As a result of my little adventure with the TBL, I have managed to break a couple of the clips which hold the large plastic piece to the metal of the hatch. If you don't know what I mean, I am talking about the plastic single piece which covers almost the entire area of the hatch - the part which has the plastic handles used for pulling down the hatch when you want to close it. Well, the specific part which I am looking for is the white plastic clip/peg which holds it in place. On the back of the large plastic piece, there are approximately 8 of these white plastic pegs. I broke two of them. I am not good at describing the parts, but they function by popping in and popping out of holes in the metal. If absolutely necessary, I can take a picture.

Btw, I know I can probably get these from Toyota, but I wanted to ask first because it would be more convenient to order online.

Thanks!

 

toyota is prolly gonna be ur best bet most of the time if you only need a couple they will just give them to you. if not they are very inexpensive

 

They're pretty cheap. But if you only broke 2 of them, you don't really need all 8 to be on. If you just spread the remaining 6 over the 8 holes so that you get good coverage, it won't rattle or break or fall off.

Just make sure the holes near the outer edges of the inner trunk trim piece are still on and you should be fine.

Ed

 

Really? I thought I was likely to get overcharged if I went to the dealership.

 

well, you're ALWAYS going to be overcharged for ANYTHING if you go to the dealership. Markup is a b!tch but the overall cost is really negligable. I suppose if you're really really really cheap and you pinch a penny so tight it screams for mercy and calls you daddy, then I guess it makes sense to order online - but then you have shipping fees.

 

Thing is, I already broke the two swing-arms that hold the piece at the top (this is about the 12th time I have removed that piece, so the breakages happened naturally through lots of wear). Anyway, with the two arms broken, the entire piece is only held on by the clips, and is already poorly supported at the top corners. I don't want to face any rattles or risk the thing falling off when I pull the hatch handle. Ideally, I would like to replace all of the clips because they are all at various stages of wear.

I don't think there is a way to replace the swing-arms, right? Because the part which broke was a solid connection (although a really flimsy connection) directly to the plastic piece.

 

Nah, I don't care too much about cost. I just didn't want to be charged 10 bucks per clip or something ridiculous, when I could maybe get them online for a buck.

But maybe my idea of dealerships is all wrong.

 

You broke the swing arms off? You mean the actual plastic of the interior trim piece right? In that case, yeah, you can't really repair that. Unless you glue the trim piece to the hatch, you'll probably never really fix that.

The only alternative I can suggest is go to a junkyard and look for a front-end wrecked tc.

 

Yeah but those hinge pieces are not exactly critical. And when the rest of the hatch piece is secured in place, it doesn't even look like those pieces are broken.

 

Well I don't know it for a fact, but those little clips are probably only a buck or two at the dealer. Having said that, I doubt there are any aftermarket equivalents of these pieces, so that's really the place to go to get them.

 

Oh, I forgot about this thread. I actually found them a couple of days ago at getscionparts.com. I assume these guys just order from the dealer, but the convenience and price can't be beat. 67 cents each.

 

lol i've been looking for clips in a long time. I check that site

 

Here is the direct link:

http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...=8&catalogid=2

It's part number 8.

 

And we're talkin bout same clip right, the white one that is used all over the plastic panels in our car? thanks for the link man, im gonna look for the plastic clips too for that plastic thing near the wiper (ya the one you take out to access your strut tower) they should have it too.

 

Yeah, same clip.

As far as I know, they have every single part available. I also used that site to order some extra front bumper clips and fender lining clips. These little plastic clips have a habit of breaking with repeated popping in and popping out.

 

I got mine replaced by my dealership by telling them they never came with the car and just never noticed it until now. They said thats OK and gave me an ENTIRE NEW HATCH TRIM SETUP under warranty. Nice deal.

 

Damn. I can't pull that stunt though, because mine has clearly been tampered with.

 

ooo, that sucks.