Door card armrest removal

laurie18

Member
I was hoping to remove the armrest from grey door cards in order to spray them in black Vinylkote. The armrests look to be fixed with round white plastic lugs and three metal screw. I assume the white lugs are not intended to be removed?
Has anyone else done this? Any tips or suggestions?
 
Yes...... These white plastic lugs need to be drilled out (very lighly) using a 10mm drill bit,just take the top of the lugs off only,then the door handle/rest will pull out.Use m8 Kitchen cabinet screws when reattaching the armrest
 
Thanks. I have a damaged door card I will practice on. Does the M8 screw put it's own thread in what is left of the plastic lug?
 
Thanks. I have a damaged door card I will practice on. Does the M8 screw put it's own thread in what is left of the plastic lug?
Yes....A m8 Kitchen cabinet screw will screw straight into the door card plastic and make it's own thread.I have done this myself and the armrests seem to be better fixed than the audi plastic welding method.
 
I am speaking from experience, here .... Yes, you just drill off those white lugs using an over-size drill. Then you use VERY large self-taping screws, domed-headed and very short. Sorry, I cant remember the exact specification, but there's no way you could use 25/30 mm! We're talking about 10-15 mm (I've just been to look for them and I can't find them) However, I do recall using two lengths, both 10 and 15 mm, where appropriate. Otherwise the point will penetrate the panel. This operation has been on the A2OC site before .... try a search under "armrest" or "door-panel" ? When I said to use "very large) screws, I was refering to the diameter ....

David
 
I am speaking from experience, here .... Yes, you just drill off those white lugs using an over-size drill. Then you use VERY large self-taping screws, domed-headed and very short. Sorry, I cant remember the exact specification, but there's no way you could use 25/30 mm! We're talking about 10-15 mm (I've just been to look for them and I can't find them) However, I do recall using two lengths, both 10 and 15 mm, where appropriate. Otherwise the point will penetrate the panel. This operation has been on the A2OC site before .... try a search under "armrest" or "door-panel" ? When I said to use "very large) screws, I was refering to the diameter ....

David
Yes please check the screw lengths before doing the job,I said 25/30 Yes these could be to long,it was a while ago since I did my own.Measure the door card plastic lug lengths and purchase screws to suit.There is indeed a thread on here on how to
 
I did this recently on my car. The answer is M6 hidden-hinge screws, which have chunky threads, and M6 washers to match. The ones I used were from Screwfix. The 16mm length they had was fine for the armrests.

If you are thinking of doing the pocket sections beneath the armrests, many of those mountings would need 10mm screws (and even those are too long in a couple of places around the speakers). The 10mm ones I found were slightly thicker also (6.3mm vs 6mm) which was good because the plastic tubes on the pockets are slightly wider (the bits left after cutting the plastic heads off).
 
If you are thinking of doing the pocket sections beneath the armrests, many of those mountings would need 10mm screws (and even those are too long in a couple of places around the speakers). The 10mm ones I found were slightly thicker also (6.3mm vs 6mm) which was good because the plastic tubes on the pockets are slightly wider (the bits left after cutting the plastic heads off).
Sorry about this .... I got confused with the armrest and the other panel sections .... I've re-built the complete door-panel several times, covering the top and bottom sections in leather. THAT'S where the shorter screws are necessary! It is still important to get the lengths right, though! Compared to a complete door panel re-build, the armrests are really easy!

David
 
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