A-pillar trim removal

[andyj]

Has anyone tried removing the A-pillar trims from their Mk2 Leon/Altea?

Need to remove them from my Altea to allow me to remove the trim panel around the quarter light, so I can modify it to mount my tweeters and mid's from my 3-way components

also need to remove the quarter light glass, to paint/tint the inside so you can't then see the back of the speakers when fitted

Has anyone done a 'How to' guide ??

Thanks,
Andy

 

[TllEWL]

If you poke the airbag label out with a small, flat screwdriver (or stanley knife) blade, there's a T30 bolt behind it. The rest of the A-pillar trim is held in with those metal christmas-tree shaped barbs... quite long ones IIRC - like 1"

Just yank the top of the trim trying to keep it close to the windscreen so that they pop out cleanly and don't bend.

There's a philips head brass screw (or two) in the quarter light trim, and this too pulls out on the little metal barbs.



I wouldn't remove the quarter light TBH, unless you've done one before.
You'll have to mask off the outside (to protect the bodywork) and jab some thick fuse-wire through the sealant, into the inside of the car. Then you (or you and a friend ideally) need to 'saw' through the sealant all the way round the window - think there might be a plastic locating peg on the rear edge - until it can be pulled free.

Clean it up, tint it, clean up the rest of the sealant on the bodywork, re-apply that horrible black sealant that ends up everywhere, then re-fit the glass

You'd be better just cutting a triangle of tinting film and sticking it from inside the car

 

[andyj]

thanks for the info on the A-pillar removal

as for the quarter light, I was speaking to a professional ICE installer at the weekend, and he said that they are removable by just undoing 4 x 10mm bolts from the inside hence why I need to remove the trim to get to the bolts

 

[TllEWL]

Not on the Altea they're not


I've taken all the trim out of our Toledo and none of the windows are bolted in


...infact, the rear passenger windows are a right PITA because I think they must assemble the mechanism, clip it into the doorcard, and assemble the complete door before sliding the glass and seals in around the top. If the window's already fitted, you can't get the doorcard back on (well you can, but it's tricky)

 

[andyj]

hmmmm.... might have to speak to him again then!

He seemed quite positive that they were bolted in.....

thanks for the comments though, much appreciated.

 

[andyj]

Just had a reply from the guy I was chatting to at the weekend, and he's confirmed that the Leon quarter lights are definitely held in with 4 x 10mm bolts, and he's 99% sure the Altea is the same.

I'm going to whip the A-pillar off when I get chance, and remove the quarter light trim, and check if the quarter lights are bolted or not

 

[Jonathan_Pow]

Seat Leon A-Pillar

The front quarter windows are definitely bolted in on the new Leon. Had my previous Leon in the body shop and I personally had to fix the A-Pillar trim after the shop damaged it... Be careful of the front corner of the trim (where the plastic bit joins the fabric bit at dashboard height) as too much of a twist will separate the two parts.

I reckon the best place to start removing the trim is from the centre of the fabric piece (near the sun visor), as the clips run down the centre of the pillar cover from top to bottom. (It would be better to demonstrate with a picture but I haven't got one to hand at the moment.)

Also, it is not possible to remove the trim by levering the bit wedged in the door seal... it will only damage the plastic (another bad body shop job).

Cheers,

Jonathan

 

[andyj]

In this picture, are the A-pillar and the triangular bit around the quarter window, 1 piece ??

 

[DanGB]

Yes 1 piece. There may be pics of it in my bluetooth or Satnav guide.

 

[andyj]

Hi Dan,

Thanks for confirming that, although I think the Altea trim may be slightly different to the Leon.

I'm going to have a look tomorrow after work anyway

Hopefully they're seperate, as it will make the process of creating speaker pods out of the triangular piece alot easier

 

[n_olympios]

Hi Andy. Check the following link, lots of photos of a Focal demo Leon in Poland (with the Utopia-Be 3 way components).

http://www.audiocar.pl/extras/galeria/leon-focal/leon.htm

 

[andyj]

Thanks for that link mate

here's the link to the A-pillar build section:

http://www.audiocar.pl/extras/galeria/leon-focal/slupki.htm

Unfortunatley, it appears that they have decided to dis-able the A-pillar airbags to allow them to utilise the entire A-pillar trim for the speaker pods.

I'm not willing to do that, so will need to keep the speaker pod to just the triangular section......

Unless anyone can confirm that the airbag is just in the upper half of the A-pillar ?

 

[TllEWL]

The airbag doesn't actually start until the rooflining, but there's a strap that bolts to the a-pillar about halfway down

The a-pillar trim stays put when the airbags go off.

I might have some piccies of this bit at home actually... or trawl the likes of eBay or breakers for crash damaged cars where the airbags have gone off. I can't see why you'd have to disable the curtain airbags tbh.

 

[andyj]

I thought the curtain airbag was actually behind the A-pillar trium itself.... hence why I thought the airbags would have to be disabled if you were modifying the trim with a speaker pod, as it would prevent the trim from 'hinging' open....

But it sounds like I was totaly wrong !!! makes life alot lot simpler

 

[n_olympios]

No, the curtain airbags are in the rooftop lining.

They couldn't have disabled the airbags anyway, as that would result in them losing points in competitions.

 

[andyj]

Very good point.....

A bit like the guy with the Lupo who cut holes in the actual metal A-pillars to fit the mids in

 

[n_olympios]

Hehe, talk about keeping the car's structural integrity intact.

 

[leviathan18]

the curtain airbags arent in the B pillar where the airbag little cap is located ?

 

[andyj]

Just to update this, the A-pillars in the Altea are actually seperate to the quarter light trim !!!!

Found out today thanks to David @ Seremotors who checked ETKA for me Also confirmed when I had a proper look at them when I got home

Have ordered the quarter light trims from David, so that I can create the speaker pods 'offline' without having to drive around with no trim in the car

 

[n_olympios]

It's not very clear but you might be able to see for yourselves in this video where the airbag comes out from.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-1kME4u3lI

Also check this page: http://users.tpg.com.au/users/mpaine/curtain.html

Andy, don't forget to check the angling of the drivers to see where they sound best. It makes a massive difference.

Alternatively, come on Talkaudio.co.uk for any audio advice you need.