removing interior trim pieces

[audi-tone]

Hey fellas, i'm going to be either painting or vinyl wrapping my interior trim pieces and was wondering if there are any guides to getting th pieces off? i know how to do the door levers but wondering about the trim around the stereo and climatronic system? or can i simply slowly pry them off?
cheers

Hey Fellas, put the vinyl on yesterday and today (took me about 2.5hrs all up i reckon) I'm so happy with the results. really does look nice. Was extremely easy to work with. just needs some heat (hairdryer) and it moulded very easily.
Here are some pics:

[Rybky]

Check th FAQ and DIY sticky thread at the top of this forum, there is a link to the VWVortex DIY thread that has a huge section on interior DIY including trim removal.

That would be the place to start.

Adam

[BI65ND]

Hey fellas, i'm going to be either painting or vinyl wrapping my interior trim pieces and was wondering if there are any guides to getting th pieces off? i know how to do the door levers but wondering about the trim around the stereo and climatronic system? or can i simply slowly pry them off?
cheers

The bottom pieces around the climatronic and below that pretty much pop off, the other bits can be a biatch. The clips that hold the side trim pieces in place are very flimsy. Whoever had the car before me had buster basically all the clips off mine so Ive had to replace the whole cradle that holds everything (CD player, pocket, climatronic unit) in place. Not sure on how you get them off properly, because I just put the new ones in when I got the new cradle, and dont plan on touching them again! There's a special tool you can get for it

[audi-tone]

hmm, i've check on vortex. problem is their forums are all borked at the moment and i cant get to that particular thread! shame they had to change all of the forum software..

i'll keep searching! thanks fellas

[TazzyVR6]

I've got the alloy trim pieces and have been installing them slowly. There aren't really any good DIY guides on vortex specifically for this topic, and the ones that are have dud links to their pictures. So far I've replaced the ash tray cover using this thread as a guide:
Oh, just went over to vortex to get links but not one link is working on the diy section.

Cup Holder
The cup holder is very easy to take out. Just locate two vertical small silver tabs about 3-4mm long that are at either end of the cup holder and get a screw driver (or I had to use a sharp knife on one of mine) and move them both in towards the centre and you'll be able to pull the cup holder straight out. To take the flap of depends on the model of your cup holder, mine had two silver arms at either end and just poping a screw driver under these to lift them up worked fine, but be VERY careful! I broke the little post on the stock flap which will mean you wont be able to re use it unless you can superglue it back on and also, the metal arms are very flimsy and easily bent if not careful.

Ash Tray
For the ash tray, remove the little bin, undo the screw (I think it's a hex head), then you'll see there are two little flaps down the bottom that were under the bin, get two screw drivers and gentle lift them up just 1 or 2mm and at the same time push the whole assemble towards the engine, this should free the assemble and then simple lift it out and unplug the cigarette lighter. To remove cover you'll need to use resonable force just to unclip the little posts from their retainers, don't worry, nothing should break.

The climatronic surround.
I haven't actually taken this one out yet. But to get the bottom clips out just take off the bottom piece of trim and then you'll see there are two recesses in the bottom of the climatronic surround, place a screwdriver in these spots and jimmy it out against the side console. To get the top clips out, i'm guessing you need to take the cd player out (as I have no room to get a screw driver in between!) and then jimmy it from above. As for the side pieces I'm assuming I have to take the whole side console out so there is room to push them downwards (as they are the post type clips like the ash tray cover).

Hope this helps a bit. And be careful you don't break your trim cage!
Cheers

[audi-tone]

thanks dude, that'll help alright.
I'm using the 3M Di-Noc Dry Carbon Vinyl if anyone's interested!
Carbon Fiber Film

i'll post some before and after when i'm done. should be tuesday or wednesday next week!

[JustCruisn]

I saw this stuff on ECS the other week.
Tell me when you are done, I wanna come see it in person.
ECS looks to be a bit cheaper too Home Page > Search > DI-NOC - ECS Tuning Inc Not sure about shipping though.

[audi-tone]

thought about ecs but i want it asap. i'm getting it from here:
3M Di-Noc Carbon Fiber Vinyl Film Wrap CA- 421 ~ Fibre | Auto Body Parts | Gumtree Sydney City
he's also on ebay:
eBay Seller: sublimecarbon: Cars, Bikes, Boats items on eBay Australia

and the prices are pretty good i thought. i'm getting 1m x 1.22m for $129 express posted.
but you can get smaller or bigger..
I'll let ya know, hopefully it wont be too hard to actually apply it!

[audi-tone]

Updated with pics.

[Speed]

Looks great.
How do you manage to get around the curved surfices?

[Manaz]

Looks great.
How do you manage to get around the curved surfices?

Do some searches for this stuff - you can mould it around quite complex shapes using heat (it shrinks it down to the underlying surface without distorting the CF pattern).

[goodfella]

AWESOME, I was just thinking of doing the same !!!

[Rybky]

My concern with any "stick on" trim like this is how it will cope on a hot summer day, on a 35C day parked in the sun the interior temp is going to get extreme and I would be worried that the trim will start to peel off.

Adam

[graeme86]

The climatronic trim comes off without taking out the radio, (although it is much easier)...just pull it off at the bottom a bit and you can see two tabs about 2 -3 cm in from each end. There are similar tabs on the top. Just keep it all as square as possible and pop it up on each side once you get the bottom unclipped.

The vertical side trims just slide DOWN vertically about a cm to disengage the clips...do not just pull them off or you will break the very fragile plastic slotted clips.
If they havent been off before they are very tight.