code from the trunk, and compare with the car you are getting the doors from, so you dont need to paint them.
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From: "Pure Michigan".....
The swap isn't too hard just make sure you line the door up well. If the door harness is different then you need to swap the harness from your old door (the harnesses often break where they go out of the door towards the pillar so a good time to check the wires there as well).
Do you have the advanced key with push button start? If you don't, and you get a door from a vehicle that does, then you will need to swap the harness. You can leave the aerial antenna, door handle touch sensor and push button in place and just not connect them to your old harness, it's up to you.
Make sure to watch a video or look at a diagram for where the screw locations are on the door trim, removal isn't too bad as long as you get all of the screws out first :-)
As others have said, no difference between the Avant and Sedan doors. What I have found is that coloring from the same model year seems to match better (for same paint code). Maybe this is because of paint fade, maybe it's because of different batches of paint, I don't know, but either way it's better than a door with rust holes. While you have the trim off, make sure to check the water drains in the door, I think my rusted ones were the result of those drains getting plugged up and salt water accumulating, accelerating the rust. Once it starts rusting, the rust/paint flakes plug it up even worse.
Do you have the advanced key with push button start? If you don't, and you get a door from a vehicle that does, then you will need to swap the harness. You can leave the aerial antenna, door handle touch sensor and push button in place and just not connect them to your old harness, it's up to you.
Make sure to watch a video or look at a diagram for where the screw locations are on the door trim, removal isn't too bad as long as you get all of the screws out first :-)
As others have said, no difference between the Avant and Sedan doors. What I have found is that coloring from the same model year seems to match better (for same paint code). Maybe this is because of paint fade, maybe it's because of different batches of paint, I don't know, but either way it's better than a door with rust holes. While you have the trim off, make sure to check the water drains in the door, I think my rusted ones were the result of those drains getting plugged up and salt water accumulating, accelerating the rust. Once it starts rusting, the rust/paint flakes plug it up even worse.
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AudiWorld Senior Member
Joined: Sep 2019
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From: Canada, Toronto
The swap isn't too hard just make sure you line the door up well. If the door harness is different then you need to swap the harness from your old door (the harnesses often break where they go out of the door towards the pillar so a good time to check the wires there as well).
Do you have the advanced key with push button start? If you don't, and you get a door from a vehicle that does, then you will need to swap the harness. You can leave the aerial antenna, door handle touch sensor and push button in place and just not connect them to your old harness, it's up to you.
Make sure to watch a video or look at a diagram for where the screw locations are on the door trim, removal isn't too bad as long as you get all of the screws out first :-)
As others have said, no difference between the Avant and Sedan doors. What I have found is that coloring from the same model year seems to match better (for same paint code). Maybe this is because of paint fade, maybe it's because of different batches of paint, I don't know, but either way it's better than a door with rust holes. While you have the trim off, make sure to check the water drains in the door, I think my rusted ones were the result of those drains getting plugged up and salt water accumulating, accelerating the rust. Once it starts rusting, the rust/paint flakes plug it up even worse.
Do you have the advanced key with push button start? If you don't, and you get a door from a vehicle that does, then you will need to swap the harness. You can leave the aerial antenna, door handle touch sensor and push button in place and just not connect them to your old harness, it's up to you.
Make sure to watch a video or look at a diagram for where the screw locations are on the door trim, removal isn't too bad as long as you get all of the screws out first :-)
As others have said, no difference between the Avant and Sedan doors. What I have found is that coloring from the same model year seems to match better (for same paint code). Maybe this is because of paint fade, maybe it's because of different batches of paint, I don't know, but either way it's better than a door with rust holes. While you have the trim off, make sure to check the water drains in the door, I think my rusted ones were the result of those drains getting plugged up and salt water accumulating, accelerating the rust. Once it starts rusting, the rust/paint flakes plug it up even worse.
My A6 is quartz grey, and I found another that looked the same, but looked little off, and my eyes were right, it was a different paint code.
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From: "Pure Michigan".....
if the paint code is same, color will be the same, regardless of the year. Thing is they change paint codes through the years and depending on model year you could have a different shade, but will also have different code.
My A6 is quartz grey, and I found another that looked the same, but looked little off, and my eyes were right, it was a different paint code.
My A6 is quartz grey, and I found another that looked the same, but looked little off, and my eyes were right, it was a different paint code.
There was a time when I wanted to set up one side of my garage with the ability to put up plastic and do "pro" grade painting on my cars.... Then I started reading about all of this and decided that I will stick with rattle cans forever LOL
AudiWorld Senior Member
Joined: Sep 2019
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From: Canada, Toronto
It is also sun fade - Same color panel from same year car will be a slightly different shade depending on whether it was garaged or not; Whether it is from out west vs. the midwest, etc. This is why body shops have to blend newly painted panels into old ones, for instance if they paint a single door. It is more noticeable with darker shades; This is one reason that some people prefer white cars (though even white cars have this trouble if you have one of these newer tri-coat colors - Even if you get a panel of the same color, same shade, same age, you have to blend the top layer into the other panels!
There was a time when I wanted to set up one side of my garage with the ability to put up plastic and do "pro" grade painting on my cars.... Then I started reading about all of this and decided that I will stick with rattle cans forever LOL
There was a time when I wanted to set up one side of my garage with the ability to put up plastic and do "pro" grade painting on my cars.... Then I started reading about all of this and decided that I will stick with rattle cans forever LOL
I have personally swapped dark blue doors on a C5, and medium grey on C6, both matching Paint code, there is no chance you can tell they were not originally on the car.
And let me tell you why as well, a certain paint code is in use for maybe 2-3 years max, even if that much.
Even if car is garaged over night, night is not the time that will "age" the paint. Its daytime driving and sunlight.