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Probably the most common reason to remove your MG ZR / Rover 25 door trim is to upgrade the standard speakers. After you've read through this how to guide, and before you jump in and upgrade your speakers, I'd recommend checking out my front door speaker upgrade blog post to see some hints and tips on how I fitted mine.
A couple of other reasons for removing the door panels are to fix the door window mechanism, or if you've got a problem with the central locking mechanism not working.
Time to Complete - 20-25 minutes (per door)
Difficulty - 3/5
Tools and Parts Required
Set of small precision screw drivers (flat heads)- Set of regular screw drivers
- Replacement door trim clips (just in case)
- Plastic trim pulling kit
Disclaimer: Any information given in this guide is to be used at the readers own risk. I take no responsibility for injuries to the reader or damage to their vehicles. If this guide is followed correctly, no harm should occur to either the reader or the car.
Please read through the entirety of this guide prior to undertaking any work, and take due care.
How to Remove and Refit MG ZR / Rover 25 Door Cards
For the purpose of this guide I've used pictures of my 3 door Rover 25 driver's door panel removal, however, the process is the exact same for 3 door MG ZR's, and 5 door variants of both.
Hold up, two things:
First, before doing anything, wind down the window (this applies to cars with manual or electric windows).
Second, you really should use a plastic trim removal tool for all the steps I used a small screw driver for, it'll avoid any potential damage to your trim. My inexperienced younger self hadn't yet discovered the wonder of plastic trim removal tools...
If you haven't got a set of plastic trim pullers, I'd recommend the Neilsen one I have, they always come in really handy for all sorts of jobs.
Step 1 - Remove the Door Lock Pin Surround
TakeIt's pretty tricky to get it out, you may have to give it a fair bit of force. Be careful not to slip and scratch the door trim, or yourself.
Step 2 - Remove the Door Grab Handle Outer Trim
Using a plastic trim remover, remove the door grab handle cover.To do this, poke the thinnest trim removal tool you've got in the gap between the cover and the part attached to the door. It should just pop off.
Step 3 - Remove the Door Grab Fixing Screws
Beneath the door grab handle cover there are three screws. Using a Phillips head screw driver remove all of them.
Step 4 - Remove the Door Release Lever Bowl
Using your thinnest trim puller, remove the inner cap behind the door pull handle. It should pop off with a little pressure. Slot your trim puller in the gap between the inner and outer cap and lever it out.
Step 5 - Remove the Door Release Lever Bezel
Once the inner cap is out, the outer cap of the door pull handle should now just pull out quite easily.
Step 6 - Remove the Window Winder Handle
Skip to step 7 if you have electric windows.Push the door panel back so that the window winding handle sits proud of the silver ring. The door panel should flex just enough that in the gap you should notice a clip. This clip keeps the window winding handle on.
Sliding a small screw driver in and pushing one of the legs of the pin should see it ping off. Be careful not to lose it as they can shoot out at a fair rate and quite easily ruin your day.
Step 7 - Remove the Main Door Panel Fixing Screws
The next step is to remove the two screws nearest to the hinge of the door.One is located at the top of the door card, underneath a cap. To remove the cap take a small flat head screw driver and prize it off. Then just use a Phillips head screw driver to remove the screw.
The other screw is located in the storage bin, it is inset considerably so you won't be able to physically see the screw just feel for it with the screw driver. This again requires a Phillips head screw driver.
Step 8 - Remove the Door Panel
Now that everything has been removed, the only things keeping the door card on are plastic clips. To un-clip the door card, get a plastic trim puller (image shows a screw driver, but this is not advised as you could scratch the paint) and prize open the bottom corner (furthest from the hinge).When you have a small section prized open use another trim puller a bit further along and prize that section open. Work your way along until the whole door card pops off.
Step 9 - Lifting Away the Door Panel
Getting the door card off the door is fairly tricky. The best way to go about it is to tilt the card downwards at the hinge end and upwards at the other. It should then go over the door pin and under the wing mirror inner caps. Once you have it this far it should come away fairly easily.The inside of your door should look like this (minus the after-market speakers).
The inside of the door card should look like this (minus the after-market crossovers and tweeters).
Step 10 - Refitting the Door Panel and Trim
Refitting is just a case of repeating steps 1 - 9 in reverse order. However, I have got a few tips to help you out.Tip 1 - You may need to replace some of your door panel trim clips, they fragile plastic clips prone to breaking. I find it's always best to have some spare replacement clips on hand when removing the door casing, just in case.
Check out my post on replacing the door trim clips to see how they break.
Tip 2 - Put the metal clip on the door handle before you put it back on the door, this will save quite a lot of effort.
Tip 3 - When refitting the door card, I found that if you tip the door card down at the car forwards end (nearest the mirror cheater, i.e. the plastic triangular back of the mirror) lifting the car rearwards end.
Bend the door card top edge so it slots onto the inner door panel flange, then slide it forwards lowering the rear end over the door lock pin. Finally, lower it further making sure the top of the door card is clipped into the correct bit.
If this guide has helped you out be sure to leave a message below, and don't forget to check out the rest of my MG ZR and Rover 25 how to guides!
21 Comments
Well writen article, the picture well worth putting in making the job seem very simple. thank you for your efforts most apreciated by me if no one else. Thanks again David
ReplyDeleteReally good, who needs Haynes? Helped out a lot when resealing the 'shower curtain' in my daughter's R25 1.4. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment, I'm glad it helped out with your daughter's car!
DeleteHi there. Your post is very helpful, although upon trying to put the door card back on, I found it to be very frustrating and proceeded to just unhook the tweeter and dump the card on the back seat.
DeleteIs there an easy way to put it back on? I took it off without removing the plastic casing by the mirror because I couldn't get it off.
I would be most grateful if you could help.
Ps is the plastic surrounding the speakers easy to put back? I daren't touch it at the moment..
James
Hi James,
DeleteIt certainly is a tricky job, take your time and with a bit of tinkering it will go back on.
I found that if you tip the card down at the car forwards end (nearest the mirror cheater, i.e. the plastic triangular back of the mirror) lifting the car rearwards end. Clip the top into the inner door panel flange then slide it forwards lowering the rear end over the door lock pin, then lower it further making sure the top of the door card is clipped into the correct bit.
It should then be a bit easier to tie up the rest of the clipping on of the door card.
I never removed the mirror cheater when I took the door cards off. I did get my dad to help me the first time I did it, but I have done it on my own several times, so it can be done.
Not sure what you are referring to with the plastic surrounding the speaker? If you mean the plastic grill covering it, I think that is heatstaked to the door card and if you remove it, it will be broken.
Hope this helps, feel free to ask more questions if you need to. Bare in mind I moderate all comments (I get a lot of spam) so it may not appear straight away.
Best regards,
Andy
Hi Andy,
DeleteThanks for your help.
I'm not very good with cars to put it politely, soi t took a while for me to understand that, but i'll give it a go soon. I'm just trying to get my speakers sorted out before i can put the card back on. Seems tht since i took the card off the central locking for that door has played up on the odd occasion. Hopefully it'll be ok once i fit the door card back on.
James
Ps How are you with speakers? My new ones are not a straight swap and i'm not sure whether to screw them straight on to the door or find/make an adapter. if you could advise me in any way i would be extremely grateful
Hi James,
DeleteIf you need me to explain further just ask, I work in Body Engineering for a major car manufacturer so I come into contact with car terminology every day.
Central locking shouldn't be effected, make sure nothing is catching in the mechanism and that everything is attached correctly and all should be fine.
As for the speakers, I upgraded the fronts to some Vibes, you can see how I did it here on the build blog
MG Rover 25 Front Door Speaker Upgrade
The write up I did at the time isn't as good as I usually do now and could do with rewriting, but basically I made my own mounts out of plywood. Most aftermarket speakers are 4 screw mounted, whereas the 25's are 3 screw, so you need an adaptor plate. You can buy these if you aren't very DIY savvy, a quick eBay search should yield some results. "Rover 25 speaker adaptor" for example.
Hope this helps,
Andy.
Great stuff And, thanks
DeleteYeah i'm not DIY savvy at all!
I saw on another forum somewhere about halfords selling a vauxhall adaptor that fits the 25 so i bought that.
I typed in your above suggestion and the first link that came up shows a picture of what appears to be the same product.
However, one of the screw holes doesn't line up exactly. If this is the case, how would i secure it?
And do i need anything else to fix it on apart from the screws that came with it? Some kind of sealant maybe?
I noticed there was a little circle of rubbery stuff around the hole where the old speaker was, so I dont know if thats to reduce vibrations or make a seal or what.
James
Hi James,
DeleteYep I would add some sort of foam, (as per my home made mounts in the link I put in my last reply) this will help seal the mount against the door body in white (metal panel) and also help reduce unwanted vibrations/rattles.
Something like this would do - A4 Foam Sheet
Would be worth checking that the mounts fit within an A4 sheet before ordering that specific one though.
As for the screw hole being out, is it possible to drill a new hole or is the shape of the mount far enough out that there is no material to drill through where the hole needs to be?
I believe just the screws are required to mount the speaker, nothing else in the assembly as far as I remember.
Hope this helps,
Andy.
Having trouble with the drivers door latch, can't even open the door. Going to give this a go, hopefully can remove the panel with the door closed. Thanks, pics help a lot ;)
ReplyDeleteGreat Guide, Andy. Thank you! Will try it tomorrow, however, i feel it won't be damn easy at all! :-)
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteWhere did you get the cap for the screw of the door card? I really like them and my door cards doesnt have them.
Hi Carlos,
DeleteThe caps are standard fit in the factory, so my car came with them already. If your's doesn't have them then they have probably been lost. You could try your local breakers/scrap yard to see if you can find some. Alternatively you could search ebay for a seller breaking a rover 25/mg zr to see if they have any.
Hope this helps,
Thanks,
Andy.
Great article, many thanks.
ReplyDeleteUsed this when replacing an electric mirror.
Thanks buddy needed to swap the winder and this helped.
ReplyDeleteNo worries pal, glad it helped!
DeleteThank-you so much, really helpful guide. I would never have been able to get those door cards back on without your advice!!!
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome! Glad the guide helped :-) and thanks for leaving a comment!
DeleteCheers,
Andy.
I can't figure out what the "storage bin" is. I don't see or feel any other screws except for the one behind the cap :(
ReplyDeleteHey, apologies for the late reply!
DeleteIt's been a heck of a long time since I did this job, so I can't recall exactly, but I'm pretty sure the fixing you're looking for is at the front lower corner of the door casing.
The storage bin is the large pocket at the bottom of the door where you can store stuff, keys/phone etc.
If you look at the last image of the door casing removed, you can see 4 green clips along the bottom, if you look slightly to the right and up a bit of the right-most green clip, you can see a cylindrical boss with a hole in it, I believe this is where the screw is you couldn't find.
I hope this helps!
Andy.
Many thanks. I'm attempting to unstiffen my window winder and this guide will help loads. Cheers!
ReplyDeletePost a Comment
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