How to remove fender liner fasteners

[dramsey]

I'm trying to install the Ford mud guards on my SHO. It looks easy enough: remove 6 fasteners holding down the edge of the front fender liner, position the mud guard, then re-install the fasteners.

From the diagram in the instructions that came with the mud guards, the fasteners appear to be the center push-pin type, where prying up the center pin releases the fastener. However, on my car, the center pins appear to be Philips-head screws, and there's no notch to pry them up from. However, using a Philips screwdriver merely causes them to spin freely.

Any advice?

 

[mjhpadi]

You have to apply a little pressure on the rear of the screws to make them back out, I used a Phillips head to remove mine and it worked fine. Or if you can get behind the head of the screws and apply a little pressure they should screw right out.

 

[dramsey]

Thanks for the reply, but no joy here: I've spent 20 minutes spinning, prying, and yanking on these damn pins, and nothing I can do will get them to come out. I tried prying under the edge of the connector with a flat-bladed screwdriver while unscrewing the center section with no luck (tried 4 different connectors).

I guess I'll just buy 10 new ones and cut these off with an Xacto knife.

 

[HotRodKid]

OR: screw a normal steel screw into the head of the plastic screw, then pull. With a light touch the plastic screw looks the same as it always did after your done. Sometimes the plastic screw doesnt want to cooperate and you wind up chewing up the plastic, but any self respecting body shop has more of those in stock and they are like 50¢ each

 

[cheech]

Normally what mjhpadi suggested works for me. You can also try using a dental pick or something similar to pry the phillips head part out of the threaded retainer. They are not held in by much. Good luck.

 

[Unknown_Driver]

these clips right?



Turn the inner screw counter clockwise until its part way out
now pull kinda ******* the screw/clip.

you can also use an eyeglass repair kit flat head screwdriver from the dollar store to pry it out

if the clip breaks you can always buy new ones for less than a buck a piece

 

[dramsey]

OR: screw a normal steel screw into the head of the plastic screw, then pull. With a light touch the plastic screw looks the same as it always did after your done.

Yes! That worked. And I did manage to unscrew some of them: the trick is to apply no force at all on the screw while you're unscrewing it-- that is, don't push on the screw, just turn it.

 

[HotRodKid]

haha, "no force at all" ins't really something thats in my bag of tricks. When i worked at the dealership I always had a large washer w/ a small center hole so i could use the screw trick w/ my christmas tree clip puller. It zipped those things out at warp speed.

But then again i disassembled wrecks with an air chisel whenever possible.