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Remove side panel. Remove driver's seatbelt "rose" first and the screw behind it (this is the only screw). Everything else is held in with pop-clips and comes out by pulling from the top of the panel first. The bottom carpet near the floor has two tabs that insert downwards....so pop the top out first then lift the panel up and out. You DO NOT need to remove the speaker, as it turns out. Just unplug it after you get the panel away.
Close up of screw:
Bolt for the reel is accessible just push some of the foam out of the way (the scratched up metal thing on the left is a putty knife I used to hold the foam out of the way to snap a picture):
A 17mm socket will fit by pushing some of the foam out of the way.
Reel removed:
Now pop the seatbelt "rose" trim out and then pop C-pillar trim out a little (no need to remove it) and remove the 17mm bolt for the guide:
Reassembly is reverse of removal....getting the front seat belt "rose"trim back in was the biggest challenge (I just cut the tab off the bottom of it, the lower tab does not retain it at all). Finished:
I did weigh everything...rear seatbelts, hardware, rear seats (not including the subwoofer) and this removes 26 lbs from the car. Now if I could only remove 26 lbs from the driver (me!) I'd been even better off!!
I actually find that with the seats removed you loose storage space because the rear sections fold down creating more space. Might have to out them back in!
Take out all of that dense sound deadening and save another 20 pounds (guesstimate). It is surprisingly heavy.
Also, if you’re going to remove the belts, and you are trimming excess weight, the steel brackets they mount to are bolted in, and could be removed to save some more.
01-07-2018, 08:08 PM
