Climate control buttons

First time post,just thought i would thank fellow posters and also give my experience of changing worn out buttons on the climate control unit. After reading posts on here i realised replacing the unit was to expensive but the buttons would be cheaper,i also took the advice that certain A3 and A4 units where alike,after scouring ebay i found a A4 one that was like new and looked exactly the same.cost me £29 and arrived today and just like to let fellow owners they are so easy to change over. just get a very thin blade and slide down the side of the button and ease them out,they just push back in and clip in.No need to take your unit out of the car. My unit now looks like new,and might even be cheeky and sell the A4 unit back on flee bay(of course advertised as worn buttons..lol)only problem now is the mrs wants the worn electric window switches changing..anyway a big thanks to all who post your advice is greatly appreciated

Hi Andy and welcome.

Great first post

I can see the price of A3 and A4 units going up on fleebay as A2 owners rush to follow you

Hi and welcome to the A2OC.

That is a great fix and great first post.

I am just amazed that the buttons are not available to buy.

Audi are missing a trick on that. There would be a lot of proud A2 owners who would be queing up to buy them, especially if the problem is through its range.

Cheers

David

Wow. That's genious!

Interesting! When you say "Certain A3 and A4 units" are you able to advise on precisely which ones? I'm sure this is a work-around that many will want to persue further...

Its a good idea indeed, I think its been talked about previously when some owners were experimenting a fix with things as ingenious as black electrical tape and matt black nail polish. I had a keek round eBay after the OP posted and theres a couple of A4 climate panels on sale that have similar buttons - none as cheap as £29; but under £100. Our + button on temperature is the only part showing signs of wear but I expect this to worsen over time - I think the finish will be slightly different though as the root of the wear issue with the A2 switchgear must lie in the 'soft sheen' finish - the panels I noted on eBay looked like glossier plastic; but maybe the Op will clarify how this has turned out and what specific car the donor panel came from.

I've just stripped out some Buttons and taken some photos as I went.
Once Ive got the A2 one out and done the same.
I will attempt to do a how to

In reply to the above threads,the unit i got was off a 2000 A4,i basically just looked at the picture and it looked identical so thought why not for the price. The replacement was slightly darker but hardly noticeable,once i saw how easy it was to replace the buttons i just did the lot so the slight colour differance was negated.The mrs made the best point that the biggest advantage now is at night because the old buttons had worn that much there use to be just big blobs of light coming through them.Most sellers on ebay are dealers and allow returns so if the colour is to much of a differance for you just send it back.Hope this helps everybody

Hey thats great, thats the kind of feed back that makes this forum what its is.

Just looking at flee bay and there are a few units on there,some dealers ask stupid money but just keep an eye out and you will pick one up,i originally lost one bidding at £28 then one came on same day buy it now for £29 so dropped lucky,good luck

The A4 Buttons are solid plastic and dont have the soft coat of the A2 buttons.
Probably the best thing to do would be to swop the complete face off the A4 cc unit and retro fit to rear of A2 one so it doesnt look odd.
However the A4 front face plate would need trimmed down but all the clips at the back are in the same place.

I've taken the photos will chase them up after me Paris trip

How To?

Any update on a 'How To'?

I've got an A4 unit and would like to swap the buttons without sctratching them!

Would like to see photos of finished swap if possible please!

What is best tool to use to get the buttons out and where is the best place to click them out? - Top, side, bottom?

Just back from Paris and fraid Im working 7 days on trot will do my best.

If you use a Torx and remove front bezel you can push them from the rear and they pop out

careful though as you could push right thru the button