Removing interior paneling

[airkevin23]

What tools are used to removed interior panels of the car and to remove those little pins that hold the panels on?

 

[alphabets13]

i remember someone saying there is a $2 tool at autozone that takes those clips right off. looks like afork or something. they said it was very helpful.

 

[macker123]

I have done it many, many times since I painted my entire interior black. You can use a flat head screwdriver to get the first one off and then you can just pull withj your hands and they pop off easy.

You can also use a fork and bend the 4 prongs so that 1,2 and 3,4 are compressed. This way you can use the space between 2 and 3 to stick the rivet between and pull.

 

[alphabets13]

macker, what color was your interior before?

 

[macker123]

I had a light grey headliner, carpet and the entire vinyl was grey with pretty bad fading.

I replaced the headliner with a black vinyl headliner, replaced the carpet with brand new black carpet and painted every single piece of vinyl black with about 5 coats of vinyl paint.

It looks AWESOME. I just need to replace my fabric seats with black leather and I am done the entire interior.

I also sound proofed the entire truck at the same time. Floor, sides, back gate, doors, roof, dash and under the hood. It sounds almost silent minus the wheel noise.

It took 2 weekends to do the major parts friday, saturday, sunday and then a few extra days to do minor stuff. Not hard to do, but it takes patience.

My next step is to coat the wheel wells with truck bedliner to reduce road noise and then undercoat the entire body and I will be done.

 

[alphabets13]

well, i'm impressed. good work.

 

[jgilbs]

if youre trying to pry those plastic retainers out, BE FOREWARNED: you MUST MUST MUST heat up the interior of your truck if you are working in cold weather. i tried to take my rear interior panels off in cold weather, and those plastic plugs just snap right off. a hairdryer would also work to heat them up before removal.

 

[macker123]

Originally posted by alphabets13
well, i'm impressed. good work.

I never had to do that. It was about 5 - 10 Celsius out there. But then again my truck is a 97 so it is only 6 years old. Maybe they aren't brittle yet.