I'm planning on replacing my drivers side auto seatbelt track and motor. I also happen to be the master of breaking interior plastic pieces. I was hoping someone could give me some pointers on where to pry and pull to avoid breaking my A/B pillar plastic and the plastic trim that runs across the top from the A pillar back to the C pillar. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Don't touch them!

But seriously the plastics just get hard and brittle over time. Blame those 80's chemical engineers. A very gentle hand and a trim clip remover are a necessity. I like to wrap my clip remover and a flat head screwdriver with a few layers of electrical tape too so they don't mar up any surfaces. Good luck.

The ones on the side over the windows is the tricky one. I can't recall exactly how to do it, so maybe someone else will chime in. I think you have to lift that one upwards to get it released.

Try to use a heat gun and GENTLY warm up the panels. I usually use this method with plastic on wires when it is hard and etc. The keyword here is GENTLY /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif The plastic might become a bit more flexible. However, I'm not sure what is going to happen with color or the panel might warp if you overheat it

Just went downstairs and pulled mine off the shelf and set them against a tape. I didn't have pics when I tried to pull these off...notice they're both broken /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif Anyway, if you zoom you can see where/how they're connected, which may help you develop a safe method. Notice the back is held with metal slip-on clips, and the fronts have pads with tiny opposing mushrooms that lock into each other when pressed together. If you can first separate the lock pads in the front maybe you can then get the trim off the metal clips by moving it downward. Looking inside the car, the other end of the clips attach to the sunroof panel. Also think it would go better if you removed the pillar panels first.
EDIT: These pictures show the panels upside down.

Those pics are exactly what I needed!! Thank you! Took me a minute to figure out the orientation of the photos/parts. Overall that gives me a good idea on where to pry. Some pics of the entire backsides of the panels would also be very helpful as well.. if you have the time, no worries if not.

I was going to let the car bake in the summer sun for a while before disassembling. I may break out the heat gun as well. My interior is in such great condition I'd hate to bust anything. If it goes south I'm sure I'll have a WTB add posted for some new trim panels, haha.

Thanks again guys!!

I have entire interior if you need parts. Pretty good condition. Dark gray color.

Quoting highrpm666:
...Some pics of the entire backsides of the panels would also be very helpful as well.. if you have the time, no worries if not. ...



The pictures are of the backs of TWO driver's side pieces. (Yes, I broke two /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif) Put the bottom picture next to the top one, overlay them a few inches and you'll have the whole piece with dimensions. Bottom one shown is missing the front half. Front of car is to the right. I don't have the other parts removed. But found a couple of pages in the manual that may be useful. Notice comments in red.

Thank you! That helps me out so much more. You rock man!!

I just pulled mine out the other day. They seem to go straight down if I remember right, but I couldn't wiggle them out until the dash was loose. Go figure mine are mint, yet when I took the pass front seat out I saw my driveway. Poor car..