How do I remove the silver trim from the doors?

[55V8]

Nice work! The close up shot of the door trim looks particularly awesome!
So the only prep you did was clean the pieces right? No sanding and using 3M primer?

Also, can you elaborate on these?

1: Lift up the shifter plate and remove. (Will need to unscrew shift knob and pop out light bulb)
-So there is no pre-requisite to removing the shifter plate and knob?
-Where is the shift knob screw located?

2: Lift up (in the front) and remove trim which console lid sits down on.
-Can you give more details on the trim that needs to remove? I'm having a hard time visualizing which one you are pertaining to.
-No need to take off the wood grain trim at the center console?

 

[Caustic]

Thanks!

Sure I can elaborate:

No, I did not do any sanding or primer. In fact, sanding would be detrimental to the process since there will be less contact area for the vinyl, and more opportunity for bubbles. With this said, you will need to make sure you have a solid surface to put the vinyl on so if there is any peeling going on it will need to be removed somehow. If you DO need to sand, use the finest grit possible. Primer might not be a bad idea, but I find the vinyl sticks 100% fine without it.

1) The silver portion of the shifter plate is attached with screws from the back side of the larger black portion below it. The black portion (along with the attached silver) pops out by pulling it straight up. There is nothing to hold onto, so gently using a flathead screwdriver on the side of the black plate helps. Then if you want to recover the silver portion, you unscrew 4 screws from the backside of the black/silver assembly. Once you pop it off, you will see it is pretty simple. There is no screw on the shift knob - it simply unscrews counter clockwise.

2) If you lift up the console lid (the big one your right arm sits on), it is not a solid piece under it that it sits on. It's actually a trim piece you need to remove before you can remove the silver trim from the console. To remove this black trim piece under the console lid, pull it upward from the front portion of the console box. (Right below where the handle would be on the lid if it was closed) Keep in mind this pertains to the earlier models with 1 solid lid. If someone was doing this with the 2pc split lid it might be different.

As far as the woodgrain parts go - I forgot to mention them and will modify my original post. They DO need to be removed.

 

[jk240sx]

WOW! That turned out fantastic. You used the 3M 1080? I helped wrap my buddies' '10 Passat using 1080 and it was a joy to work with compared with past experience using lesser quality films. we wrapped the entire interior in aluminum & black carbon fiber and it looked great. His car is used by Unitronic as a west coast show car. The car is white with black interior. The interior turned out so good, we wrapped the roof in gloss black a few weeks later. Good squeegees are a must.

I intend on wrapping the CX down the road when the interior parts start showing wear. I can't wait to wrap the faux wood dash inserts, I can't stand plastic wood!

 

[Caustic]

Yup... 3M 1080 Scotchprint. Specifically made for vehicles actually.

I actually like the "wood". To me, it warms up an otherwise kinda sterile interior.

Yes - quality squeeges are good for two reasons:
1) They get bubbles out of flat areas far better than your hand ever could, and
2) They can get into the nooks and crannies to push vinyl down without damaging it. You can see where I pushed in the vinyl on the silver shift plate on the right side of the shifter - where the black strip of glossy plastic used to be. Harder to do that without a quality tool. I decided I'm actually going to cut out that side as well rather than just leave it covered like it is in the pictures.

And that's another good tip as well. Before I cut out the vinyl on the silver shift plate to reveal the gear numbers on the left of the shifter, I heated the vinyl and pushed it deep into the seam between the black plastic and the silver shift plate. This way, I had a nice groove which the xacto knife followed to make a perfect cut.

 

[55V8]

Thanks Caustic! I'm now confident enough give the center console trims a shot. I'm still undecided between brushed titanium and gloss white aluminum. My wife prefers the latter though.

As for the rear door trims, I thought they just pull out the same as the fronts? I'll give it a shot and let you know if I'm successful at removing them.

And just to confirm, the eBay auction no. you got the 3M Brushed Titanium from (with the correct 60" of grain) is #120750842360 right?

 

[Caustic]

That's the stuff, 55V8. Same seller and everything.

You can go with that white aluminum, but I did find (and you can see in my first pic) that the aluminum I first tried was just TOO white. Hopefully if you go with that product it will not turn out as white as mine did. It looks good in your pic of those samples though.

Furthermore, I really like the brushed look. I was comparing the front armrests to the rear ones which aren't yet refinished, and I actually prefer the ones I modified over stock. It would be nice if it was just a tad brighter though.

I tried pulling off the rear trim like I did the front ones. I put quite a bit of force behind it, and it appeared that the plastic was stressing in an area about 1/3 of the way in. (Towards the rear of the vehicle). I also read somewhere that there might have been a screw involved so I opted not to force it any more than I already did. simply laying the vinyl right on the armrest would be tricky too because the pad that sits on top would get in the way of any accurate vinyl cutting while attached. Even without that pad there it would still be pretty tricky working with the vinyl with the trim piece still attached.

For now, I'm just gonna leave it. But if you do come up with any glorious ways to get that trim off, I'm all ears.

 

[55V8]

"3: Lift up (in the front) and remove trim which console lid sits down on."

I tried doing this, but that trim seems to be stuck. Do you really just pull it up from the front portion and it's not held by any screws? No need to remove the lid first too?

 

[Caustic]

It is very firmly in place. Make sure you lift from the front because each side on the rear has tabs which slot in and they will not release no matter how hard you pull up from the rear. But yes - it is just friction tabs and no screws on that part.

Make sure too you're pulling on the correct part. As I said - this is the black trim that the lid sits down on. You should see the seam of the trim as it attaches to the console box. You'll have to pull it upward from the inside of the console box.

You can live the lid on..... just lift it up so it is out of the way.

Here's a picture of the newer double-armrest style. While the part is entirely different than our single-pad design, you can see the trim below the armrest pads which is essentially the same kind of part you want to remove.

Here's a real pic which is more obvious. You need to pull up the u-shaped black trim just inside the inner edge of the console cavity. If you pull up from the area where the armrest latches into, it *does* come free with enough force.

 

[55V8]

Yeah, that's the exact trim I was trying to pull off. I'm pulling it out exactly at that latch area where there's a hole and I can hook my fingers from underneath. I applied a good amount of force but the sides wouldn't budge. It was almost bending at the center part where I'm pulling, so I decided to leave it for now for fear of breaking it. I'll try again later.

Thanks again for the detailed info.

 

[Caustic]

Try it from one of the sides (close to the front) first. I believe that is where it "gave" when I was yanking on it.

I suppose it was fastened differently betwen 2007 and 2008 but I kinda doubt it. You can also try using a tape-covered screwdriver for leverage maybe?