HF sells a set of upholstery tools for under 6 dollars that will get the
job done IF your plastic fasteners are not too rotten. I bought a set of
the Bus Depot replacements and am more satisfied with those than anything I
have found.

Once upon a time I went to the dealership for a set and they said that the
cost of those was so high that they were embarrassed to sell them, and they
stocked a lower cost alternative (I mean, can you grasp the full
implication of this?).

Anyway, their "replacements" were OK, nothing you couldn't get at a well
stocked FLAPS but in a light grey to match the interior of my 90.

Jim

On Mon, Sep 30, 2013 at 2:59 PM, Alistair Bell <albell@shaw.ca> wrote:

> 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
>