gggrrrr - how the hell do these come off?

[nickpolo]

well the previous owner of my car (typical, i buy a gti with only one previous woman owner - who liked to wear knuckle dusters whilst driving?)

well the numpty managed to scrape the rubbery finish off the door handles (and evidently fancied a change from the norm occasionally by getting out the passenger side, either that or mrs numpty's husband had a set to wear as well) cos that side was scraped as well.

anyways i thought i might buy a couple of new handles, this was all very easily sorted out for me by those nice guys at VAG parts, and i'm now in possession of some non numptified handles.

sorted.

well...

not.

thought this'd be nice and simple... wrong.... seems like there are lots of screws holding the handle to the door from the other side of the door trim.. how the hell does it come off? i've tried every which way and i stopped because i really didn't want to have to end up buying a whole new door... who would have been a numpty then i tell ya?


anyway, how do i get the door card off peeps?


thanks

[inder]

okay, if you are just changing the 'covers' of the grab handles, these just pop off and the new ones clip in place

if you mean the entire grab handle + 'covers' then yes, the door card has to be removed first, as they are held in place with screws on the reverse side of the door card

just normal philips head screws, undo them, old one out, new one in and screw in place

there is a thread somewhere on the forum with detailed instructions on door card removal

but:

remove the small furry screw on the inside of the door, near the wing mirror

pop off the grab handle

remove the two gold screws, at top and bottom of grab handle

untwist and remove the lock knob at top of door

carefully prise, starting at the bottom, with something that wont damage the paint/door card - will start unclipping from the door metal itself

several clips all the way around, most likely stiff, so do tug hard but be carefull not to break them (cheap to replace anyway)

unclip the wiring for the speaker

unclip the wiring for the electrical wing mirror

unclip the wiring for electric windows

unclip the wiring for door locks

thats about it i think. once done, plug all wires back in and put door card back on (and over the door knob metal piece, make sure its back in line with its hole) and clip secure and put screws back on

hope clear enough

[Alex_6n2]

i think you mite find its a common problem on Polos as well, my 6n2 1.4 has worn handles, its just a case over every day use that rubs it away i think

i want to replace mine when ive got the cash so any advice you could offer once youve done it would be cool

[inder]

I did mine, as I posted, so any help needed, just let me know

[Si_GTi]

Mine are tatty looking too, at the moment haven't gotten round to doing anything about it... might paint 'em, saw it on iceypolo's GTi at VWNW and it looked good, although his is silver so a better look than it would be on my black car?

[ModifiedMadness]

I'd have thought so yeah, don't suppose you'd notice it that much on a Black car, luckliy VW fitted a new one for me before I picked my car up, so they are both pukka

[inder]

It was one of the first things I replaced when I got my car

[tom_mk5]

Mine are tatty looking too, at the moment haven't gotten round to doing anything about it... might paint 'em, saw it on iceypolo's GTi at VWNW and it looked good, although his is silver so a better look than it would be on my black car?

I once saw a GTi at my mates ICE shop that had had the door handles, and parts of the interior trim and centre console painted gloss black. It looked absolutely awesome, the car was also black.