D2 rear armrest with radio control buttons
 

Hello everyone,

Surfing ETKA I found rear arm rest with 4 integrated buttons: Next song, Previous song, Volume up, Volume down. Buttons are available when you open arm rest and are located near two cup holders.

From electrical point of view these buttons are connected to the MFSW "data bus" wire and work just like those 4 steering wheel buttons. You can also switch off these rear buttons with driver door switch that controls rear windows operation if you don't want children to play with them.

Question: Does anybody have this rear armrest? I wonder if this arm rest has ever been fitted to UK-supplied cars. If yes, I wonder if all MFSW-equipped cars came with this rear armrest or whether is was a separate option.

Thanks :)

They were standard fit on the A8L in the UK. I had the opportunity to buy the rear bench from an A8L from A8Parts a few years back, and was discussing the retrofit with Ian at the time, but given I have 2 very young children, the buttons would not have had much use to me...:o

PS: I have a MFSW, so the retrofit would not have been too hard.

Zip

Yes, standard kit on D2 A8 LWB.

Not standard kit with MFSW, but does use the MFSW bus, so its a very easy retrofit to cars with the MFSW already... +++

Thanks guys

I've not seen this on US cars, I've got a 2003 FE with MFSW, I assume it would retrofit to that? If so, where would I go about ordering this? And would it still work with an RNS-E retrofit?

Yes, it'll work with RNS-E retrofit if you already have MFSW.

You can order this off e-bay from broken LWB car. Worth asking A8 Parts (this is what I'm doing now) :) It is also available from audi dealer of course.

Ian, do you know if it is possible to transplant just the buttons + electric board to an armrest which was originally without buttons? I'm afraid searching e-bay for the right color and good leather condition can take forever.

Same question, I've got the butterscotch FE interior, and I doubt I'd ever find that color.

Received reply from A8 Parts:

"We do not have that in stock at the moment
D2 LWB are not very common and do not get them in very often"

That doesn't answer whether the electronics would swap to the SWB center armrest without swapping the whole part though. I'd be willing to buy new if I knew it swapped.

Does anyone have a picture of one? Not sure I've seen one before :)

Still waiting to see this as well. I'm very serious about performing this retrofit. I am upping the power and driver satisfaction of my 8, but I love the luxury aspect as well and want to upgrade, modernize, and add to the features of my car for the passengers as well!

on ETKA it looks like the part numbers are -

4DO 885 081 BJ Armrest (leather) with storage bin for vehicles with radio remote control - Natural Leather
Colours
1QG - Blues
2EK - Soul (Black)

4DO 885 081 BK Armrest (leather) with storage bin for vehicles with radio remote control - Valcona Leather
Colours
22A - Soul (Black)
63C - Blues
64D - Jazz
65E - Swing (Dark Grey)
66F - Aqua
67J - Tango
68K - Twist (Beige)
69L - Platinum
70N - Coconut Brown

£574.00 + vat each :eek:

This is A8, Sir.

Of course they are expensive.

Why? just because it's an A8 or because the materials used are different and more expensive to those used in the rest of the range?

Just because they want it to be expensive I guess

I will relive you of such imagery +++


http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/a...attro-gmbh.jpg

http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/a...tro-gmbh_2.jpg

Always fancied this thats why i have the images, only came on the LWB A8 4.2 i think

They were mainly Left hand drive and i think the right hand drive model had the bench chair on the passenger side as it could be moved forward from the rear controller, very rare indeed i have never seen one for sale with that spec

found this as well the full brosure http://forums.audiworld.com/showthread.php?t=1756309

wow there is some really nice things in there that make our cars look like the lowest spec that money could buy at the time

Being able to move the passenger seat forward was standard on the UK LWB D2 models, and any model with individual rear seats. It was retrofitted to my last D2 along with just about everything else you could have ticked on the UK options list.... +++

There was 1 D2 S8 in the UK kicking around with that sort of Limo spec in including Audi headrest monitors and pull up dvd drive. It had a brown non-sport interior and blue leather dashboard though. Hope it looked better in the flesh.... :rolleyes:

Nice stuff, but I didn't see picture of the arm rest with the 4 buttons mentioned.

Someone who has seen those arm rests in flesh: is it sposdible to transplant just the buttons and supporting electronics from arm rest with buttons to armrest without buttons?

I bet you any money that its all built in and you have to get the whole armrest!
youre probably best looking for the part number on german ebay etc

Having raided the a8parts archives, I have found this which might help. You can see its a whole different insert, and in these models the first aid kit is relocated to the boot. I had the same ideas as you about a transplant, but its firmly in there. Maybe Elsawin will reveal how it comes apart. I considered also transplanting the whole armrest unit, however the LWB rear backrest is wider and sits at a more reclined angle than the normal seats, so the armrest would maybe not fit.....

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1330030152

Thank you for this Ian. Excellent picture. Will do more digging.

I'm a bit confused as to why LWB backrest is wider...

Sorry, I'm misleading - I mean its deeper, taking advantage of the extra length in the wheelbase.

The width is the same, and I've has LWB seats in a normal SWB D2....

Thank you Ian

Based on that photograph I'm inclined to believe that a retrofit is possible, albeit a bit more difficult than simply undoing a couple screws. I'm down to give it a go though, I'm not sure I'm in need of a first aid kit, that's what emergency services is for. Any idea if this was also a US spec option?

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Audi-A8-6-0-W...#ht_2087wt_932

W12 LWB D2 for sale LHD with the rear toys

Here is standard arm rest. Seems to me geometry is similar.

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1330101761

I looked at ETKA again and my understanding is that *backrests* for LWB and SWB cars with non-adjustable rear seats have the same geometry, since picture 885-60 applies for both LWB and SWB cars.

Backrests for electrically adjustable seats have different design and different armrests. Picture 885-80. LWB and SWB cars with electrically adjustable seats share the same geometry of *backrests*.

I made these conclusions based on how ETKA data is organised on pictures 885-60 and 885-80.

Link :)

OK, I confirm that geometry of armrest with buttons matches geometry of classic arm rest and it is a plug and play operation. +++

Next question: Where is the standard location for the first aid kit in cars with buttons equipped armrest? Somewhere in the boot?

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1331318509

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1331318509

Thats soo subtle lol just the first aid cross on the side different! Im not sure what they did with the first aid kit.

Sergey I'm disappointed that you didnt yet match the baby booster to the leather seats! :D

OK, I've found answer to my question on page 224 of the manual:

* on A8 with remote control in rear armrest the first kit is located in the glove box.

* on Audi A8L with remote control in rear armrest the first kit is located in front of the ski bag. To remove the first aid kit, first open the inside cover on the center partition.

Ah! you found one, that's awesome. Don't suppose you could source a black one and ship it stateside could you? I'd be willing to pay handsomely ;)

Camaro, They appear on eBay from time to time, but this one I just ordered from Audi dealer in Reading :)

P.S. This is not craziest car investment. I'm looking to buy all 4 fully leather door cars and all 4 window frames and I'm looking at cost of £6500.

How much did it run from the dealer if you don't mind my asking? PM if you aren't comfortable posting here. I may have to get someone in the UK to source it from a dealer.

I don't remember exact figure as I also ordered front bumper and other stuff for about £1500 and I've got 7% discount. I think cost of the armrest was around £650.

Sergey, I love your style. There is no other D2 that is more pampered then yours. Have you considered having yours detailed?

71Camaro - Contact Stoke Audi, they will get you the best deal and ship to the USA, if I remeber correctly, they will also ship it ex VAT (sales tax). But shipping may make it a lot more pricey, I'm sure with the correct part number your US dealer can order it in.

I like the thought behind the rear rest with radio controls, but it would drive me batty when people started fiddling with the buttons


Yes I'm a grumpy old man +++

Jeez! That's some serious financial committment there +++ :D

Must chat RNS-E again when I see you next - interested to hear about your next install/hybrid tuner and experience with using the 'old' phone cradle for anything useful!

Would love to install a mount that charges my 4S and would be even better if the RSAP style adaptors like Neil has/had will fit the cradle and use the external antenna.

Biggest problem I can see with mine is that whoever installed the RNS-E removed the existing phone cradle wiring by the looks of it, unless it's hiding under a cover somewhere.....

Sorry that's all a bit off topic :D