B Pillar / Seatbelt trim...

M

Miniblob

Member
Can anyone advise if this lower trim can just be prised off, to give acces to the seatbelt mech?
I don't want to break anything!!!

Done some searching, but can't find a process for removing the trim.
My drivers seatbelt drives me nuts! Just doesn't want to retract very quickly at all, so when I'm driving the belt often gets a bit loose and I'm constantly pulling the belt up and feeding it back in!
I've seen something about soaking the belt in a bucket of water to clean it and I'm surr loads of grime would come off, but it doesn't look that bad. Very rare to have a day I'm not driving the car too, so I don't really have a chance to try this trick!
There's gotta be loads of crap/fluff and stuff slowing/stopping it!!!
 
You can pull it away from the pillar at the top, far enough to work on the fuel/alarm switches, but not really far enough to get the seat belt mech out. You need to remove the forward and rearward ('A' & 'C') sill trims first if you want the whole thing to come off. You also have to get under the upper trim as well, to remove the metal bar across the belt if you are going to replace it.

The belt does swell with accumulated dirt and grease, even if it's not that visible, making it harder to retract through the top mount. At least soaking it in a bucket costs nothing and very little effort.
 
Hmmm, not quite as easy as I hoped then!
I'm sure soaking/cleaning the belt would make some difference, but like I say, I'm constantly out in the car, so there's never a time I can do it and then leave it to dry!!!
I might have to do it late and hope it dries overnight!!!
 
Just fitted a replacement I got from @A2Steve this weekend. I tried the various methods described in various threads but they just didn’t work for me and ended up changing. Much better retraction now.

To remove the B Pillar I just eased my fingers under it at the top where the seat belt disapears behind it and gave it a moderate tug which pulled the two retaining clips out.

I wouldn’t recommend it but I was able to change the belt without fully removing the trim, I was able to manipulate it enough to get access to everything I needed, although I was upside down with my head in the rear footwell at one point, not very dignified! Maybe I should start a thread ‘Comedy positions adopted whilst working on A2’

The last thing to note is that the belt runs behind a small metal bar just beneath the B pillar retaining clips. This is held in place with torx screws. This was pretty cruddy on mine so I gave a good clean and then used metal polish on it.

Justin
 
Yeah, I think it's probably just knackered to be honest - 21 years old with 172k on it so...
I've put some silicone spray on it earlier while I was doing some other bits and it didn't seem to make much difference!
Might have to get a replacement at some point - I'll prob get the workshop I use to do it for me though.
I hate interior work at the best of times and got a lot of issues with my back at the moment.... can also come up with plenty more excuses as required 🤣
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top