A6 Chrome Trunk Strip - B Dizzle Fizzle
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Disclaimer: By reading this, the reader accepts full responsibility in performing the following work at his or her own risk. B5one cannot assume responsibility for any damage, injury, dismemberment or death, as a result of you the reader, following our instructions. We supply this information freely, for those interested in knowing what is involved with such modifications. If you find you would like to perform a similar modification to your vehicle, we urge you to first seek the advice of a qualified mechanic prior to undertaking any of the work. Some work will require physical strength that may be beyond your ability to perform.

2001 A6 Sedan Chrome Trunk Accent: 4B5-853-927V-2VV
I seem to remember having an issue with the VV part of the piece, but I still was able to get it. In 2002, Audi switched to satin aluminum from chrome, so you have to get a piece from before then. Retail is $47.47 in MA with tax, but dealer cost is just over $30 (like $30.12 or something).

The part is a little too long, so you have to cut out a section from the center, and rejoin the 2 halves. Our trunk is 99 cm/39" long, but the part is like 45" long...I was going to have this done in 1 night, so I didn't need to write it down...of course, that was 3 weeks ago, and I just mounted it today, so I forget how long it used to be, but it's about 10-12 cm too long. You can measure on your car, and then measure the part, then subtract the difference. There are holes on the back to fit over pins on the Audi trunk, and one's right in the middle, so it's easy to measure out from center.

Here's the back of the Audi piece, with the section I'm going to remove marked off.

I used the long hose attachment so I could cut at a straighter angle. The body of the Dremel got in the way without it.

Here, I'm trying to straighten out the ends so they're clean and even for rejoining. I had to mess around with different sharpening, grinding and sanding bits. You can test things out on the center piece you've cut out.

To rejoin, the Germans who have done this suggest cutting down the center piece, and hot gluing it inside the 2 halves. This may work fine, but I had had it with the Dremel, and decided to use the black rubber insert from the middle piece, and insert it half way into each of the 2 halves that needed to be rejoined. I hot-glued it in place. Looking back, it may have been more stable to do what Faulk Zimmer (SilverSurfer, the author of the directions) did, but it was more effort than I wanted to put back into it.

Here's the front of the joint...not terribly clean, but not terrible, either. Definitely too visible, though:

I took some of that body-filler stuff (kinda like a little stick of moldable metal or self-hardening clay), and filled the gap, then used some chrome paint to try to color it...it didn't work so well:

Then, I saw a post about what some Germans were doing with heating duct aluminum tape to accent their HVAC vents! I went to Home Depot, and picked up a roll for like $5. Ah-ha! So, I cut a VERY slim piece, and laid that over the joint, heating it, smooth it, and got a MUCH better result. If I cared more at this point, I would have sanded it down more, and then taped it since the most visible part of it is a rough edge on the joint.

Here it is mounted:

Here's a closer shot of the strip...you can see the joint better:

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