Rami Gech

Is it like this one??
Hi,
I had the same issue, i think i can do it myself but im wondering shall i have to purshase the whole sunshade with complete assembly or only the the sunshade

Rami Gech

Is that a video?? Its not appearing when you go on!!

Redd

For reasons that I don't understand ( I only speak English) you apparently cannot "fix" a sunshade. The problem seems to be that Audi screwed up o the glue that attaches the sunshade material to two "tape measures" that extend in and out of the motor cartridge, pulling the shade in and out along the track. Once the two become unglued, the metal tapes may buckle and kink and the fabric may jam up in there. One would think, in theory, that one could drop out the motor "cartridge", lay out the tapes, clean old adhesive off them and the edges of the shade, and re-glue that with a proper 3M adhesive.

Dealer said no way. Two dealers said no way. And the 40+ year old indy shop that does high end work for dealers and the public, said the same thing. They replace the whole "cartridge".

There is a video on YT that says (but doesn't clearly show) that you can access and remove the cartridge by pulling out the rear headliner section, by the liftgate, and then finessing your way on the bolts that hold it in. But the dealers and shop all say that's simply not possible, they have to drop the headliner, which means removing the B and C pillars clear down to the floor and the load deck, which means a lot of time.

Dealer wanted $2200, indy shop wanted $1200, said the cartridge is about $220 from Audi, but they could just cut the shade away and leave the glass showing. (No thanks.) I got one dealer to call this in to AoA and have them concede to pick up half the repair cost as a "customer accommodation". Of course I had way fewer years and miles on my car and pressed the point that I hardly ever used the thing.

I STILL suspect it can be a DIY $220 parts swap, but can't afford to tear the car apart and have it sitting around that way if that didn't work for me.

I also suspect that if you use the shade the way that Audi intended, opening the glass but keeping the shade closed so it deflects wind and noise on the highway, that the force of the moving wind is what is pulling the cloth off the adhesive. I'm never going to use it that way again, once was more than enough.

gronk

I had this exact problem. I decided to try replacing the sunshade by buying a Chinese roller shade on eBay for $50. Apparently the correct way to do this replacement is to remove the headliner and pull off the entire roof area when installing, but some enterprising folks were able to avoid this by simply loosening the rear ceiling trim panel. So I decided to give it a shot.

Getting the rear trim panels off, removing the moonroof, and loosening the ceiling panel was all reasonably easy, there are instructions available on various web forums. However, trying to thread the new shade with the metal tabs was close to impossible. I ripped the first shade after about an hour, so I bought another to try again. Last weekend I tried the second one for about 2 hours and ripped that one as well, so I gave up and just removed the shade mechanism entirely. I then put all the trim panels back in place and plan to tint the moonroof to limit the heat and light.

I haven't tried the aforementioned assembly part, so I wonder if it's worth it. Maybe the mental scarring of my installation failure is fading, because I am tempted to try this and put myself through another round of agony, who knows.

If people want, I can post the instructions and photos to at least remove the hanging fabric and remove the mechanism. That part only took me an hour or two.

Redd

Gronk-Several of us have the lightest shade of 3M Crystalline on the sunroof. Supposed to block 98-99% of both UV and IR, a couple of other companies have similar products but beware the ones with metallic films--they'll cut your cell phone reception. Nearly six years on the Crystalline, no problem with it at all. I can place my hand under it, on it, at high noon and it barely is warmer than the headliner. Still a PITA even with the factory liner because overhead streetlights "strobe" through it as you're passing under them. I don't think tint would matter that way, and since the lightest Crystalline still cuts 98-99% of the rays...that's what I went with.
FWIW.

Resoom

Agree, getting the metal tab on the guide into the track when the sunshade "tape measure" is attached was nearly impossible. You'll notice the metal tab in the guide is held in with an indent - remove the tab from the guide - install the tape measure - put that in the track - line it up so its even with the mechanism tab (sliding mechanism) and snap in place - I ripped 2 (one unusable, the other slightly and can be used as a spare in the future) doing it the way you described, the 3rd try took 5 minutes a side. check out my pics in my gallery - I have a couple of the tab removed from the guide - the picture explains it better than I do I'm sure.

Resoom

pics below of the tab that can come out of the guide

gronk

I got the 3M Crystalline 50% on the moonroof, and honestly it's good enough that I won't reinstall the retracting liner. The only issue I have is when the kids want to sleep with shade, but they'll manage - especially if it means one less over-engineered part to break down in the future (10 years and 100k, going strong and still love my Q5).

CableQ5

@gronk I'm attempting this knowing full well I'll probably end up just as you did. I was hoping you could help me get the fabric and mechanism out. I've made the headliner loose removing that center trim in the back however for the life of me I cannot figure out how to remove the 2 rear pillars so I can actually drop the headliner enough to work back there! I'm also curious if I cannot just remove the glass up top and replace JUST the fabric inside the "cassette" and don't need to do anything from the backside with the headliner at all...Any input would be helpful!

gronk

The rear pillars are *very* tight, but if I recall they are held in with ribbed plastic bolts. I used a hard plastic tool with a notch (similar to a hammer nail puller) to wedge in behind the fabric side to loosen it, but I was always worried it would break.

The problem with trying to replace just the fabric is that constant stretched tension is required between the shade fasteners in order for the shade to function - it’s not like just a slide back and forth that can just be replaced. And IMHO the fastener design is horribly over-engineered, since installation requires the fabric to be stretched and held in place while assembling the delicate pieces directly on the moonroof track.