I took all the wooden trim off my car to paint them and figured it was complicated enough to perhaps let you all know how to do it without breaking anything ( I was also encouraged to by some of the members here so I hope this helps ).

I'll do this by part ( they are in no particular order although you can chose to do it in this order ):



1) This part is easy, just pry it out. It feels like you're going to break it but it comes right out.

2) This is also easy, but not as obvious. The part closest to the steering wheel must be pried out. Once it's pried out, all you have to do is SLIDE IT toward the passenger side and it'll come out. You must have the passenger door open for this.

3) Open the ash tray and pull it right out. Disconnect the 12v socket. I did this AFTER I removed the shifter trim ( #4 ) so I don't know if you can do this in reverse order.

4) Just pull it up ( with decent force ) and it'll pop right out. You must unplug the wires leading to the buttons and then you can pull it up high enough to unlock the shifter knob. To unlock it, just TWIST off the lower locking mechanism. You'll see it when you get there.

5) ( this can only be removed AFTER the ash tray is removed ) Unplug all the wires below and remove two TORX screws below the CD Changer. Once the screws are removed, the CD changer will come right out. To remove the trim on the CD changer you must disassemble the changer a good amount. I would recommend against it unless you feel comfortable with it. It's to complex to explain so if anyone has any trouble just PM me. You will probably be better off masking the buttons off.

6) To remove the door trim you MUST remove the door panel. This consists of removing two Torx screws under the arm rest where the door pull is ( remove a plastic panel and they will reveal themselves ). You must also remove a plastic panel where the door meets the dash ( just pull it out ) and remove a torx screw there and unclip the white harness. The you must remove the sail panel ( pull it out ), remove a cover where the striker meets the door lock ( small torx screw ) and unscrew the door lock pin. Once completed, you can pry the door panel off starting from the bottom and once complete you must lift the door panel off the door. Then you can unplug the cables.

The rear panel is similar. The only difference is that once of the torx screws is under the AIRBAG ( I think that's what it says...lol ) logo in the door panel ( just pry it out ) and the other in the ash trays on the doors ( also must be pried out, but be careful as it's tricky ).

After this it becomes obvious on how to remove the trim so I won't get into it. I must say it's a PITA to remove the clips holding the trim so I decided to break them and just put some new clips on.

Anyways, hope I didn't miss anything. If so, let me know. I have yet to do the sliding door in the center console so bare with me...lol.

NICE DIY.
Mods should make this a sticky, but that will probably never happen

Thanks, although a lot of things don't ever make it there even though they should.

lol so true...

Good write up man!

interior looks great. what brand of paint u use for steering wheel

thanks so much for this, it'll make tackling my next project alot easier!

The paint was custom made so it has no brand per say ( at least the can doesn't have a brand ).

Thank guys, If you have any questions on disassembly let me know. I'm still trying to figure out how to remove the center console sliding door without breaking anything...lol.

thanks for the writerup, add to my favorites and also printed out this.

Hi GT ER- how did you deal with chrome strip on dash trim when painting it?

This came out great. Nice DIY list. Do you have more pictures of the interior?

You must pry it off the wood trim. When you are done, you can glue it back on. It'll become more obvious once you see it when removed. It looks easy to break but it's not.

As for more pics, here are the two I took:

Thanks for the quick reply GT-ER
Two more questions
1. What was your solution for the sliding/rolling center console cover? I see that it is open in all of your pictures
2. How durable in terms of scratching, etc have you found the painted trim pieces to be?
The silver looks better than anything else I've seen by the way

Top class write up I'm looking to re-do all of mine in CF so this is a big help!!!!

+1000 000

I took the sliding door out by prying the center console out, it's a PITA but if I remember correctly it's just two screws in the front ( where the gear selector is ) and pry it upward from the rear vents. Then it's pretty obvious as to how to remove the sliding door. I painted it matte black to give it contrast.

As for durability, it's still in mint condition and I've hit it with a few things but the paint has held up flawlessly.

Thanks.

Thread revival from the dead. GT-ER did you paint your sliding door on your center console as well? If so how did you get it out?

Read the post right above yours...lol

Hurrr durrr. Thanks mang.

Haha...no problem.

Hi, I read the post and I am trying to remove my item 2 (in your picture) without success. To pry the trim near the steering wheel, I use a bunch of force and was finally afraid that it would break. I tried sliding it at the passenger door and I could get it to slide about 1/2" and again, it stopped. Any hint will be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Rob.

That's pretty much it...I just pulled near the steering wheel pretty hard and it came out and then I slid the rest toward the pass. side to remove it.

Niceeeeeeeeee

Thank you. I will give it another shot. I'll take a shot before hand though to muster the courage. Rob.

Just did this. Couldn't have done it without this thread so thanks!! Also painted mine silver metallic. Looks amazing. I love it. I screwed up the CD changer cover and ash tray cover and have to redo those because I put them back on too soon before the clear coat completely dried, but the rest looks amazing. I started around 2 today and finished around 10. So it took me nearly 8 hours. Most of that time was waiting for coats of primer, paint and clear to dry for the next coat.

If I had purchased the parts and just did an exchange of parts vs. painting mine, I think this job would have taken less than 2 hours. It is a very simple and easy job, just tedious. The most PITA parts were taking the cover off the CD changer and the brackets off the door trim. I didn't break them so I was able to reuse them. Just hammer them flat and they'll go on again, no problem. Also, the chrome trim on the wood trim has to be broken off. I didn't bother gluing them back on because once everything is tightened down or pushed in, they'll stay in place tight, but I did use double sided tape to hold them in place so I could get the trim back on.

Thanks for the write up. My car looks great and so does yours!

Thanks, and please post pics when you're done.

mine should be wrapped this week too.......CF/white