91quattro

After reading this thread and realizing mine was broken into two pieces, I replaced it yesterday. I ordered the same item from eBay as Mainely_A8 did, for $21.33, and I and got the exact same part, down to the lot code and date. The ebay seller must have bought a lot of them and sales must be slow. The replacement process went smooth. Thanks dvs_dave for pointing out to put the shift selector into D to make it easier to pull off the shift ****. It definitely did. I didn't take the whole plastic 10-tab shift box assembly apart, just the tabs on the ends and then I pried the two pieces apart at the ends just enough to slide the old strips out and the new one in. Then i just snapped it back together. Everything is working perfectly and looks great now. It's those little touches on these cars!

JBowers

Thank you to all that shared pics and the "how to" guidance. I replaced mine tonight...30 minutes later it looks like new! Thanks again!

flawless45

Hello everyone, quick update from over a year ago. Turns out my Amazon and OEM Audi strips were both defective. Found an old original strip that is in pieces but everything functions now as it should. I'll try another cheap Amazon one, maybe I'll get lucky this time.

dvs_dave

That’s some quite incredible bad luck. The chances of that happening have to be vanishingly small.

flawless45

The 2nd Amazon china strip just came in, it's installed and working now as it should. Amazing.

nathanwind

For what it's worth, I got the cheap Amazon knockoff for mine as well....after fitting it, the P/R/N/D wouldn't work. But then realized (after comparing it to my old shifter cover) that the magnets were installed upside down in the aftermarket one (the polarity was reversed). Flipped the magnets over and was back in business....so it's possible yours wasn't defective, just had the same issue as mine with the magnets flipped.