Removing automotive door panels

Yes. But not on a Frontier. Try:

Jon

Most auto inner door panels i've seen are held in place with plastic pop (barb/socket fasteners all round. They sometimes have one edge, say the top edge, hooked under the metal in a narrow channel at the base of the window.

The way to release them usually is to get fingers under the bottom edge and tug sharply outwards to release one or two, then gently pull out the others one by one. If the plastic is a bit old, the fastener barb end sometimes breaks off, which is why you try to do one or two at a time :-). Once you get that done (handles & arm rest off first, usually as well), there is a polythene or some plastic sheet inside to seal the water out and it needs to be peeled off before you can get at the door frame internals, window winders etc...

Regards,

Chris

BIG HELP! Thanks! Now I know where to pry ;-) ...Jim Thompson

I knew there must be some value in all those years of car maintenance :-).

You can usually find the fasteners by the slack between them. If there's not enough gap to get fingers in initially, try a wide blade pallet knife or two to pry the first couple out, then use hands...

Regards,

Chris

Careful: some makers are now using other techniques that prying doesn't work well with.

=A0 =A0 ...Jim Thompson

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=A0 | =A0 =A0 et =A0 =A0 =A0|

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=A0 =A0 =A0 |

Consider yourself lucky.!!!

I ran across a very similar post on Google (while looking for something totally unrelated, of course!!) and in their situation - the door was locked and shut and no way to unlock it. And if you can't get the door open, I suspect it would be pretty damn difficult to take the door panel off ??

And along the same lines... This from a recent show: (your MIT friends Tom & Ray over at CarTalk), apparently a Hearse doesn't have an inside door handle for the "passenger" compartment.

You could always call in your local car thief to get into the car for you using wire, whatever. He might even get enough business to turn it into a legit business and stop stealing cars :-)

A one way trip ?...

Regards,

Chris

When you break the trim retainer, find your local NAPA store. You can buy them by the bag. I found this site recently but have not had to order anything from them (yet)

Don't forget to unscrew the arm rest and take off the window crank.

Hope This Helps! Rich

Any of these should work just fine.

We use them all the time.

Last Thursday (a week ago) son-in-law-to-be asks to borrow my truck so he can pick up a dishwasher. Will return it on Sunday.

I say, "Sure! But be advised you need to lock the passenger-side door with the key."

On Sunday he calls and asks if he can keep it until this Thursday, he has other things that he needs the truck for.

"Sure, no problem". (Ten-year-old truck with only 29,000 miles on it... not like it's an essential part of my life ;-)

Yesterday, when son-in-law-to-be returned the truck, he had repaired the door, changed oil and filter, rotated the tires, fixed the spare, adjusted the rear brakes, fixed a minor drip from the rear-end AND... filled up the tank!

If he owned a liquor store he'd be the perfect son-in-law ;-) ...Jim Thompson

Jim Thompson wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Harbor Freight has 2 or 3 different tool kits for removing door panels.

Beware the hidden screws.

I no longer have a need ;-) ...Jim Thompson

Assuming he's as nice to your daughter as to your truck!

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

So how did he get the door panel off?

Wow! That's one impressive story...

Oooooh! That's one of those, "I know how I got up here. How do I get down?" ;-) ...Jim Thompson

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That's why they won't hire Sloman. :)