Alfa 75 C pillar vent cover removal

[Hudders]

Hi all, I was hoping someone might be able to tell me the best way to remove these covers going down the C pillar, I've seen pictures of them removed but I can't seem to pull them off. Any tips would be most helpful.

[Colin Edwards]

Hi Hudders,

Haven't done this myself, however the workshop manual describes removing the pillar moulding via "heating the lower side of molding itself with a jet of warm air."  Seems the peice of trim is held in place with three (3) "clamps" (clips?) and some heat sensitive adheasive.  Using a hair dryer would likely soften the double sided tape stuck to the "lower side of the molding".

See attached snip from manual.

Colin

[Hudders]

That's very helpful, I'll get the wife's hairdryer on it and try again.

[ACE]

Hudders,

Its a while since I had one off, but here is a pic of the trim removed to paint the "C" pillar.
Unfortunately the important bits are masked for painting - but it might help give you the idea of where the attachment points are.

The red circles indicate the attachment points. There might be another in the vicinity of the yellow circle too.
The important thing to note is that the trim panel comes off directly away from the "C" pillar - i.e. pull it straight out (horizontally) from the side of the car - as if it was attached to the rear screen, and you were trying to drag the rear screen across the car!

Good luck.

[Hudders]

I refuse to be beaten but so far they are staying very firmly on. I've had a plastic lever underneath all round and still it wont come off, also had a heat gun blasting air under it as per the instructions and still it wont shift, I'm putting a lot of pressure into the moulding and the body panel is flexing lots, I don't want to cause damage so I'm going to stop for now and try again tomorrow.

For those that have removed the panels, do you remember them being stubborn to remove, I'm wondering if these have been bonded in or something, and did you use any lever tools or just your hands.

[ACE]

" do you remember them being stubborn to remove, ..." Yes.
"I'm wondering if these have been bonded in or something" yes
" and did you use any lever tools " yes.

as I said, it was a while ago, so recollections are hazy.

There are pegs on the back of the cover that fit into grommets in the holes in the "C" pillar.
There was also a LOT of sticky mastic holding the cover to the pillar. This appeared original, but it may have been due to a previous removal and refit ?
I used a little heat, but sparingly. I was concerned that heat was more likely to damage the cover as you can't aim the heat under the cover where the problem lies.
I used plastic trim removal tools to lever the cover.
BUT, I did it SLOWLY, using constant pressure but not a lot of force, allowing the cover eventually to move just a little. Once it started to move, heat could be used more effectively.
As I recall, the trick was to get it to lift directly away from the "C" pillar so the pegs can pull straight out of the holes.

[ACE]

Another thought ...

When I did it, the ambient temperature would have been around 25C +/-5
I suspect that it may be a bit cooler where you are, and if so the mastic is probably a LOT less pliable for you.

[bazzbazz]

Another suggestion may be to remove the interior rear pillar trim, where you may have access to the plugs from the inside, allowing you to maybe push out from the inside.

Just a thought.

[Beatle]

You might find something useful here:  http://www.alfaclubvic.org.au/forum/index.php?topic=9359.msg65581#msg65581

Take note of the real risk of dimpling the panels when applying force to prise them off, but the attaching pins don't want to budge.

[bazzbazz]

As I always say - "Engineers only design things, they never have to work on the bastards!"

[Hudders]

Thanks so much for all the helpful comments, I've tried, boy have I tried, but after hearing about the fact that they are aluminium and can get damaged I have decided to stop bothering for now and l might wait till the summer and have another go then if I still feel the need, I may have put a little ripple in the top with the levering but if you squint or close your eyes it looks fine so that's ok.
I only wanted to remove them to do a better job of cleaning and checking for rust behind buts what's the point if I'm doing more damage than just leaving it.

I might try fishing wire to cut the adhesive next time, the fishing wire is also perfect for removing things like badges and worth having in the workshop.

 

[bteoh]

Hi,
I did this not too long ago and there are 3 little pegs that stick out from the underside of the panel and it clips onto rubber grommets on the car pillar. I suspect someone must have removed them before and probably glued it back in with polyurethane. It should only be friction gripped - I shall try to take some pics of it if I can get the time in the next few days