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Much easier with trim removal tools. I just levered the trim away from the top edge. Pushed another plastic pry tool near to the top fastener then applied pressure with the tool and pull with my hand.
Once you've got the first one out the others are easier but apply pressure around the fastener rather than rip it off.
Sometimes the metal push in fasteners will detach from the trim but generally that's no biggy as you can slot them back in. Be careful not to lose then in the dash if they fall off.
If you have any issues I can always take a pic for you.
"Note
Removal and installation are described for the left vehicle side.
Follow same instructions for the right side as appropriate. – Pull A-pillar trim -1- out of mountings in A-pillar, starting at top.
– In trims with speaker, separate connector."
as Mayhem said you have to put a lot of pressure, do it incrementally.
I grabbed mine and pulled like my life depended on it. ended up in the drivers seat tho once it released. seemed just as bad getting it back together after aswell
Sorry to resurrect this thread, but thought I would share my experience today. Managed to get passenger side off with brute force OK, but the driver side middle clip mount completely snapped off the a-pillar and the lower clip the plastic lip to the clip holder snapped off....
Looking at the very top fitting there is a slot (not on the others), which implies that it should release from the bottom (not the top) then slide slightly up to release the top end.
Just a couple of days ago I was standing by the front passenger door of my 1.2 and was musing over whether to remove the A-pillar trim to explore the possibility of fitting a GPS antenna capsule underneath. But something else intervened and the task got shelved. I'll still need to revisit it in due course, though, and so learning how to remove that trim from others will be highly useful.
I presume that, with regard to the metal clip, the winged part fits into the slot in each 'pedestal' on the back of the trim, and the pointy bit of the clip pushes into a square-ish hole in the pillar? Right? If so, then looking at the image provided, lifting from the bottom wouldn't make sense, as each clip would surely be pushing against a blind end in its pedestal? The official instructions say to pull away from the top, in any event.
I really empathise with those of you who've found it inordinately difficult, and seemingly impossible in some cases, to remove this and all sorts of other trims. I'm of the opinion that we're suffering from a malaise within the car industry where there's been a move to reducing on the vehicle to the absolute minimum the otherwise normal usage of metal fasteners (machine screws, self-tappers, etc), replacing what would have been the metal fastener by a concealed, plasticised arrangement. I've not been convinced that this has been a good move, not least because it means the manufacturers are using more and more plastics, many of which could end up polluting the environment. But then to approach the rigidity and mechanical security previously achieved with metal fasteners, especially screw types, the industry has obviously found that the plastic surplant requires a super-tight fitting; it becomes almost a one-way process - the item's easily fittable, but is inordinately difficult to reverse in a non-destructive way. Clearly, the use of clip-on parts, rather than screw-down parts, makes for faster production-line assembly too. Hence the difficulties we all now find when dealing with concealed plastics-based fastenings. Try removing various bits of the exterior front grille on most 6C's, for instance!
Don't get me wrong, plastics have their place in car technology but I don't think the industry's got it right when it comes to disassembly. Naturally, if a DIYer breaks the item while removing it, then the DIYer has to accept the cost for a new piece. And I daresay that if an official VW workshop instead breaks the item, then the cost of replacement will simply get added to the customer's bill. So, either way, us end customers lose out.
Observations aside, though, this isn't helping the problem in hand. All I can suggest is to try, with a bit of leverage, to pull away the top of the A-pillar trim sufficient to see how the topmost clip functions. Then tackle the job accordingly, levering around the site of each clip with a suitable tool. It might be that if you can release at least the topmost clip completely you can push the trim downward and the other metal clips may then slide out of their pedestals. But I'm only theorising. That way, you'd be left with some of the clips still in the pillar itself. But then squeezing the wings and pulling with some combi pliers should then allow them to be withdrawn and re-used.
marky9074 wrote: ↑Tue Sep 25, 2018 10:20 pm
Sorry to resurrect this thread, but thought I would share my experience today. Managed to get passenger side off with brute force OK, but the driver side middle clip mount completely snapped off the a-pillar and the lower clip the plastic lip to the clip holder snapped off....
Looking at the very top fitting there is a slot (not on the others), which implies that it should release from the bottom (not the top) then slide slightly up to release the top end.
It's not super clear what you mean, but you can put the clips back in, but realistically they don't matter as long as you have one.
The problem with everyone trying to remove this trim, is you're being too gentle. If you're gentle with car trim pieces you WILL break it, if you're heavy handed you'll end up doing it perfectly.
Pull it out from the clips and then slide it up, that's all it takes.
I know the instructions say from the top, but to me I don't understand why there is an enlarged slot for the first clip. The only way you could release the first clip (via the larger slot) is to slide it up. However, that said, the way the clips are slotted into the mouldings, the only way they would slide out (of the mouldings) is to slide the trim down (towards the dash).
Believe me, as others have said, it took so much force I was almost in the drivers side when pulling the near side off... I thought having been successful on that side the drivers would come off easier. But yes, I literally snapped off that part of the moulding from the main trim (the complete rectangular stand-off part).
This YouTube video for a Golf is the same, but he seems to get it off with trim tools. Note that he has managed to slide it out, leaving all the trim clips still in the slots....
