Skezza
17-06-2019, 01:58 PM
My Cabriolet came with a knackered glove box hinge. Shock. It also came with just about the worst repair of one of these that I'd ever seen (I'll see if I have photos) Someone had clearly just bashed in a rough fitting bracket without removing the glove box door. The door didn't line up properly so closing it was a nightmare. The two wires inside (not sure what they connect to had snapped). The bracket holding in the gas hinge had also snapped from all the extra weight. All in all, a mess.
They don't make brackets for the Cabriolet model, irritatingly enough, so I've modified this bad boy below.
2X Glove Box Hinge Snapped Repair Kit For Audi A3 A4 S4 B6 B7 01-08 Bracket UK | eBay (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2X-Glove-Box-Hinge-Snapped-Repair-Kit-For-Audi-A3-A4-S4-B6-B7-01-08-Bracket-UK/312626635780?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649)
Comes with two brackets, you only need one. Soldered the two wires back together first.... Now they do whatever they're supposedly meant to do.
I lined everything up so it was absolutely perfect and screwed the bracket directly into the door first. I then used a pair of pliers to get a decent fitment around the actual hinge itself. It's a bit of a ballache and requires a bit of patience. If you've screwed properly into the door though you can go fairly hard with it.
Unfortunately, you're unlikely to get it perfectly flush with the hinge itself because of the strange angle it sits at (unlike the salooon), so what I did was use a slightly bigger screw than the ones provided to pull the bracket into the hinge slightly. Don't go too tight as it will lift the hinge upwards and ruin the fitment alignment. Once I had it about right, I measured how far I had tightened it, removed it and then used copious amounts of JB weld on well, pretty much everything, the screw, the hole, the threads. The top part of the bracket i've bent around the curve, no point in trying to add an additional screw because (as i found out), you'll struggle to get it to actually grip because of the way the honeycomb is. Don't screw and unscrew the screw you put in too often, you'll only wreck the threads it cuts, it's plastic after all.
Loads of JB around the curve. Where the second screw should be. Tonnes of JB around the hinge itself to spread the load a bit more, and even padded the under side with JB. Finally, I put some extra JB using a tiny screw driver onto the screw and matted it all around the various honeycomb gaps to ensure the screw is going absolutely nowhere. After all was complete, (wait 15 hours min), I painted it using some Poundland matte spray in the lid using a nail brush. Two coats. Tried to fast cure it using a heat gun. See how that holds up.
The final job.... is admittedly not my prettiest work but so far seems solid and definitely lines up right which is nice. The gas strut is back in (fixed the bracket using a piece of credit card and glue) and I've put silicone grease on it, but struggling to get the right resistance at the moment. Currently it's too little..... but as soon as I remove the grease it's too much, so i'm just going to use as is and hopefully the grease will eventually thicken up :D
https://i.imgur.com/8tA8KjF.jpg
Before anyone says "why didn't you buy a replacement". £100 for a nasty second hand one + none available on eBay at the moment in cream. £60 for a broken one. Yeah, great. That's why. Whole job took around 2-3 hours actual time.... most of the time you're waiting around for JB Weld to dry or paint etc.
I'd say worthwhile :)
They don't make brackets for the Cabriolet model, irritatingly enough, so I've modified this bad boy below.
2X Glove Box Hinge Snapped Repair Kit For Audi A3 A4 S4 B6 B7 01-08 Bracket UK | eBay (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2X-Glove-Box-Hinge-Snapped-Repair-Kit-For-Audi-A3-A4-S4-B6-B7-01-08-Bracket-UK/312626635780?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649)
Comes with two brackets, you only need one. Soldered the two wires back together first.... Now they do whatever they're supposedly meant to do.
I lined everything up so it was absolutely perfect and screwed the bracket directly into the door first. I then used a pair of pliers to get a decent fitment around the actual hinge itself. It's a bit of a ballache and requires a bit of patience. If you've screwed properly into the door though you can go fairly hard with it.
Unfortunately, you're unlikely to get it perfectly flush with the hinge itself because of the strange angle it sits at (unlike the salooon), so what I did was use a slightly bigger screw than the ones provided to pull the bracket into the hinge slightly. Don't go too tight as it will lift the hinge upwards and ruin the fitment alignment. Once I had it about right, I measured how far I had tightened it, removed it and then used copious amounts of JB weld on well, pretty much everything, the screw, the hole, the threads. The top part of the bracket i've bent around the curve, no point in trying to add an additional screw because (as i found out), you'll struggle to get it to actually grip because of the way the honeycomb is. Don't screw and unscrew the screw you put in too often, you'll only wreck the threads it cuts, it's plastic after all.
Loads of JB around the curve. Where the second screw should be. Tonnes of JB around the hinge itself to spread the load a bit more, and even padded the under side with JB. Finally, I put some extra JB using a tiny screw driver onto the screw and matted it all around the various honeycomb gaps to ensure the screw is going absolutely nowhere. After all was complete, (wait 15 hours min), I painted it using some Poundland matte spray in the lid using a nail brush. Two coats. Tried to fast cure it using a heat gun. See how that holds up.
The final job.... is admittedly not my prettiest work but so far seems solid and definitely lines up right which is nice. The gas strut is back in (fixed the bracket using a piece of credit card and glue) and I've put silicone grease on it, but struggling to get the right resistance at the moment. Currently it's too little..... but as soon as I remove the grease it's too much, so i'm just going to use as is and hopefully the grease will eventually thicken up :D
https://i.imgur.com/8tA8KjF.jpg
Before anyone says "why didn't you buy a replacement". £100 for a nasty second hand one + none available on eBay at the moment in cream. £60 for a broken one. Yeah, great. That's why. Whole job took around 2-3 hours actual time.... most of the time you're waiting around for JB Weld to dry or paint etc.
I'd say worthwhile :)