How To: Remove Dash Trim (Radio)

[Equinox]

I've had a lot of people ask me how to remove the center trim peice around the radio, because I painted mine, after getting tired of the fake carbon fiber and off silver color.

For now, this is somewhat incoherent, because I'm tired, I'll come back and edit it later, and make it better, really I'm just posting pics of what it looks like, giving you an idea of how to take it off.

Here is what you are trying to take out of the car.
http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/Equinox/console/int01.jpg
http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/Equinox/console/int02.jpg

First remove the radio itself, I hope you know how to do this, cause, cause I'm not about to cover it ;)

then, you will have to find about 6 little white clips along the inside of the hole you now have in the dash. It may take a flash light to find them.

Here's what you are looking for.
http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/Equinox/console/int03.jpg

You can use a small flat headed screw driver to pry one side up, and pop the clips off.

Tada.
http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/Equinox/console/int04.jpg

Me Prying, while my hand is through the radio area. This is kinda hard to do, but it's the only way I know how.
http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/Equinox/console/int05.jpg

[Equinox]

After you get the 6?(did this a while back, can't remember how many total) clips off, you can pull the dash tirm out a few inches, but then will be stopped by wires that come off the A/C controls. These wires are very stiff, and you will have to follow them off the back of the knobs, down the inside of the dash, eventually ending up above the passenger leg room, on the leftish side. You can easily pry the loop ends off a plastic tab.

Here is the annoying wire, there are two of them, get both!
http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/Equinox/console/int06.jpg

You should now be able to pull this trim out of the dash, now it's just a simple process of taking apart the controls, which is only a few simple screws, here it is, all dissasembled.
http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/Equinox/console/int07.jpg

With all controls off
http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/Equinox/console/int08.jpg

I sanded down the original paint with 400 grit, as to not gouge the material with scratches.
http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/Equinox/console/int09.jpg

After it's all sanded down and cleaned -
http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/Equinox/console/int10.jpg

After I got it all painted to match my exterior paint, and with the REAL carbon fiber trim back on.
http://www.mazdamp3.com/members/Equinox/console/int11.jpg


EDIT :

People are worrying about messing up A/C Controls and what not when doing this, I wasn't sure what this was all about until my wife got her MP3 radio changed out. When I say MP3 I mean both the car and the player. Anyways, turns out the stiff wire that comes from the dash may be not extended the right length when you reconnect (basically as you turn the A/C knob, the wire extends from its sheath, moving a plastic gear, opening and closing ducting.] Anyways, it's an easy fix when you mess this up, if you do, but basically, just turn all your controls to one side, lets say all the way left, then when you reconnect your controls, just make sure they are all turned all the way left, and everything will sync up. When you pull the wires off the plastic gear deep in the dash, you can also turn this plastic gear. If you accidentally move this gear, just do the same thing, before reinstall of the ac controls, move the gear all the way to the left. Once you see the half of a gear plastic wedge I'm talking about, you'll see how easy it is. Hope this helps

[L8R]

i give u credit for making this thread. i had to do this myself b4, and i went crazy lol took me a while. at least now we have a manual type thing going on. but, just gotta be careful when u put the AC wire back. make sure it is in the same position you found them, i think i screwed up something minor, hehe, oh well, at least the AC still works. but VERY good job man in explaning. at least someone took the time to show how hard this crap is haha peace - chris

[chaosi]

o0o pretty. Good work there. so what color is yours currently? i think ive seen it 3 different ways. :p

[Equinox]

Originally posted by chaosi
o0o pretty. Good work there. so what color is yours currently? i think ive seen it 3 different ways. :p


same as in pic, this is pics back from the old days of my apartment, I didn't recently remove it again

[chaosi]

yea, i noticed the horse. That thing hurts to fall on when youre drunk. fucking pointy ears! ::shakes fist::

[Dexter]

nice job! i always wanted to fill the AC and fan holes and shit, and redo that whole area, with some digital controls

[AndrewSilverMP5]

What type of paint did you guys use ? Brand name and color ? Also, in what manner did you apply it ? 2 coats ... 3 ? Primer ? Clear coat ?

Can I have a side order of fries with that ? :D

[LinuxRacr]

Great write up!

[Equinox]

Originally posted by AndrewSilverMP5
What type of paint did you guys use ? Brand name and color ? Also, in what manner did you apply it ? 2 coats ... 3 ? Primer ? Clear coat ?

Can I have a side order of fries with that ? :D

since it's already painted, you can just sand it with 400 grit paper until it is nice and smooth, I would suggest wet sanding it, ie, just keep dipping your sand paper into water to wash off dust, the wet paper then wetting the surface of the trim as well, removing dust.

Paint I just used from my local autoparts store, that had "auto trim interior paint" found a silver metallic, and used it. No real brand name, no primer needed, just paint a couple coats of silver, and (4-5 really) then let dry, and clearcoat it, and yer done.

I only sprayed a little clearcoat, to make it tacky in the beginning, then did one wet coat, making sure I didn't do too much, creating paint runs. That's it, I didn't do more than 2 coats of clear. Otherwise it tends to start eating the base paint

[AndrewSilverMP5]

Thanks very much Eq ... Great info! :)

[Ryan]

easier way. and you dont have to remove the sterio.
http://r-gfx.net click how to, click remove center console/dash

[Equinox]

Originally posted by Ryan
easier way. and you dont have to remove the sterio.
http://r-gfx.net click how to, click remove center console/dash


yeah that might be a better way to do it, I don't know if there is a chance to break the clips that way tho, haha. Oh well have fun.

[Ryan]

Originally posted by Equinox



yeah that might be a better way to do it, I don't know if there is a chance to break the clips that way tho, haha. Oh well have fun.

more likely to break the clips shoving a screwdriver into them ?!?! but up to you. i dont see the point in removing something that doesnt need to be removed popped the console in and out about 4 times no problem gently came out each time.

[Equinox]

Originally posted by Ryan


more likely to break the clips shoving a screwdriver into them ?!?! but up to you. i dont see the point in removing something that doesnt need to be removed popped the console in and out about 4 times no problem gently came out each time.

more like releasing the teeth on one side of the clip and allowing the natural spring to pop itself off. I wasn't attacking the process, don't make some kind of flame now.

[Ryan]

didn't say you were but with a screwdriver u slip and slash dash all fuckedup then.

[Kyo]

can some1 please tell me how to remove the stock radio it self?
i'm trying to take it out.and install an aftermarkt cd player
thx

[Minus]

hey, how do you adjust the knobs on the air conditioning? because i just recently had a Indash screen put in and now my air condtioner works hella and my heater doesnt hardly work. i had them to adjust it once because it was right the opposite

[Minus]

and where did you get that real carbon fiber trim from?!?

[Minus]

ohh and blu blu blu.... hehe i just wanted to get my 400th post lol

oh and nevermind i see that you got it from dgmotorsports duhh

can you order the parts seperatly because i just want the gauge surrounding and the middle of the center consol radio trim shit

[Equinox]

Originally posted by Minus
ohh and blu blu blu.... hehe i just wanted to get my 400th post lol

oh and nevermind i see that you got it from dgmotorsports duhh

can you order the parts seperatly because i just want the gauge surrounding and the middle of the center consol radio trim shit
yeha you can order seperate, each peice is 79 each when I ordered.

[Minus]

great
do you know how to adjust the knobs on the cold/hot setting?

[Dexter]

i dont see how the knobs can become "uncalibrated"...just think how they work

[Minus]

well, im not sure how they work, i had a stereo guy take a look at them and he fixed it once, because the air conditioning wasnt working at all and the heater was working HELLA and then he did something and the heater quit workingat all and the Air conditioning is hella now and when i went back to have him fix it again he kept saying that it wasnt his fault it didnt work and that warrenty should fix it yadda yadda yadda

[ahb11m]

kyo, hope your listening still

with the stock stereo which stereo are you trying to take out? is it the mazda one, or the kenwood stereo??

if the mazda stereo, you officially need the official ford removal tool, which officially only mazda and ford dealers have...
in reality just get a wire coat hangerand cut into two pieces rougly a foot long each, then making sure that sharp edges are smoothed over, you need to open the side covers on your stero with a small screwdriver.... this will reveal two holes, place the new tool into the holes (making sure that your tools egdes come to a perfect U shape...
once in it will take a little whiole to wiggle around and find the right spot... eventually you will feel a click... then by pushing inwards from BOTH sides thie should release the clips and the stereo should come all the way out of its hole....

if your installing any aftermarket stereo i would reccommend two things... if available, take off the front panel (on car) and screw into the provided holes... this makes for a slightly more secure install.... second of all use an aftermarket adapter kit... even if only to bare wires... the mazda wires are ok, but whatever you do, don't cut them!!! they are thin as!! that and if they detach, you will certainly be screwied in finding a better acc wire than the original!!!


good luck

[traitorhound]

i got the din removal tools at wal-mart

[Dexter]

Originally posted by ahb11m
if the mazda stereo, you officially need the official ford removal tool, which officially only mazda and ford dealers have...


nah , autozone has em (just made sure you buy TWO pairs)

crutchfield has em too if youre not up for makin them yourself

[ahb11m]

and that cost?? mine was free, was one of those crappy coat hangers from the hotels/dry cleaners (i don't buy coat hangers - but i don't hang up my clothes very often!!)

just need to use the top cutter on your pliers... it pinches the stuff open.... and i didn't have to leave the house.... - but hey thats just my whinge

[Dexter]

im not sayin the hangers are bad, just if he wants the tools he can buy em somewhere.

i lost my tools anyways so i guess i shouldve just used a hanger

[traitorhound]

cost was like 8 USD. . .. and then i was sly and returned the keys after i used them. . .cost monetarily was 0. . ..and i go to walmart all the time so it wasnt' even a wasted trip

[kidkorrupt]

just caught this thread. here is a lil more info.

you will need a double DIN size tool as well as something to push on a snap in the middle to remove the radio. the ford tool is "E" shape instead of "U shape" like most standard radios.


for those people having trouble with their climate control, i had some trouble too because i removed the climate contrl for more room to do deck work. just fixed it:

-check to make sure you put the two wires back onto the white pegs and make sure the black part of the wire is on the black metal snap. turn the hot/cold dial and watch the passenger and driver wire. make sure the metal wire is moving but NOT the black tubing that surrounds it.

-when you re-install you have to make sure your knobs are tunred exactly as they were when you took the wires off. if you hook the wires back up with the dials tunred differently it will mess up calibration. this is most likely the cause of trouble for you people whos AC is too strong/heater weak or AC weak/Heater strong,

[s6xtysecassasin]

great how to

[anarchistchiken]

Well that's all well and good and stuff, but is there a way to remove the panels that the fake carbon trim go on altogether and replace it with something else?

[Equinox]

Originally posted by anarchistchiken
Well that's all well and good and stuff, but is there a way to remove the panels that the fake carbon trim go on altogether and replace it with something else?

the silver and carbon fiber is one piece, you'd have to remove all of it, to just remove the carbon fiber, just take it off and paint it silver,

[anarchistchiken]

well, I had an idea to replace it with a clear piece of plastic and put lights behind it. Any idea how I could do that? Would I have to just cut it?

[Equinox]

take the piece off the car, lay it down, and tape over it very smoothley with duct tape, then pour fiberglassing resin on it, but no fiberglass. Cut it to shape, there you go. The duct tape allows it to not stick.

[kidkorrupt]

or if you dont have access to fiberglass:

cut them off with a razor saw.

vacuform some clear plastic over it. vacuforming involves taking the piece, heating up a sheet of clear plastic until it becomes very soft. and then pulling it down on the piece to make a copy of it. you use a vacuum to help suck the plastic down on the piece and prevent any airbubbles or gaps.

with really thin vaccuform plastic called clear thermaform you can heat it over a stove. it will not be durable though. It's $3 for a huge sheet. for something like what you want you will probably want thicker vacuuforming plastic which will require a professional vaccuform machine for best results. the plastic is still cheap but finding a vacufrom museum is harder. body shops will not have it...best luck for one is if you got a pal going to a industrial design school.

than you can find some leds and tap into the dash lights or whatever else you want.

it will be a tiny bit thicker than the stock ones, same as if you were to do what equinox said. but it will be crystal clear.

dunno, seems extreme to do all this.

g'luck if you decide too.

[DaViper]

Umm...so is this gonna be difficult for me to do without messing up the a/c and heat? I'm defineily nervous about messing them up, that's why I haven't ried yet...I've never done this before...shoud I bother..or try to have the dealer do it for me? I dont quite understand wht people are doing that messes up the a/c and heat but I certainly dont want to do it...

-DaViper

[ahb11m]

daviper, i'm assuming your painting... if its a system, then you don't need to remove it.....

the thing with the controls is that the wires can be tricky to reattach.... unless you have seriously fat hands, you should be able to re-attach these... it just requires a bit of dexterity

[DaViper]

Right, I'm painting the trim around the radio. I'm just worried about messing up my ac and heat taking it off. Basically, I just need to keep the dials in the same place for when I put it back on, and reattatch the wires the same way and I should have any problems right?

Thanks!
-DaViper

[ahb11m]

well really the chances of your dials moving are high what i think the best way to do is when removing the control wires is to mark them (perhaps a white-out pen) so they can be matched, also only unclip the end... the small clamps, unscrew them, and they stay together....

when you reassemble, push both the control dial, and the control arm (the one you detached) to their limits, so they match... this way you ensure that they move together..... before clipping down the panel, just double check the vents move, and maybe even kick over the engine to dbl chk....

most up some pics after the paint, would love to see them man... dont be afraid to get your hands dirty in there!!!

[DaViper]

Hmmm....I'm still very nervous about messing up the a/c and heat...does anybody have any pics of the things the wires clip onto in the back? I'm not exactly sure how this whole thing works. If my new dash peice arrives this weekend I'll probably try this this weekend assuming I get a little confidence in not messing up the climate controls....

Thanks!
-DaViper

[ahb11m]

meh, its a car, not a case of eggs!!!
as long as its not gauges you can put lots of force on most stuff.... just be careful not to mar surfaces when applying force....

[DaViper]

Well I check everything out today and looked at how the wires work and I'm not concerned really about messing things up anymore. I can get to both wires easily, one fron the drivers side footwell and the other the passenger footwell when I take out the glovebox. Anybody got any tips for taking the wires off? I notice it's really hard to push the little white plastic clips down to pop the wire rings off.

Also, Equinox, where did you get that cf radio surround peice? I see dg motosports only selling the peice that covers the whole radio plate.

Thanks!
-DaViper

[Equinox]

Originally posted by DaViper
Well I check everything out today and looked at how the wires work and I'm not concerned really about messing things up anymore. I can get to both wires easily, one fron the drivers side footwell and the other the passenger footwell when I take out the glovebox. Anybody got any tips for taking the wires off? I notice it's really hard to push the little white plastic clips down to pop the wire rings off.

Also, Equinox, where did you get that cf radio surround peice? I see dg motosports only selling the peice that covers the whole radio plate.

Thanks!
-DaViper


woodtrim.com, a while back, I switched to DGM tho

use a screwdriver to push in the clips

[justanothermp5]

alright so here is what i did to get this thing off, its way easier and less complicated, more detailed:
1.push the two vents next to the hazard button all the way down, take ur fingers or hand and pull towards u really hard. dont worry about braking it, cuz u wont
2then once u got it loose, it wont come all the way out, go and loosen the heat control on the drivers side and loosen ac and other crap control on the passenger side, both of these are under the dash near where the air that blows towards ur feet comes out
3then look at the hazard button and press the platic clip down and remove it, the wires u pull back and the hazard button u pull towards u after u have depressed the two clips, also take the vents off by undoing like 2 screws
4 the take a short screwdriver and undo the four screws connecting the climate control stuff to the dash surround, then u can pull it off and prep and paint it make sure to sand down thoroughly,prime, and clear it afterword for the best finish

u dont have to take the white clips off or anything

[DaleNixon]

This might be a really dumb idea. I recently removed the double din factory headunit on my Protege5 in order to install an iPod integration device. I managed to put a few scratches in the silver trim surrounding the radio.

I want to patch these up. Is it possible for me to somehow do this without removing the piece? I don't want to risk screwing up the climate control after I damn near destroyed the factory headunit.

The scratches are pretty minor (but not to me). I just want to do a touch up job on them. Could I possibly paint them with the piece still mounted in the car? I'm thinking LOTS of tape.

Also, any paint recommendations if I attempt this?

[Equinox]

the problem with paint is not where you spray it, it's the floating partculates. When people paint a car, they do it in a room that has a fan constantly sucking out the air. This is so the airborne paint doesn't float over and land on another ection of the car. If you paint your trim peice inside your car, you will in variably be haunted by specs of dust that don't wipe away. If these scratches bother you, I'm sure the specs will as well.

[DaleNixon]

Ah yea... good point. Maybe I could have someone hold my shop vac near the painting? Or maybe I'll just live with the scratches... adds more "character" :(