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Removing front wheel arch trim

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Padelford

Member
Supporting Member
Jul 1, 2017
668
632
Seattle
The black trim around my right front wheel arch doesn’t fit right at the rear end of the arc next to the passenger door. Does anyone have experience taking the trim off? There is a tab that slots into the black plastic trim that runs under the passenger side doors, but I can’t see any clips otherwise holding it on. Thanks!
 
The black trim around my right front wheel arch doesn’t fit right at the rear end of the arc next to the passenger door. Does anyone have experience taking the trim off? There is a tab that slots into the black plastic trim that runs under the passenger side doors, but I can’t see any clips otherwise holding it on. Thanks!
I see you have had no responses. A Tesla ranger replaced my right front garnish recently. I watched and am pretty sure there were only clips as you describe at the trailing end of the arch. There may be a couple of screw type clips at the leading edge where it joins the air dam but you probably do not have to or want to spring that much of the garnish loose. Of course you also see the sensor in the garnish. That is a firm press-in attachment. You can pull back or out the inside wheel well covering to see behind the garnish clips. That material is quite flexible.
 
I see you have had no responses. A Tesla ranger replaced my right front garnish recently. I watched and am pretty sure there were only clips as you describe at the trailing end of the arch. There may be a couple of screw type clips at the leading edge where it joins the air dam but you probably do not have to or want to spring that much of the garnish loose. Of course you also see the sensor in the garnish. That is a firm press-in attachment. You can pull back or out the inside wheel well covering to see behind the garnish clips. That material is quite flexible.

Thanks for your response. I'm mainly concerned with the rear end of the piece near the passenger door. In the picture, I'm fretting about the gap toward the bottom of the trim. The other side fits tightly to the body all the way around.
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Did the garnish pull straight out from the body to pop free, or did the guy have to pull it sideways/up/down? I've got trim tools that should work, but I don't want to pry in the wrong direction and break something.
 
Have you tried pushing it on right in the middle of the angle? (if that makes sense). I had my front pieces replaced and it popped out on the bottom like that, but I pushed it back in and it seems ok.

I will say though, your best option is to gently try to press it in, if that doesn't work then ignore it somehow. My back pieces had an uneven gap and I couldn't get one side to snap back in at one spot, tried to get it to snap in but I could see the bumper flexing and it won't snap in. After trying a few times my thumb cracked the middle of it...
 
Thanks for your response. I'm mainly concerned with the rear end of the piece near the passenger door. In the picture, I'm fretting about the gap toward the bottom of the trim. The other side fits tightly to the body all the way around. View attachment 392320

Did the garnish pull straight out from the body to pop free, or did the guy have to pull it sideways/up/down? I've got trim tools that should work, but I don't want to pry in the wrong direction and break something.

It pulls straight out on the door side however towards the front there is two bolts and one plastic clip that hold the front portion of the arc. To view these screws you’ll have to remove the fender liner push pins (at least 3 or 4) to be able to get access in there.
 
I see you have had no responses. A Tesla ranger replaced my right front garnish recently. I watched and am pretty sure there were only clips as you describe at the trailing end of the arch. There may be a couple of screw type clips at the leading edge where it joins the air dam but you probably do not have to or want to spring that much of the garnish loose. Of course you also see the sensor in the garnish. That is a firm press-in attachment. You can pull back or out the inside wheel well covering to see behind the garnish clips. That material is quite flexible.

Was your garnish replacement covered under warranty? Or did you have to pay? Having a similar service done next week. Thanks.
 
My relatively new 2019 MX with less than 5000 miles went over flowing water on the road at around 15 mph and the splash from the water ripped off the right black plastic arch cover over the wheel. I have mentioned to Tesla Service that this is a bad quality manufacturing/assembly defect and it should be covered under warranty but so far their stand is that the water came from outside the vehicle and is therefore not covered under warranty. This is really sad since it’s clearly an example of poor quality material and assembly for a vehicle that costed me over $100k. I’m not sure who I need to approach to get this taken care of. I’ll post an image soon. I’m sure this will happen again since it seems to be the flimsy cheap plastic cover that probably is the root cause. Someone mentioned to me that perhaps the cover was not installed correctly. Either way Tesla should take responsibility since this is a brand new vehicle and assemble was therefore done by them.
 
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My relatively new 2019 MX with less than 5000 miles went over flowing water on the road at around 15 mph and the splash from the water ripped off the right black plastic arch cover over the wheel. I have mentioned to Tesla Service that this is a bad quality manufacturing/assembly defect and it should be covered under warranty but so far their stand is that the water came from outside the vehicle and is therefore not covered under warranty. This is really sad since it’s clearly an example of poor quality material and assembly for a vehicle that costed me over $100k. I’m not sure who I need to approach to get this taken care of. I’ll post an image soon. I’m sure this will happen again since it seems to be the flimsy cheap plastic cover that probably is the root cause. Someone mentioned to me that perhaps the cover was not installed correctly. Either way Tesla should take responsibility since this is a brand new vehicle and assemble was therefore done by them.
 

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Resurrecting this old thread. I have what looks like an issue with the rear half of this garnish on the driver side rear wheel (the garnish there looks like 2 separate pieces). When I recently picked my car from service for exterior fit issues on delivery I noticed it was slightly popped out. Without thinking much I pushed it back in and it seem to click, but a few days later I noticed it was still not very flush but couldn’t move it further. There’s a section close to rear 1/3rd of it that doesn’t have clips and my best guess is that is some sort of tab when I look at the not flush crack with a light. But won’t click in and the rear bumper just flexes a lot so afraid to push too much. The other side doesnt have this play and it’s perfectly flush - seems much more secure.

Any idea how this piece comes off ? Is it really two pieces ? Only rear half has the looseness. It’s a 2023 model.
 
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So what looks like the "rear half" of this garnish, is actually 1 piece and requires the removal of this screw? Was thinking of lifting the wheel liner and trying to peek with a mirror to see if any tab or clip is broken but decided to add to yet another service appointment (intermittent charge door not opening, which I have low hopes of being resolved as it seems software related).
 
I didn't post what I did to fix my problem of the garnish not being attached to the fender. I took off the tire, then disconnected the inner fender liner from the fender and body such that I could peel back the fender liner near the garnish attach point that was disconnected. I looked at the Tesla on-line service data for clues. A tab on the garnish could not reach the slot in the fender. I had to force the two together by pressing outward on the fender tab and simultaneously press/hamnmer on the garnish with my hand to get the garnish reattached at that point. It was a struggle. Ether the fender shape is a little off, or the garnish is misshapen at that point.
 
Thanks, I concluded as well the liner needs to be lifted - was going to try that without removing the tire when my car suffered bizzare symptoms and had to be towed and now is waiting since Sunday on SC parking lot - my assumption is that no one has looked at it yet as they are backed up. As a result I’ll probably miss my SC visit (different location) on Fri where they were going to look this and a few other cosmetic issues. My garnish issue is now taking a backseat but I’ll refer back to this post if I end up diy-ing it. The SC is not responsive to my inquiries if the two appointments can be merged so may have to do it as I can’t wait another few weeks