ok so i clearly have been looking at the differences of the 98-01 grill and the 02-04 grills. and i know that the 02 and up are more sharped edged and dont have a small gap on the bottom where the chrome is.. i was wondering if anyone has atempted to retrofit a 02-04 grill into a 98-01 a6 i know there would be some trimming of the front of the hood but i want to know if this could be done with out it looking like sh=t.

thanks.

 

I think that this would be really difficult, I didn't like my pre-facelift grilles so I DIY'ed all the front grilles to an RS looking expanded aluminum

 

that sounds really cool. do you have a few pics? idk i still might order one of the grills and see if its a huge change, i might just dremel it to fit....

 

The 2002+ grille will not fit the 1998-2001 hood because of the shape of the opening.

 

obviously it will not just pop in i didnt ask if it would.. but i was sayin has anyone ever "RETROFITTED" the newer grill on the older a6...........i was thinkin about atempting this.

 

best way to do it would be to have something "fall" on your hood, then you could get the facelift hood, which would allow you to get the grill for it. Thats what I want to do, I also want those sexy 4.2 fenders too though...

 

well my whole front end was just repainted before i bought the car, the doctor who owned it had it all repaited because of the stone chips. so it looks perfect but i just want the damn grill.. i want to get a grill used for cheap and turn it backwards and hold it up to it and see if it would be alot of cutting... idk i love the flares too but i think its wide enough.

 

Not a bad idea, but I looked into this as well (for my 2001 2.7T I owned previously). I had a small "oops" and needed a new hood, front bumper, passenger side quarter panel, and headlight (among a few other things. Conversion to the facelifted 2002+ would require different headlamps (the 2002+ are a different shape) and with the different headlamps, also would require different front quarter panels as well (the shape of the headlight cutouts). Considering the fact that I would need to buy an additional xenon headlamp, plus an extra fender (plus paint), it was way too much extra work and $ involved so I skipped it, and just had the 2001 parts installed.

 

well i have the 02+ headlights already because i wanted bixenons and the bigger projectors. theres just a tiny gap between the headlight and the grill but no ones ever noticed it and it doesnt look out of place unless you stare at it for a while. but i like it.. i also painted the cut off sheild inside the projector for more purple affect. . i dont want to spend money getting a new bumper and stuff. but idk ill think of something id just like to do it to have the newer grill..

 

So the 2002+ headlights fit in the fender cutouts fine? Nice to know. I wonder why my audi body shop told me otherwise...probably just to talk me out of the conversion I suppose.

Anyway, if you look at how the grilles are affixed to the hood opening between 2001 and earlier and 2002+ you will see that it would not be an easy retrofit. The bar taht goes along the bottom of the 2002+ hood is there for support, and the rest is shaped to be hidden behind the grill's lower edge. The 2001 and earlier hood has support plus a cosmetic layer.

I suppose you could find a way to alter that lower bar on the 2001 hood, but I am not convinced that the rest of the hood opening is the right shape. I never did a template comparison to see the actual difference. Might be worth pursuing if you are that motivated to make that change.

Otherwise, you are left with the limited OEM and aftermarket options available for the pre-facelift A6s...not taht many. Some on LLTEK.com.