I got a Cusco rear tower bar and I'm trying to remove the trunk liner. I will need to do that when I replace the shocks anyway. There are three pieces that are giving me trouble. Has anyone else removed all this stuff to replace their shocks, some of the radio electronics, repair their roof mechanism, or whatever? I'm stuck. I removed every trim retaining plug. I don't have a torx bit big enough for the parts that receive the pull-out luggage cover but that shouldn't affect the forward portions of the liner.

I don't think the "Luggage Compartment Trim Cover Front" really has to be removed. I do need to remove or substantially flex the "Luggage Compartment Trim Cover Side LH" and right hand. I know other people on here have replaced rear shocks or installed coilovers. What's the trick to getting these liner pieces out???

Any help from someone who has done this would be appreciated. Pictures are shown below.


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It has been YEARS since I did it.

You for sure have to take out those giant Torx screws. Then those corner covers come off. Then you pull out the roof drains up toward the passenger compartment. The you can get the side carpet out.(After you pull that plastic clip on the sidewall shown in your picture) The only thing that will be holding in the carpet is the trunk gasket. The tough part is that there is a slit in it for the roof hinges. You need to pull the carpet around the hinges.

As for the firewall cover. You said you pulled out all the fasteners, but I see one right in the middle of the picture. Hopefully that is the trouble maker. It also looks like you have to take off those plastic covers left and right. They seem to be holding the carpet in.

 

Thanks for letting me know that removing the Torx screws is a must. I tried moving the roof drains up and prying the corners of the left and right pieces out but it got to the point where I was afraid I would permanently crease them if I tried any harder. By the time I took the photo with the clips in it, I had already given up on removing the front center piece and had put enough of them back in that it won't rattle around while I'm driving.

How did you remove the glow-in-the-dark kidnapper release handle in the left hand rear corner? I looked and the mechanism is bolted to the car. The appears that the lip of the cup that surrounds the handle will keep the liner from coming out. I was afraid to pry out the release handle in case I couldn't get it back on. The repair manual doesn't mention it anywhere that I could find.

 

I did this about 2 weeks ago. For the interior release handle look at the inside of the handle. There are small notches where you have to put a pick or small flat head screwdriver in to release. I think there's 3 around the end of the handle, then there's a final hidden clip next to the rotation point that just pops off with a little bit of force. Interior removal tools are your friend. It's actually a pretty cool design because the plastic sandwiches the felt securely.

Mr. DshngDaryl is correct, you do need to remove the torx screws.

 

These are really handy for stuff like this:

But I think I got my set at HarborFreight
https://www.harborfreight.com/trim-a...-pc-64126.html

It is possible you can get a flat head screwdriver that will fit just right into that torque bit. Make sure it fits just right and then turn slowly and see if you can get it loose.

 

An update on this thread:

Thank you @DshngDaryl for telling me I had to remove the Torx screws. Thanks to @dan25man for the tip about the interior release handle. I finally got all the liner pieces out and installed the Cusco rear tower bar. It made a noticeable difference in the rear end wanting to flex. It didn't make as much of a difference as the Ultra Racing front tower bar did (that made a huge difference). I would still recommend both bars, though. While I have all these pieces out, I installed a backup camera from sc430mods.com