I want to remove the "Elliptical Door Trim Ring" pieces.

#7 & 8 in the Photo:


I looked the "Real OEM" diagram for the door and was just wondering if anyone knew how these are exactly held on. I cant tell by the above posted photo.

It looks like they can come off ( As they are not pictured with the door )

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

So I pulled off my door panel somewhat and I looked at the the Elliptical Trim rings and it looks to me like they are attached to the door panel. I belive they are somehow "molded" to the door panel with little plastic pieces that are some how embedded/molded together into the doorpanel. (shown in last picture below)

What I dont understand is why they show it on Realoem.com parts it is seperate and or replaceable, (first photo)

Anyone have any idea if its just a mistake on Realoem.com or can the trim rings be removed?


# 5 & 4 in the Photo Below





In this photo BELOW:
What the word "THESE" is next to is what is holding the actual elliptical trim ring (sSILVER IN PHOTO) onto the door panel (BLACK IN PHOTO). Can these be romoved or are they permanent? To me it looks like its plastic from the eliptical ring melted onto the door panel so it holds it.
The other clips just hold the door panel to the actual door.


I found this photo from outmotoring.com. Door panel detached from door with elliptical ring still attached.



I Just took these this afternoon. The door panel easially pulls off the door, just reach into the pocket and pull.




See all the "molded" round plastic pieces from the silver elliptical ring


Look's like to me this is what hold's the elliptical ring onto the door panel?

 

Anyone know if the elliptical door ring can be removed, Please read my above two posts. THANKS!!!!!

 

I just had the ones on my drivers door replaced at the dealer. They didn't replace the entire panel, just the elliptical ring. No idea how they did it, but it's possible. I had a small scratch on one piece at delivery so they offered to replace the piece.

 

Really? I'm not second guessing you but how do you know they didn't replace the entire panel? In the Photo below, Just this piece that I am holding. Maybe thats what they did, who knows.....




I assume they told you?

Well that maybe is starting to make sence. I mean they show it as being seperate on realoem and as a retrofit.

Anyhow if anyone has any Idea or input I would GREATLY appreciate it.

 

Never saw the piece off the car. The parts guy at the dealer said it came separate from the panel. Actually took 2 months to get it too. Maybe they were pulling my chain? I didn't mind the wait as it was free.

At some point they are separate considering how that ring is different depending on what the customer orders. Those gray mounting pieces look permanent though.

 

I would imagine you can replace it, that just looks like some sort of "weld on" plastic epoxy. Just get it off, do what your gonna do and then get some of the weld on epoxy and go to town. My 2 cents. Good luck and tell us if you find out anything different.

 

I took my dash panels to the body shop today to be painted. I showed him the door trim and explaind to him the situation.

He said the ring is part of the door panel. The elliptical ring has plastic nub's with a slight hole in it. When attahced to the door panel, a high heat is applied to the plastic nub and melts it into place to hold it onto the panel.

So I am thinking it isn't removeable.

 

Damn that isn't good. I was thinking of taking all my base parts off and getting them custom painted

 

I think if there is a will there is a way. Just file off the nubs and it should come right off......I think! I wanted to get mine wrapped in CF. So if you find out anything different please do tell.

 

Yeah but if you get it off, how do you put it back on? I'm getting the 2 dash pieces painted Gloss Black. I'll see how they come out and maybe have them just them mask the door panel's so they can paint the trim rings.

 

I just had all my trim painted piano black.
my body shop took their time masking off the rest of the door panels and did a great job.
However, I didn't remove the rear panels for the small pieces of trim...too lazy.
So I took a flathead and a hammer and popped all the nubs off...piece of cake.

I reattached them with some epoxy at the same mounting points. They hold and look factory!

 

Exactly! Mase, can u show us some pics? That's what I was talking about, take them off by shaving off the buttons and then doing whatever (paint, cf) and then using epoxy to put them back on. The epoxy "weld on" or similar will make it as good as new. The plastic epoxy is some crazy stuff and seriously is like welding the plastic together. In fact now that I think about it, be sure you do it exactly how you want because once you epoxy it I think it will actually be harder to seperate than stock.....if possible at all.

 

COOL! Can you please post pics of the parts Painted Black, Just wanna see If I can tell the difference between factory or not.

Also I told the body shop to paint my dash pieces Gloss Black, so hopefully they come out well.

 

Kevin, I just confirmed, they did remove the piece from the door panel. A month and a half prior to them getting replaced I waxed my car, including the inside of the door. I checked and found some wax residue I missed on the door panel below the ring where I waxed. If they had replaced the piece as one unit, it wouldn't have the wax on it.

 

ok, I'll try to get some pics done tomorrow!

 

Great Thanks you mean today or tomorrow, wednesday?

 

depends what time my wife gets home i suppose...

I even didn't epoxy one of the piece on yet since I ran out of it. So i'll be able to get you a backside pic as well.

 

That would be great. Morristown MINI just emailed me back some prices, OUCH. I allways wonder why things are sooo expensive afterwards? I mean aftermarket for all piano black is like $1,000. And you can get it when ordering the car for $250?

With Morristown MINI 20% off I believe
Piano black rings
51412753711 TOP LEFT 107.00
51412753712 TOP RIGHT 107.00
51412753701 BOTTOM LEFT 123.40
51412753702 BOTTOM RIGHT 123.40
51432756329 REAR LEFT 85.40
51432756330 REAR RIGHT 85.40

SHIPPING 37.90
TOTAL 669.50

My next MINI, who knows when, I think it will be orderd.

 

I promise to have pics today. she's home...
I paid $200 for the entire rings and the 2 dash pieces.

 

Cool my two dash pieces should be getting done right now. If I like how they look i'll ge tthe doors done most likely. I paid 100 for the 2 dash pieces.

 

here you go...
not the greatest pics, but you get the idea.

 

I wonder if these will be better than factory plastic piano black. There seems to be alot of complaints about scratches and smudges.

 

Cool. Thanks for posting them, look excellent. I hope they get my pieces done tomorrow. The have been there since Monday.

Now how did you get them off again or wait you said they just masked the door off and painted them on the door, right? And you just took off the rear two pieces?

 

So far I don't have any problems with smudges or scratches. But they do fingerprint bad enough that I don't use the CD changer compartment, aka secret compartment (I don't have the changer).