Seat belt caps Audi TT roadster

[jtanenbaum]

All,

I have two plastic caps that cover the seat belt bolts on my tt. The have dried out so I bought some new ones. When I attempts to loosen the bolt, it was on so tight it wouldn’t give. Is this as simple as spraying it to loosen it up or do I have to be real careful?

[A6sport]

Funny you ask, I just had red belts put into my roadster and my shop said they had a pretty tough time getting them loose. I'm sure the used an impact wrench. and yes my plastic caps were broken too!

[jtanenbaum]

I try to do the easy stuff myself and it drives me crazy when it’s not so easy. The bolt is sitting right there. I was trying to use a socket wrench. Won’t move at all. Mine is a 2001 so the plastic bits tend to dry out. Especially the caps which are exposed to the sun. The car only has 20k miles but time dries them out anyway. I was going to go to a mechanic I know and see if he can use his power tool to get them to loosen up. Just wanted to make sure I wasnt crazy that they are extremely tight.

[jtanenbaum]

Figures. I thought the bolt under the caps allows you to thread in the belt. Nope. It’s fastened at the bottom next to the seat. I am hoping I can a socket wrench in there. Otherwise I have to take out the seats and that’s gonna suck. These cars were clearly concept cars because some of the maintenance obstacles are absurd.