BROKEN: BG A-Pillar plastic trim panel
 

Are the external a-pillar covers (black plastic) on the BG's a general faulty item? both of mine are broken (one has fallen off completely) and i've been checking wreckers in my area, but on every astina i find, they are missing, or broken. having a look on other astinas i see in car parks, alot seem to be broken.

having rung mazda, i know why they arent at wreckers, because mazda are charging $162 per side (L&R)!!!! :eek:

has anyone else had this problem? and, if anyone knows where i can find good a-pillar trim panels cheaper than mazdas price, can you let me know?????

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Mitch

I had the same problem with one of my sides, i went to the wreckers, i was pretty much told getting one is a 1 in a million chance and they are $70 second hand, on the other hand they sell genuine parts (the wreckers i went to) for $140 so i got it from there. I got it from Mazda Auto Recyclers in Brissy.

they always fall off ... common problem!

Fall off and land on another car?

yea both mine are broken sucks makes the car look so cheap with cracks and bits missing

I actually bought 2 brand new ones for my BG 2 1/2 years ago for $90 each...they were cheap back then. They dont usually break off if the person who is takign them off knows what they are doing!! A lot of morons who work at windscreen places have no idea what they are doing and they just break them when changing the windscreen!

if anyone knows how to do it properly maybe they would like to post up a how to and we can stickie it for future reference??

yeh thats a good idea,im after one aswell so ill check out that mazda auto recyclers.thanx for the tip,the cheaper the better ey!dont really want to pay $160 for a piece of plastic.

Alright, heres how you do it :)

0. Plactic pillar consists of 1 screw, 1 clip and 2 sliding clips.
1. Undo the screw at the top of the trim
2. Pull the top bit gently towards you until you hear & feel that the clip pops out of the body of the car(this is the bit that breaks most of the time!)
3. Keep the plastic pillar pulled a little bit towards you(enough so that the roof is not blocking the way at the top), and pull it once again but upwards(towards the sky)--pillar should just slide out!
4. Job done. Installing is just the reverse. Make sure you slide the two bottom clips in place so they dont break!

$160 a side isnt that bad actually. i got quoted like $180 per side. for a 30 cents worth of plastic thing. if they are slighty cracked its best to leave them because if you touch them they disintergrate in ya hands.
have you thoguht about taking them off, then removing the metal clips and putting a peice of painted black wood there?? wouldnt be hard to do!. ive seen a fair few mazdas lately who have black duct tape where the black plastic bits were and from a distance dosent look too bad!! haha

Thanks for that everyone. I might have to just bite the bullet and by them from mazda. Thanks for the how to as well. i didnt quite know hot to get the remaining bit of them (espescially the r/hand side one, up the top where the screw is. the lower section is completely gone - it got hit by a football, and the tabs that go under the clps just broke right off)

hey, dont buy them from mazda! Are you from melbourne? If not, you can always order them from Allmaz in clayton(http://www.allmaz.com.au/). They have plenty in stock. They also told me that if a pillar is cracked, they can repair it and paint it black! worth checking out!

i'd try other wreckers than allmaz - they're usually pretty expensive!

I just got a brand new bonet 2 strips and new dash facer for ??_________












$450 :)

you may be interested in this fordlaser.com thread:
http://www.fordlaser.com/forum/viewt...ht=pillar+trim
(I'm assuming the BG Astina a-pillar trims are the same as the BG GTX trims)

yeah i work at mazda and we have about 5 of each side in stock coz we sell a fair few :(

I just replaced mine coz 1 was missing completely and the other was broken by the guy who resprayed it.
I got new ones from Mazda, $162 each....

i have one missing. anyone no a place to get them from in perth without it costing heaps. also its great to no how to put them on and off as well, some good info thanks

yeah Ive had them break on my mazda and replaced by a mazda dealer - and was a bit shocked at the price. But thats mazda plastic for you. Must be as rare as gold ;)

My sisters Astina had one break off when we were doing 110 up the freeway between brissie and hervey bay. Quite amusing, minding our own business and then Riiiiiiiiiip CRACK and we see this black piece of plastic flying past behind the car :)

i lost mine coming up the south eat freeway, a little bit faster tho mind you ;)