Wing mirror mount - door trim removal?

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wbryan

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My A2 was subject to 'idiots with footballs' in a car park that has resulted in me having to buy a whole new wing-mirror assembly. This includes the actual mount that is attached to the door itself. It appears that the mount is held by a bolt that passes through the door and is covered by the little triangle of plastic trim on the inside corner of the glass. In turn this is trapped behind the top portion of the door trim, that has the door handle in it.

Has anyone here removed the door trims at any time and if so could they give me any tips? The actually door arm-rest appears to be bolted on with two screws hidden underneath, but undoing these didn't seem to free anything.

Thanks.
 
The door trim is fixed to the door by two means:
1. 'bolts' (torx type screws, of which you found two, but there are 3)
2. 'clips' or 'studs', around the outer edges (6 or so)

The screws can be found near the handle (and then I mean where you grab the door, not the metal thing to actually open the door). Take care not to lose them to the innards of the trim when you taken them out. You found those already.
The third screw can be found behind the grille of the tweeter (in front of the door opener handle). Pry off the grille with a flat screwdriver and it flies right off.

Then you need to unclip the studs on the outer edges. There is a small semi-circular hole at the bottom of the trim, in the middle of the door. Start by pulling there, straight out from the door.
The first time it will take quite a bit of effort and also make a lot of noise. Don't worry too much, it will stay in one piece. Unless you start ripping like BamBam ;)

There were some pictures on this forum of the approximate positions of the studs. I've kept a bookmark to this page:

http://www.megapixel.dk/albums/visalbum.php?id=2117&page=1&kode=123456

See the first picture.

Anyway, after unclipping the studs you can remove the trim by sliding it upwards a bit (it hooks behind the door where it meets the glass, at the top) and then away from the door. Speaks for itself.

Although you probably won't need it, you can unhook the lock-release cable and some other electrical cabling to reallt move the trim far away from the door. But if you only need to unhook the mirror trim, I'd keep it fixed (especially the driver's side, where I couldn't unhook the electrical bit easily. Passenger side is easy though).

BTW, also make sure that the studs are still in one piece after pulling them. Sometimes half of it stays in the door. They should be repositioned for refitting. After doing this about 6 times myself, I never had a broken one, so don't worry.

Hope that helps.
And o, welcome to the forum! :)

Edo





--
(2003 Silver 1.4 Tdi Exclusive(SE), 95bhp/235Nm chiptuned by ABT, black interior, sport seats, heated mirrors, JVC KD-SH909RB cd-receiver, Infinity Kappa 63.1 + Vifa on-dash tweeters, 12" Subwoofer on 300w Amp)
 
Thank you very much, that's just the info I needed. I had noticed the hole in the bottom of the trim and assumed it was the starting point. I'll give this a bit of brute force at the weekend and let the forum know how I get on.

Thanks again,

Will
 
Swiv, when you take the panel off, can you disassemble the grab handle (ie where the 2 Torx screws are) from the main panel? I still want to glue all these bits together to kill off the rattles. I thought if I took it all apart and threw epoxy everywhere.....
Thanks
 
Hi Mark,

I think you will have a hard time taking it apart. If I recall correctly, the entire trim is made up of some material that, to me, looked like some sort of epoxy/fiberglass composition. But brownish instead of white/transparent.

Attached to this fibre-stuff are the plastic parts, which mostly seemed fixed by a melted/squashed rod through a hole in the fibre-stuff. So taking it apart is a one-way, destructive operation, IMO.

So although it might be hard to place glue or resin in the right place, you might try firming it all up by stuffing it with some sort of foam. Or if you're brave: some of that expanding construction foam this is normally used to fill gaps between walls and ceilings (it's called PUR-foam in the Netherlands, but I don't know the English word for it). Nasty stuff if applied incorrectly, but I already read some stories about it being used as a sound deadening solution in trunk lids and doors.
Personally, I inserted some loudspeaker stuffing (the white stuff which looks like wool, but is synthetic) in most empty gaps. My trim doesn't really rattle (apart from the odd creak when you grab the large handle). It's my door rubbers that drive me crazy!

Go ahead and remove the trim so you can see for yourself. You could turn out to be a lot more creative than I am/was ;)

Edo

--
(2003 Silver 1.4 Tdi Exclusive(SE), 95bhp/235Nm chiptuned by ABT, black interior, sport seats, heated mirrors, JVC KD-SH909RB cd-receiver, Infinity Kappa 63.1 + Vifa on-dash tweeters, 12" Subwoofer on 300w Amp)
 
Fair enough, not worth the grief. I hoped that there would be bolts holding the grip on, but they'd be dangerous in an accident. Presumably the whole thing is designed to squash in a side impacts

Thanks
 
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