Coin/card tray to cupholder swap info (DIY info included)

[Richard Solomon]

Ok, after reading a couple of posts about the possible difficulties of removing the (IMHO useless) coin/card tray and replacing it with a cupholder, I swallowed my manly car-fixin' pride and asked my dealer to do the swap: $33.60 in parts, $22.50 in labor. They too had the cupholder in stock (Hmmmm).

In order to assuage my wounded pride, I watched to see what special tools or expertise might be needed -- NADA, ZIP, NUTTIN. Tech used two of those small giveaway screwdrivers to pry bezel straight out. Bezel held on by 6 metal clips - 3 across top, 3 across bottom. Tech pried at righthand edge, then lefthand edge, then bottom, then top, but I think the order was immaterial. Once bezel was off, there were just two clips holding the tray assy into the dash. Tech depressed those simultaneously by stuffing screwdrivers into them and slid tray assy out. He disconnected the two-pin lighting power connector and promptly "lost" it back into the dash Few muttered curse words later, he attached pesky wiring connector to new cupholder assy and slid it back into the dash until it snapped into place. Bezel snapped back on and we're done. Total time maybe 10 minutes?

Ok, so $22.50 isn't the end of the world, and I didn't try it myself, but knowing what I know now, I'd probably have spent an hour or two doing it myself instead.

Richard
'00 A6 2.7Tm

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Updated Info: 07/23/01: The bezel is plastic with a rubber seal on each end, be careful of these. The 6 spring clips snap over protrusions on the panel and seem to come off much more easily when worked from the side as my tech did. The key thing to note is that the top edge of the bezel actually fits under the rubbery material of the dash at the top. This is why it's easier to get the bottom off first. Consequently, reinstallation is a bit difficult as the rubber material needs to be held out of the way while getting the top of the bezel re-attached. Working from one side to the other, partially engaging each clip seemed to work best.

The clips on the bezel are spring steel and just pull and push off, no release is needed. They are qute tight and only plastic tabbed onto the bezel, so go easy hoss!

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• Previous cupholder swap discussion

[DWP]

Thanks for the explicit info. I'll be doing mine next week now that I know it's so easy.

[ebony andras]

Thanks DWP, but the cupholder I was speaking of is the one in the console, not the dash.

Anyone else, please ??????