Comments on: How to remove a 98 Contour driver door panel.

Question: How to remove a 98 Contour driver door panel.

whatisish — Thu, 02 Jun 2005 06:21:31 -0800

How do I remove the interior driver door panel on a 1998 Ford Contour?

Seems like it should be easy enough. I found and removed all the screws - except for one. The last troubling screw secures the molding around the inside door handle, window buttons, etc. It's covered (for asthetical reasons) by a little plastic disc that seems to snap over the top. It's flush with the molding and I cant, for the life of me, figure out how to pop it off without buggering up the surrounding plastic molding. What's the trick?

By: whatisish

whatisish — Thu, 02 Jun 2005 06:24:06 -0800

ah yes - "aesthetical".

By: Doohickie

Doohickie — Thu, 02 Jun 2005 09:46:41 -0800

Use a small knife (maybe an Xacto), or a very small-bladed flat screwdriver. The plug may be elastomeric (rubber-like) and so may spring back with no marks. You may leave a small mark, but you will be the only one who notices it.

By: Corpus Callosum

Corpus Callosum — Thu, 02 Jun 2005 09:48:36 -0800

I don't know if this will help, but when I need to pry and not damage the surroundings, I use a piece of soft wood. Think free chopsticks. You can carve to make it as sharp or strong as you need. Just a thought.
(You may already know this but in taking the door panel off you probably need to break a series of plastic snaps then buy replacements for them when you reinstall. That's how my blazer was.)