Chrome Seat Switch Cap Upgrade

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.


The Audi S5 Sportback is a premium car and with that comes a premium interior, however, that doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement.

The best way to get ideas on how to improve your interior is to look at the facelift version of your car. One of the biggest differences between the B8 and B8.5 S5, in terms of interior trim, is the switch gear.

In the B8.5 S5, a lot more of the switches have chrome details that, when contrasted against the black trim, really lifts the interior sense of luxury.


It's always best to get genuine OEM parts as the quality and fitment is guaranteed, however, in this case I took a punt on a full set of chrome seat switch caps from China. The reasons being, they were so cheap it didn't matter if they were poor quality I could just choose not to fit them, and secondly, the lumbar adjust switch cap had chrome on too, whereas the genuine Audi part didn't.


Update: As the eBay seller I used is no longer selling these, I've now found this seller* on Amazon who sells colour coded caps to match your seats!

I used the seller autoparts0522 on eBay and paid £15.50 delivered, although the delivery took nearly a month (which is fair enough coming from the other side of the world).

Here then, is what fifteen and half of your finest £s gets you; a jiffy bag containing 6 switch caps, each individually sealed in bubble wrap.




First impressions were good, however, when you look a little closer, you can see why they are so cheap. A premium manufacturer would never accept a mould injection point on the visible surface of a switch, unfortunately these caps had one at each end. It's only a tiny defect, but it's there nonetheless.




I wanted to make sure I hadn't just been sent a set from a dodgy batch, so I sent a message off asking the seller if they all had injection points on them. Rather surprisingly, they replied offering me a £5 partial refund, which I'm guessing is code for "yes they do". Better than nothing though I suppose, I certainly wasn't about to pay the shipping to send them back to China...

After graciously accepting the partial refund I fetched out my tool box to see if there was anything I could do to improve them enough that I'd be happy to fit them. Thankfully, the lumbar switch is recessed into the seat valance, which completely hides the injection points on that cap. So it was just the longer caps that would need some attention.

I decided to 'finesse' the caps with my scalpel, to see if I could trim the injection points enough that they became barely visible. The plan worked a treat, after a few minutes of fettling I was happy enough to fit them to the car.





Now came the rather nerve-racking bit, removing the old switch caps. Using a set of plastic trim removal tools I set about prying them off.

If you haven't got a set of plastic trim removal tools I'd definitely recommend picking up a kit like mine. The 11 piece set has the perfect range of tool shapes and sizes, you'd be surprised how useful they are, and how often you use them. Grab a set on Amazon here*.


Referencing the new caps I could see exactly where to lever, but the old ones really didn't want to budge.






Despite a worrying amount of force, mercifully none of the caps or clips broke during removal. Beneath the caps was a layer of dust and grime that had collected on the switches, so I took the opportunity to clean the area up using a detailing brush and a sparing spritz of Autoglym Interior Shampoo*, before fitting the new caps.




Before fitting the new caps I took a few pictures comparing the old with the new.






Finally, I was ready to press the new caps on. It's important to note that the longer caps only fit one way, in hind sight it's probably a good idea to replace one at a time.





Standard Audi OEM vs Aftermarket Chrome








For the price, I have to say I'm extremely happy with how much difference it makes to the interior of the car. You see these switches every time you open the door to climb in, that injection of contrasting chrome really does lift the perception of quality significantly. I'm a stickler for imperfections, but I can honestly say that after tidying up the injection points they really aren't an issue, and are barely visible even when you're looking for them.

Let me know what you think in the comments below, have you done this mod yourself? Were your caps better quality than mine?

Don't forget to subscribe using the Follow by Email widget in the top right for plenty more content to come!