Card tray removed. Cup holder installed.

[RyanA3 [C30 v2]]

Item #8P0 862 534C 5PR

Not available thru U.S. dealers. Europe brokers only.

Nav and/or double din stereo (bose) = you are stuck with the card tray, sorry.

To remove the card tray you'll need a tiny screwdriver (eye glass repair kit).

REMOVING THE TRAY:

The right side is easy. You press down on the tab with a flat head and it will release. Once you start to pull on the tray you will see and feel that the right side is released.

The left side is stubborn. You need an eye-glass-repair kit flat head screwdriver for this side. I was trying to remove the left side with the regular flat head that removed the right side, and it did not work.

Four people have tried to remove this tray and all have had issues with the left side. The reason is... The left side tabs are apparently defective and sit too high. Look at the difference. The right side is visible when you open the door and you can pry it down, releasing it:



But the left side, you only see the very bottom of the tab or nothing at all:




Once you get the second tab figured out, you're done. Push down on these two tabs (once at a time, once one is released it's released). Then pull the tray out.



You can see what you're dealing with in this picture: (tabs)



The unit that I bought, has a power hookup in the rear. It's for the L.E.D.

This power hookup is not on the card tray. So surely this item cost me a bit more that it should have. If you didn't see the post on replacing the card tray with the oem cup holder, see the link at the bottom of the post.



I ripped apart the entire center of the dash to install the OEM radio face plate tonight and didn't see anything at all. Not even anything to splic into. Everything is VERY clean cut back there.

I don't think U.S. cars are ready with a plug for the cup holder LED harness. Therefore, I had to wire the light which illuminates the cup holder symbol myself.

Anyhow, I wired the cup holder into the fuse box (interior lighting fuse). It goes on when the key goes in the ignition. I'll eventually figure out how to keep it from going on all the time.



There is also NO room for error when cutting off the OEM harness from the cup holder. Bad pic, but you get the idea. Cut off the harness/plug right at the end.



Apply wire connectors, and get some extremely low gauge wire, to match the gauge wire used in the cup holder. Use regular measures to wire into the fuse box.

White wire = power
Red wire = ground


Looks good. Here you'll see the new radio plate and the cup holder light.





The left side button on the top, unused.. I wonder what we can do with this? It's easy to pop out.



^ OEM part # for stereo face plate.
Try US dealers first, I had to get it from a European broker. I wish the factory/AoA would wake up and smell the roses = $$.

keywords: A3 Audi 2006 OEM O.E.M. stereo radio face plate for aftermarket units




Now this is not a save-your-life cupholder... However, I think this would help a few people out as either a cell phone holder, or an IPOD holder? As you can see, it's expandable for different size cups...



I ordered a ton of stuff so I can't quote you an exact price. But I figure $30-35 American. +shipping/brok. Try to get a few things at once. Blind spot mirrors. Radio plate. Amber turns, etc.

edit: According to MikeSS (thanks)... If you have the Symphony II or a Nav+, the cupholder won't fit because there's not enough room behind it below the double-DIN cage.

The finished look is indentical to your card tray but of course you'll have a new and exciting icon.



Use your favorite broker in Europe for such parts. ie: Martyn.

keywords: removing remove card tray cardtray cup holder cupholder install installation A3 2006 OEM



EDIT TO ADD ////

Reason for the update... The cupholder wouldn't work to hold a Palm pilot, which is too wide and the screen would be blocked. But it's the perfect size for a Treo or any other smart-phone. The space is perfect. The phone won't bounce around.

This is specifically cool for anyone with a smart/pda phone who is running TomTom or similar navigation on their phone.


The screen of the phone ends up at the perfect spot, above the rim of the cupholder.
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[AdamC]

[RyanA3 [C30 v2]]

[Mark Sirota]

Say, that gives me an idea -- wonder whether my iPod Nano will fit in the card tray. If so, then perhaps I'll see if I can run the iPod connector cable into the back of the card tray, so it can live in there rather than in the glove box...

[RyanA3 [C30 v2]]

you can drill a hole out the rear and have a wire sitting the cardtray or cupholder.

[AdamC]

[RyanA3 [C30 v2]]

[520]

[Waggin]

If the stock drawer is deep enough, I could build a plastic holder that would lift it up at an angle, with display at the top when it's pulled out, and retract it when pushed back..

No need for it now, since Ipods still don't have FM tuners built in. (Apple apparently wants us to buy their music, not get it for free off the air..)

[Mark Sirota]

That would be cool. Just open the drawer, stick the Nano into the dock, and close it. No fiddling with cables or anything...

Why would you need an FM tuner in the iPod in the car? You've got one in the head unit already...