I have a 2001.5 s4 trip and i was looking to remove the wood grain trim and paint it black, ive seen a few other people do it and i have a black out theme going on the car so i thought it would look nice(never been a fan of woodgrain either). What i was wondering is how to take it off without damaging it? is it just glued there or does it snap in place,etc? any help would be greatly appreciated thanks in advance.

 

sshhh be very quiet, people are not going to like what you are about to do to your S. Dental picks work great prying gently from the side. A word of caution just the small piece in the center (ESP panel) is $180. I love the wood myself but to each their own. Poor tigerseye maple doesn't know whats coming.

 

if u do break it i know a website that u can order has all diffrent colors and its 164 bucks chek it out http://www.exoticwoodtrim.com/produc...l.asp?pid=1124good luck if u paint it take pics of before and after and close up of finished work and repost it

 

funny thing is i originally bought that kit that you sent a link to for the carbon fiber pieces but when i got them they dont fit well at all, you can see huge gaps on either side so i didnt really like how it looked.

 

You have to pull the door panels, there are clips on the back of the trim, it is very simple to pull the door panels and very easy to pull the door trim. Thr shifter counsol just pops up and pulls back, the one by the hazard switch just pops straight out. Now the one on the dash has one time use spring type clips that are on back side that you have to cut off. The more you pull the harder they dig into the trim. I had my dash out do to airbag deployment and I took it off and painted it, then I just used double side tape to put it back on so if I wanted to take it off again it would be simple. You may have to pry it away and try and cut the studs that go through dash. You may be able to pul some stuff apart under dash and get to all of the clips but I am not sure about that. Look at my gallery and you will see my marble painted trim, IMHO it is better then the woodgrain and have gotten many compliments.

I guess I have only one pic in gallery so here are a couple

 

The center console ones, just pop up.

Remove the glove box, whole center console, & the lower section on the drivers side.
After that, get a door panel trim tool & remove the clips on the back side. They will come off with some force, don't pry from the front, or you will break the trim.

It's a TOTAL PITA for something so simple. I just did it on my car, & none of the clips broke, & I never want to change it out again.

 

s obsessed - what is up with the massive gaps on the steering wheel between the wheel and the center pouch? or am i just seeing things?

 

Ha ha, you are not seeing things. When I bought airbags for the car I got them used off ebay and they said for a4/s4 and I had no idea they were different at the time. I was pissed. I still haven't gotten the right bag.