Hi All,
New to the forum, just finished using the forum instructions on replacing brake pads, now I need some more help. I need to remove the grey plastic rocker panel cover on my daughter's '04 coupe and would like to know the proper procedure so I don't tear up whatever fasteners hold it on. I may also need to remove the matching trim around the rear wheel well. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!

 

First step is to remove the thin metal sill plate that's on the top of the rocker panel cover (faces the bottom of the door). It's glued on, and the metal sill plate is very thin. Any attempt to pry it up and you buy a new one. To remove it so you can re-use it, take a heat gun or a really good hair dryer and heat the metal plate up. use a thin spackle spreader and work from one end to the other slowly and with a fair amount of heat and it will come right up no problem, then use the heat gun to get the junk off the back side before it cools. 3M doublesided commercial grade tape will put it back on later.
Next, wait for the rocker cover to cool, then there are 3 or 4 oval head fastners that you can now get to. Pry out gently. These you can reuse. With these out, the top is released. There are now 8 to 10 clips on the side. Two of them will break. One near the front and one at the back. The rest are theorettically possible to save, but I wish you luck. They slide in to a socket on the back side of the rocker panel. To save them you need to slide the rocker panel forward to the clip stays in the body of the car. then you have to rotate them 90 degrees and they come out without resistance. Then reattach to the rocker panel so they can also snap straight into the car upon reassembly. IF it's cold out when you do this, you will not save the clips because they crack easily. Don't know if you can get them separatly (they come pre-attached to a new rocker for about $75, but you still have to save the 3 or 4 top ones and the sill plate.)

 

Thanks much! Exactly what I needed to know.