I found them hard to remove until I got smart and modified a putty knife to make a version of the commercially available tool. I ground a  slot in the end of the knife, large enough to fit around fastener, then the knife lodes between panel and tailgate and you can pop the fastener.

Alistair

> On Sep 30, 2013, at 12:23 PM, TJ Hemrick <x53gunner@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> OK, so if you've read todays posts, you no doubt saw my trials and
> tribulations with electric motors.  Now, we're moving on to interior parts.
> The aforementioned hatch panel that was covering my burned out rear window
> wiper motor was a real PIA to remove.  Now, I've pulled a few panels from
> 87's before (have 3 of them) and never had an issue.  Well, it looks like
> the engineers revenge is much older than I thought.  What's that some of
> you plebes ask?  Well, when I worked at VW (and Porsche, and Audi for that
> matter) we had a joke that whomever designed the cars never worked on them.
> Certainly not trying to make flat rate, that's for sure.  Then, our shop
> manager told us that it turns out that the head mechanic in Wolfsburg was
> "dating" the senior engineers daughter. Well, he made sure that ALL
> mechanics after that would pay the price for that infraction on his little
> girls pride and person.  Don't believe it, go change the battery on the 1st
> gen New Beetle.  Start with the right headlight and well, you'll figure it
> out...
> 
> Anyhow, I digress, the panel on said rear hatch was secured with the most
> wretched fasteners I have worked with.  The were nearly impossible to get
> out.  I scratched the paint with a screwdriver just trying to get some room
> to work, and eventually just ripped the entire panel clean off.  Still some
> of the fasteners still remained.  Does anyone know of a better version?  I
> see the "monsters" listed on some of the vendors sites but looking for
> options before I hit FLAPS and get some generic junk.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> TJ
> 
> 87 Syncro
> 87 Wolfsburg