Removing Door Panels

[Naich]

Submitted by boarder211

Let's see if I can remember this from when I took off my panels to put in my 4x6's...Â;-) Sorry, but no pics this time.

First off, grab a small flat-headed screw driver. There's two places you need to go to work on. First off, is the little clip under the door handle... there's 2 screws in there if memory serves me correctly... remove them. Once they're done, remove the reflector on the inside of the door. There's a 2nd screw inside of there. Remove that.

Now, work on pulling away a corner of the panel. I started with the corner nearest to the reflector... you have to pull it pretty hard, because it's being held on by a bunch of plastic clips... these freaking things look like christmas trees, and will catch as you move the paneling further out. Oh yeah... I'm assuming that you shouldn't do it when your car is cool (like below freezing cool), because these little things will probably snap pretty easily.

As you pull the panel farther away, you have to be able to reach up and disconnect the wires from the control panels... just fiddle around on them for a bit to find the clips that hold them on. This is the most annoying part IMO. Once they're off, pull away the rest of the panel and volia! It's done.

Hope that that answers your questions... if you have more, just PM me and I'll do my best to answer them.Â;-)

Additional Information
asked by alerojunkie

My only other question is what do i do if i dont have power windows? Does the handle have to come off before you take the door panel off or does it just come off when you take off the door panel? Im planning on putting in 6.5 components and I just wanted to be able to estimate how much time im going to have to put into this.

response by boarder211

Hey man... all you have to do is take a towel, run it behind the window handel, and give it a consistent pull. That should pop it out. I happen to have power windows, but I believe that I've heard that recommended before.

response by aleromaster

there is a tool to remove window handles. It real cheap only a coupe of dollars. There is basicly a small clip in the handle that catches a groove on the shaft for the window. You just slide the tool behind the crank and push. It releases the clip than the handle just slides off. I did that whole towel thing once before on my first olds and ended up breaking the handle so its worth the few dollars to buy the right tool.

Response by Silentalero

Use this tool if you have manual handles

and here is the pin in the handle

[AJules]

question

I'm trying to get my 4x6s in and I have all the screws out

how do I get my door off without breaking the clips?

It seems like if I just pull, they are going to break

[YALEROYNOT]

they sell a tool or just pull try to get as close to the clip as you can.

[AJules]

yeah I definitely don't have that tool

if I just pull am I going to break them?

[Gr1m]

if you took out the three screws out from the door panel, just pull it off, you shouldnt break anything, start from the bottom middle first when pulling (you should see a little indent in the panel where you can get your hand in it to pry it.

[AJules]

okay i got it

thanks guys

[pimpalero2003]

if you break clips dont worry there cheap