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I would definitely pay the incremental for these leather pieces. My TTS has them and it's one less thing to worry about but honestly the previous owners of my C4s must have had claws like the 'Brother from Another Planet"
That's one of the things I love about my interior CF trim - it's very durable and wears well. You can also adhere things to it like remotes for integrated radar/laser system, noselift kit, phone mount, etc and it comes off cleanly without any damage if you need to move it or swap it. My CF door spears look like the day I installed them.
I would definitely pay the incremental for these leather pieces. My TTS has them and it's one less thing to worry about but honestly the previous owners of my C4s must have had claws like the 'Brother from Another Planet"
It took me forever to sand all the interior pieces. I was pushing that job out and was lazy. btw I HATE sanding!
The second door handle trim plastic was very soft and I broke all tabs when I pulled it off. The drill out went fine but when I pulled, all tabs broke on the bottom.
I ordered both sides new from Suncoast to have matching fresh trims.
Just in black to have them painted in body color.
@Zettinger@Petza914@Domer911@ThunderRolls - I know this is an old thread, but I'm looking to tackle this on my 997 this spring. Can you confirm if what I'm proposing below is the best approach? I'm pretty good with interior disassembly, but I'd say I'm a below average mechanic at best. Things typically take me 2x longer than others. I'm thinking about picking up a $150 door panel off eBay to practice on before I DIY it on my 997 GT3.
1) remove door panel, I will buy all new hardware for reassembly time
2) take soldering iron and remove the old plastic rivets. Is drilling better? Or would you definitely recommend soldering iron? Any tips here? Trim should now come off.
3) take screws (of unknown size, I will buy many and see what is best) and use those to secure the door spears in place. Prior to doing this I'll need to trim the long tabs off of the spears. Do I need a Dremel for this, or will sharp metal snips work? How much do you recommend trimming or will it be obvious? Would it be wise to try the plastic weld method first and then if that doesn't work try screws? Or would everyone saw screws is best? What happens if fitment isn't perfect the first time, do I just unscrew and readjust or will there be looseness then if I have to unscrew and secure again?
I know it's a lot of questions, but I plan to buy the leather door spears when installing on my 997 so I don't want to waste a $350 part.
I plan to disconnect the battery since I'll be working near the airbag, or is that not necessary?
I definitely could pay someone to do it but I bet there's considerable cost savings DIY'ing this and I may even be a bit more careful since I'm pretty particular on these things.
Have some new door panel clips on hand - probably 2 or 3 per side may break, but you don't need all new ones. Metal threaded fasteners don't need to be replaced.
Yes, use a soldering iron to melt the pins. Use a pry tool on the other side to create a little tension so you know when it's hot enough to release that pin and work your way around one at a time until the piece is free. Once it releases, keep light pressure on the ory tool so it doesn't reattach as the plastic cools.
Then use a plastic edge tool or a drill bit to clean up the holes a bit so the plastic isn't rough from the melting process. Be careful about making the holes too large as you'll need the screw head to be able to seat against it.
Then, with the new piece, fit it into the door panel and mark each plastic pin where it's flush with the door panel. You're going to cut them off just below this mark (maybe 2-3mm below) on the pin so they don't bottom out against the screw head when putting them back together - you need enough space for the screw to be able to seat against the back side of the door panel and pull the door spear in tight without the plastic pin bottoming out against the screw head.
The melting method just doesn't work as well - skip that for a first attempt and just go with the screws. I use one of those cutters that's like a scissor but holds a razor blade and cuts against a plastic cutting block so it doesn't crush the hollow plastic pin; makes a nice clean cut exactly where I want it.
Then just put the screws into the hollow tubes of the new door spear and tighten each until you get the fit perfect against the door panel. Put some thin adhesive foam insulation pieces on top of the screw heads so they don't rattle against the metal door skin.
Reassemble the door panel. Don't forget to temporarily reattach the silver inner pull handle so you can make that fit.pwrfext with the new door spear by adjusting the assembly held on by the 3 screw on the backside of the door panel. If that handle doesn't fit right, not only will it look crappy, but the window drop and rose won't work right.
Temporarily refit this silver handle BEFORE reinstalling the door panel
...so you can adjust this piece on the back of the door panel to make the silver handle fit right. Then tighten the 3 screws and remove the silver handle again so you can reinstall the panel. One of the fasteners is behind it behind that round cover.
This molded.pin needs to line up with the microswitch hole in the door spear for the window drop and rise to work. The window drops when the switch comes out and rises when the pin pushes on the switch once the door is closed.
05-17-2019, 12:28 PM
