How To Remove the Door Sill cover panel and driver's Kick Panel
Removal of a door sill panel allows you to run new wires along the door sills and keep them hidden and protected. Removal of a kick panel allows access to rubber door conduits or additional wire run space.
Like most panels on the xB, the door sill cover panel is held on by a number of clips. By pulling the panel in the rght places, the panel can be removed.
I start from the front, and pull the bottom edge towards the middle of the car.
(Driver's door sill cover shown, other door sill covers are similar.)
At the back, I similarly pull the bottom edge towards the middle of the car.
And all along the bottom edge, pull towards the middle of the car.
Starting at the back, pull slightly, straight up towards the roof of the car.
Work towards the front and keep pulling towards the roof of the car. The panel will come free.
Here is how the rear end of the underside of the door sill panel looks. The white plastic clips mate to the black plactic tabs on the sill panel. Also there are clips on the sill panel that mate to holes in the door pillar panel. The front end is similar.
The copper wires are for my LED courtesy and ambiance lights.
With the door sill panel removed, we can remove the kick panel. It is held in place by two clips (red arrows) and a threaded stud (red circle). There is no nut installed over the threaded stud.
(Driver's kick panel is shown, passenger side is similar.)
Pull the kick panel towards the trunk at the locations shown by the red arrows. As you pull, also disengage the panel from the threaded stud.
This picture shows the panel removed, and the threaded stud (red circle).
The red arrow in the picture below points to a convenient ground point. I use a 10mm socket to loosen the bolt.
Here's another angle of the kick panel, showing the white clip and black tab with their respective mating hole and metal clip.
To reinstall the kick panel, line up the threaded stud to the hole in the panel, then push the panel towards the front of the car.
After the kick panel is reinstalled, you can reinstall the door sill cover panel by first lining up the panel then pushing the entire panel downwards toward the ground.
You can send your questions or comments to BrickPig2011xb@gmail.com