Piano Black Trim Installation Shortcut Method

[Godfather | Jay]

B5 S4 / A4 Piano Black Trim Installation Shortcut Method Write-up (I modified golfrsi's instructions) Tools Required: * Phillips head screwdriver * Ratchet * 10mm socket * 8mm socket * Flat head screwdriver * Thin, long flathead * Ratchet extension(s) * Thin pry tool (butter knife works or 45 degree pick ideally) * Needle nose pliers * Pry tool (wide pry surface to remove the last clip in the long dash piece - screw driver is too narrow). See pic below. ******* Note: I'm linking to golfrsi's pics, so if they ever disappear, email me and I will host them myself. ******* Step 1: Front Doors... There are 3 phillips head screws that need to be removed from the outside (marked with red arrows). Once the handle screw is out, the plastic trim piece it holds can be moved down - no need to remove it entirely - just enough to expose the screw(s). Step 2: After you have moved the plastic trim down (note: the pic shows it removed, but you don't have to completely remove it), you will see 2 brass screws (1 in the rear doors). Undo these. The door card is now free to remove. Pull up and out. Do not remove all the way out as the handle cable and wires are still connected. Step 3: Once you have the door card away from the door you can lean it in place by resting the lower plastic guides into the holes. With it leaning in place, it's time to remove the trim clips. Pull the foam back and find the 5 clips (4 in the rear doors). Make sure all are removed before you try and pull the trim out. Forgetting one can result in cracking the wood. The easiest way to remove the clips (for the wood trim, aluminum is different - refer to step 10 to see those) is to insert a small flat head into the open end, pull it down or over, and remove it. Once all the clips are out, you might need to manually push the trim out as the vinyl on the door cards will hold it fairly snug. From that point, re-install is the exact opposite. One key point is to remember to feed the lock pin (next to the alarm LED on the top left (on the drivers door) back through the door card when you are sliding it down into position. Step 4: The rear doors are almost identical to the fronts except there are 4 trim clips and only 1 brass screw behind the plastic trim piece in the door handle. It's even easier to get at this screw without entirely removing the plastic door handle trim piece. Step 5: Drivers side lower dash removal... Remove the fuse panel door - this is just clipped in place and your thin pry tool or flat head will get it off very easily being careful not to crack it. Remove the 2 bolts located on the bottom (no pics of these). There are 2 more bolts located on the underside of the lower dash, one on either side of the steering column. These are hidden under rectangular plastic covers that just pull straight off - using a flathead screw driver you can stick it in the lower end of these and slide it till you feel a notch - this is the easiest place to pry from and you will be less likely to scratch anything. There may be a 5th bolt down on the lower right (near the driver's right foot). Once all out, the lower dash just pulls and falls away. Step 6: Passenger side lower dash removal..... Start off by pulling the end cap off the end of your dash board. This is just clipped in place and your thin pry tool or flat head will get it off very easily being careful not to crack it. This will expose 2 screws that need to removed. They are marked by red arrows in the pic. Step 7: Open the glovebox door. Remove contents. There are 2 tabs (marked in red) on either side that stop the door from opening a full 180°. pinch these together so the door swings down like shown here. Step 8: There are 2 screws located to the left of the lower dash. These connect the lower dash to the center console. See the picture. It is taken as if you put you head in the glovebox and looked towards the drivers side of the car. Be careful not to let the left one drop into the abyss. Once these are free, the entire lower box will drop down enough to get at the trim clips. Step 9: Hazard trim piece... This needs to be pulled straight out. There are 6 clips holding it. Here is my shortcut - Being very careful with a wide flathead screwdriver or butter knife (maybe better), insert into the top edge and carefully pull outwards working along the top till it is all evenly out a little bit. Then work in by the cupholder and buttons to pop out there, too. That should do it. See the pictures to understand the clips. Step 10: Small dash piece... Contort yourself so you can see the clip you are attacking. You might be able to see it through a hole near the fuse panel. Using your butter knife or picker, work the 2 clips off the post. Once you get it a little way off, you can use needle nose pliers to get it the rest of the way. It can take some patience depending on how good your tools are. Keep these clips because you will need for the new pieces. once both are free push the posts through the vinyl and remove the trim piece. The pictures show an intact clip and one removed. Step 11: Long dash piece... Now that you know how to remove the clips, you will need to be patient to remove 5 of the 6 here. As you can see in the picture below, the second one from the left is the one that isn't directly accessed using this method. Once you remove the 5 you can reach, it's on to getting the last one off. Using the large pry tool, work it in from underneath right where the clip is shown to be. Pry away carefully. You will likely turn on your hazards and depress other buttons or the cupholder during this process. That's okay just keep working it free. This method is better than prying away and bending the trim from the sides because you may ruin the piece by doing this. Eventually it will pop off and the clip will go off to never never land. That's okay. Just install the new piece with the other 5 clips. It will be fine. Picture is to illustrate where the clips are. You will not remove the center console, etc for the shortcut method. Step 12: Shifter surround... Directions are for a 6 speed since I've never worked on a TIP... Unscrew the shift ****. Reach inside the surround and pull straight up from the front. It will unclip from front to back and than slide forward out from under the ashtray. Install will be the reverse, but you will need to unscrew the shifter boot and bend the aluminum tabs to remove the shifter boot and trim - you'll see I hope. Step 13: Ashtray... Open the ashtray. The trim piece just pops off. I have seen these tabs broken, though, so just take care. I grabbed mine by the top corners and it just popped off without too much effort. Snap on new piece. If you haven't already, bolt the dash, glovebox, and everything back together. Grab a beer and admire your new interior. Here is how mine came out

[BlackS4tt (Josh)]

[Godfather | Jay]

Some other small stuff like not removing the door cards entirely and not needing to remove the door handle plastic trim piece. No biggee there, but it can be difficult to get back in.

Not removing all the center stuff is a HUGE time saver. Sooooo much easier. Look at the pic that highlights the 6 trim clips in the long dash piece - not having to remove all that stuff is kinda nice.

[DocSlowMiniPerson]

[Godfather | Jay]

[lsc2g]

i swapped my wood for the sport aluminum

no way in hell i'm ripping apart the car for that middle pin.. so i pryed the sucker apart like you show.

used a big long flathead to pry the clips off the long trim peice via the glovebox area..
the driver side was a piece of cake

doors were all done in like 30 minutes..

took me a total of about 1.25 hours for the whole deal..

[forced2induce]

[Godfather | Jay]

F$#*ing way I'm ripping it all apart for that one little clip." We had put the radio tools in and were looking at all the things that had to be removed... yeah no.

Do you have pics?

[Godfather | Jay]

Now that was a bit of a PIA. Had to take apart the entire door and go buy a rivet tool... Still less of a PIA than installing ER intercoolers! lol

[SUV]