Removing the C pillar trims from the DS

A few months ago I managed to damage the front of the DS while parking it.   Insurance will cover the repair to the front of the car, but instead of having the insurance repair match the faded paint, I would prefer to have the front of the car painted well and then pay extra to have the rear panels painted to match.

So to keep the costs down on the parts I will need to pay out of my own pocket I started to remove trim and panels to allow for later painting.   The first place to start was the indicator trumpets which are easy to remove but obscure the corner of the fiberglass roof.   The light is easily removed by pulling the tab at the bottom.

This allowed me to get some of the screws that hold the trumpet in place.

The lens for the light slides off and the trumpet can also be slid off – it needs to be rotated in just the right way as there was a tab which clears part of the C pillar.

I found there were two screws that held on the front of the C pillar trim.   In retrospect, I probably would have been better off removing the boot lid before attempting to remove the C pillar trim.   Even though my boot lid is fiberglass, the hinge has to come out and it makes it harder.

This piece then exposes some of the C pillar trim.    But before I could get too far, the boot hinge needed to come off as it is also attached to that.

The boot hinge was surprising easy to remove, just one nut underneath.      It was quite dirty/dusty underneath he trim.

I also saw that the ground for the rear indicator was the same screw that holds on part of the C pillar trim.   I will need to remember this when replacing it!

There is also a little bracket for the indicator trumpet that is attached with the C pillar trim to the boot hinge.   I will need to be careful to ensure it is replaced properly when re-attaching.

Finally the bare C pillar is revealed.  Dirty, but in otherwise good condition.