Centre Consol Lid replacement latch

[Brettannica]

Hello all,

With the common link a lot of us have of broken centre console lid latches and the exorbitant replacement costs - i.e.. the whole lid. 3D printing company Shapeways produce a selection of latches you can replace yourself from $13.00 - $21.00.
I’ve got one and it works a treat. The texture is rougher than OEM and I’ve had mine for about 12 months with no structural fatigue. I hope this helps some of you guys and gals...



http://www.shapeways.com/model/99997...?materialId=25

[blocke]

Very nice! Thanks!

[Willënskraft]

Interesting

[madkimchi]

I m not sure how this suppose to work. Is this to close and lock the lid?

[event]

Nice... hopefully I'll remember this if my current one breaks like the one on the A4 did. Should post this up in the B7 A4 section. I'm sure there's at least a handful of people that will instantly buy one.

[Spike00513]

If not this, then buy the $20 chinese armrest lid, remove the crap chinese leather top, and swap the guts over to your broken lid. That way you have a good working chinese latch and everything, but you retain your OEM leather top. Or in my case, because I have a lowly B6 A4 that came with vinyl, it is a vinyl top. I'm sure it would be nice to have a genuine Nappa leather top.

There's a DIY/thread somewhere for this in the B6A4 section.

[Brettannica]

I m not sure how this suppose to work. Is this to close and lock the lid?

Yep. Works on the same principal as the original. The ‘spring’ is integrated.

[blocke]

I bought both styles (OE design using spring, and revised with integrated spring). I'll post up a detailed review when they arrive in a few weeks. Thanks again OP.

[evildsmr]

If not this, then buy the $20 chinese armrest lid, remove the crap chinese leather top, and swap the guts over to your broken lid. That way you have a good working chinese latch and everything, but you retain your OEM leather top. Or in my case, because I have a lowly B6 A4 that came with vinyl, it is a vinyl top. I'm sure it would be nice to have a genuine Nappa leather top.

There's a DIY/thread somewhere for this in the B6A4 section.

You have a linky for the Chinese one at all??

[Spike00513]

You have a linky for the Chinese one at all??

It was in the B6 A4 section, and now it is gone. I posted "thank you" or something in it, along with many others. But for some reason unknown to me, I can't find it in my post history or in the entire B6 A4 subforum (12 pages). My guess is that because it was not made into a DIY Sticky, it was deleted?

Either way, I got the cheap Chinese one from eBay for $10-$20, then used the good parts from it, and put my leather lid on top. Sort of like taking 2 salvage cars (one has been rear-ended, one has been in a front-end crash) and putting them together to make one good one.

You keep the leather lid from yours, because its way better than the Chinese quality (or lack of), but you keep the Chinese lower plastic and integrated latch mechanism, because your original one is broken (hence the need to do this job in the first place).

There are two main pieces. The plastic part, which pries off with flat-head screwdrivers or interior pry tools (be careful not to break it), and the top leather cover/lid part that you re-use. Once you get those apart, its easy, straight-forward, and self-explanatory.



I believe this is the one I got. It comes with a little plastic glued-on emblem of the Chinese company, which I pried off and left blank.

[dnovak33510]

Just ordered one so we'll see how it works when it arrives around Thanksgiving.

[evildsmr]

It was in the B6 A4 section, and now it is gone. I posted "thank you" or something in it, along with many others. But for some reason unknown to me, I can't find it in my post history or in the entire B6 A4 subforum (12 pages). My guess is that because it was not made into a DIY Sticky, it was deleted?

Either way, I got the cheap Chinese one from eBay for $10-$20, then used the good parts from it, and put my leather lid on top. Sort of like taking 2 salvage cars (one has been rear-ended, one has been in a front-end crash) and putting them together to make one good one.

You keep the leather lid from yours, because its way better than the Chinese quality (or lack of), but you keep the Chinese lower plastic and integrated latch mechanism, because your original one is broken (hence the need to do this job in the first place).

There are two main pieces. The plastic part, which pries off with flat-head screwdrivers or interior pry tools (be careful not to break it), and the top leather cover/lid part that you re-use. Once you get those apart, its easy, straight-forward, and self-explanatory.



I believe this is the one I got. It comes with a little plastic glued-on emblem of the Chinese company, which I pried off and left blank.

My latch is still good however my hinge is the thing that is broken. I'll take a look on eBay for it. I appreciate the info. Cheers!!

[evildsmr]

Just ordered one so we'll see how it works when it arrives around Thanksgiving.

Right???? Always about two weeks out for any kind of Chinese replacement. Lol

[Chi2005.5S4]

sweet, thanks Brettannica

[Quadfreak]

My latch is still good however my hinge is the thing that is broken. I'll take a look on eBay for it. I appreciate the info. Cheers!!

Same here. I am going to try and glue mine and wrap in in electrical tape or something. My lid and latch are still good so getting a whole new one just seems like a waste.

[NavyBOFH]

If anyone posts a DIY to successfully pull this off with the eBay parts I will send them beer! I want to do this but don't want to mess up my one shot at doing it right.

[dnovak33510]

If anyone posts a DIY to successfully pull this off with the eBay parts I will send them beer! I want to do this but don't want to mess up my one shot at doing it right.

Sorry man no how to pics but it took a couple seconds to do. Not sure if there's a way to separate the padded top from the plastic other than just pulling it and snapping the attachment points. They're posts and sockets so gluing back together is easy. Once they were apart the pins go into the holes. Save your couple dollars and don't buy the one with quatro on it. It's only visible from the bottom. And you give the loop spring a little push over the hook and it's done. Some super glue on the plastic part of the lid where the pad connects ( quarter inch pins on pad receiver sockets on lid) and boom it's back together.

[blocke]

I submitted a complete review and DIY for this like a week ago, haven't heard back if the mods reviewed it.

[dnovak33510]

I submitted a complete review and DIY for this like a week ago, haven't heard back if the mods reviewed it.

So how did you remove the padded top from the bottom of the lid? What are your thoughts of the part?

[SpoolBus]

Great option!

I personally like my Chinese lid better, I didn't like the smooth Audi one..feels worn

[blocke]

So how did you remove the padded top from the bottom of the lid? What are your thoughts of the part?

You can slip a small trim removal tool, or tiny flathead in between them on the corners and just carefully pry apart. You don't have to remove it completely, just enough to access the latch mounting points. Maybe 3/4 of an inch.

[Brettannica]

You can slip a small trim removal tool, or tiny flathead in between them on the corners and just carefully pry apart. You don't have to remove it completely, just enough to access the latch mounting points. Maybe 3/4 of an inch.

^This is what I did, the website even shows you with images. Only took a couple of seconds.

My personal thoughts on the part... No, it’s not OEM, but we’re f*cked there. It’s an unobtrusive part that’s mostly hidden, it does the job it’s supposed to and is dirt cheap to replace should it fail. A win in my book.