I purchased a new armrest/bin cover and I am looking for tips on removing the current armrest. Does the door panel need to be removed to get it out or is there a simple trick?
Thanks,
Randall
Just open the cover and you will see 8 small, hex head screws.
The 2 closest to the hinges are the toughest to get to.
Releasing these is all that's all that's needed to change out one cover to another.
The skeleton remains intact.
I think I may not have been clear. I am talking about the door armrest that hinges up to reveal a small storage area. There must be a trick to getting it off without disassembling the entire door panel.
Randall
How to get this out and replaced with a new one?
Randall
I've looked into this myself as I wanted to buy Aluma-look lids and install them in black of the ones I have. I have a copy of the shop manual and the only way I could find to change lids was to take off the entire door panel to do so. Too much work IMO.
That is what I was afraid of after I got the parts and took a good look. Could you post a photo of the page (or PM it to me)?
Randall
Sorry, I'm separated from both the Boxster and the shop manual until about 1 May. You might try a search looking for anything that has to do with door panel removal. Speaker removal and such.
Door Panel Removal - Articles
Yeah, I read that one, too bad there isn't a photo of the back side of the door panel.
Randall
You know, it's funny. I've owned my 987 for a couple of years now, and I never knew those door compartments were there until last night when watching a YouTube video on door panel removal. I guess the ol' girl still has a few secrets. First thing this morning I went out and checked to see if the PO had hidden anything good in there. Nope.
Old post but any updates to this? There has got to be a way to take that door armrest top pad off with taking to door panel off which still would not separate the pad from the assembly. Underneath are those 5-6 rubber bumpers and I thought after removing one I would feel a torx screw underneath and that is how the pad would come off. Don't feel/see anything. Gotta be a way.
Not an often asked question, apparently, and no real answers on the internet as far as I can tell, so I went in blind on a used door panel to harvest the leather bin cover door and handle for my base (non leather)
cayman
.
This is what it looks like behind the door bin cover. You can see the hinges. The left hinge is a simple pivot, but the right one has a spring and rotary damper in it.
The hinges are just simple plastic pins in holes, but importantly, the hinge arms are split to let the pins flex in while the door card flexes out enough to release.
closer detail of the split finger hinge (this time the spring/damper side, after it was removed)
Before you start trying to remove the bin cover, the rotary damper needs to come out. There is a clip that holds it in, as well as its own clippy pins
Retaining clip
mine kind of twisted out, top left, then top right. Those slots are the spring, but there are super stiff, so it is kind of a push hard but be gentle while working the corners loose. Once you get either to top or bottom half free, it comes out easily
next the damper needs to come out. It is lightly held in place by 2 spring pins molded into its body. A gentle squeeze will free these, but you need a small tool to get between the bin’s split finger hinge arm and the wall the damper is attached to.
damper starting to come out
and a view of its little snappy features
Now on to the bin cover lid!
The main trick I found was to get a small pry bar under the bin’s split finger hinge to create tension between it and the door card, then using a screwdriver or other pry to to dislodge one pin/finger at a time. These are reasonably tight fitting so a moderate amount of force was required. Sorry - no picture of this step.
Once you get the two hinge arms free, they are still wedged in the walls of the door card, and you have to finagle and slide the arms out of the holes. That is a snug fit, but they will slide out
the movement is basically, you open the bin lid, and then it slides down towards the bin, then the hinge arms will exit their respective slots.
There may be much more straight forward ways of doing this, but it seems 100% necessary to remove the door card to access the back to remove the bin lid.
one last thing I noticed was the grinding wear on the lid hinge pins. I’ll be looking up a grease compatible with the plastic to help out here
I can’t imagine this is widely sought after information, but at least now it is on this forum. I hope this helps… anyone?
@
CayIman
- wonderful sequence of photos!
And anyone who uses "finagle" in a tech writeup has my immediate attention. Thanks much for this contribution, I know what a PITA it is to take/edit/post the photos with text and get it looking as great as you did.
Well done Sir!
