Been a while since I've checked in here but after scouring the interwebs (and failing) for some pics or videos for how to change the crappy broken hatch garnish problem a lot of people were having, I decided to post one myself. It's not that hard but there's a few annoyances I had to overcome during the procedure that I felt might be helpful to the rest of you guys.

First things first, removing the cover of the inside of the hatch. You have to pop off the light gray plastic liner first to get to all the screws/fasteners off of the darker main piece. This is in three sections that are loosely connected together. You should be able to pry it off pretty easily like a lot of things on the tC. Once that is off there are 2 screws and 2 fasteners you need to remove.





The fasteners are a PAIN to get out. If you have a thin flathead screwdriver you'll want to use that to wrench them out. They're made of plastic and flex a lot so it's hard to get them out. If you're like me you'll need to try to stay calm or you may break them in a fit of rage. I'd also recommend either coating the screwdriver's shaft in something rubber or cloth or it'll scratch up the paint (although this is covered for the most part by the light gray plastic). I just slid my hat under it but still scratched it a little. The screws come out easy enough, just be sure not to go overboard with it because there is enough resistance to strip the heads a bit if you aren't careful.

Next is pulling the dark plastic off. The handles on the plastic help to pry it off a bit. I had to do some extra work since the dynamat really didn't want me taking it off... A stock hatch shouldn't have as much of a problem. If you need help grab a plastic wedge of some sort and shove it in between the metal frame and the plastic to help pry it apart. Makes a lot of loud popping noises, but it didn't seem like the clips would be easily broken or anything. Just keep an eye out that it doesn't whack you in the head when you're pulling it off, and try to brace the metal frame with one hand so you aren't just pulling the gate closed on yourself.



Here's what we look like without the plastic in the way. I made some extra notes on the pictures in case anyone wanted to know where a few of the other things are back there. For this DIY focus on the circled screws and the hatch release button wiring.


Unscrew the four circled nuts. My socket wrench wasn't long enough so I had to fit the 10mm attachment onto the nuts first and then kind of hover the socket extender in the attachment and wrench it off that way until the screw post was short enough to lock the attachment and extender together properly for the rest of the way. Pay close attention while unscrewing them so that you don't drop the nut inside the metal frame of the door. It seemed like it would be VERY easy to do that... Once you got those off, you can pull the garnish off from the outside but it won't come off all the way. You have to push the little rubber cup holding the hatch handle button wiring out of the metal frame or it'll dangle down and possibly scratch up the outside of your hatch, so be careful. Make sure you unhook the wiring harness beforehand as well.



You may now throw down your busted piece o' crap hatch garnish and curse and taunt it on the ground where it belongs.



Now take out your nice new hatch garnish, feed the wiring harness through the large circled hole and squeeze the rubber cup thingy into place there. Then feed the bolts through the holes in the metal, taking care to maneuver the wiring out of the way so the lights fit into the recesses of the garnish. Keep an eye on the rubber seal around the garnish edges so it doesn't fold over or get pushed out of the way while you're putting it into place. You'll probably want to hold the garnish in place with one hand while ducking under the hatch and carefully screwing the nuts back onto the bolts inside (loosely). Get all the nuts on before trying to tighten them down so you can make sure the garnish is seated right. Also make sure you don't over tighten the nuts, the plastic (as we all know) is pretty fragile.




Now reconnect the wiring and try out the hatch release button to make sure it's working properly before putting all the covers back on. If all is well, pop the plastic cover back onto the hatch and screw in the 2 screws and push in the 2 fasteners (which again, may take some muscle to get back in. I pounded mine in with the handle of a screwdriver as best I could.). The light gray pieces like to fall apart and not behave while putting them back into place. It might be helpful to have someone hold it in place on once side while you pop it back into place. Just push the plastic against the frame every couple inches or so and the clips should all pop back into place. And that's pretty much it. Takes about 30 minutes or so.

 

Awesome, will read this again when I replace mine, thanks for the thread.

 

The first fasteners mentioned don't really need to be taken off. You can just let the panel pivot on them like hinges. I also had the problem of those crappy mounting brackets braking but instead of getting a new garnish, you could just super glue or epoxy them back on. Mine's working good so far.

 

good write up, i have been looking on how to remove the hatch from the tc, it seem really fragile when i always open my trunk, i was thinking of finding a different hatch that is a bit stronger.

 

I could have saved you the issue of making this thread.

http://www.oznium.com/articles/17

^BOOM