I have removed my passenger van's sliding door panel numerous times for sound deadening, insulation and (mostly) latch access. The clips seemed to survive fairly well. But they started to break, and finally the sliding door panel bowed out, caught the pillar, and the passenger unwisely forced the door open. The panel's particle board base broke and most (8 out of 10) of the clips broke also.
To remove a clip, it is easy if there is some stem remaining. Look into the hole and look for the knotch in the head of the clip. Twist the clip out. If the stem is broken off< i used needle nose pliers to help.
The original twist in and now the twist out does a number on the particle board. So I hardened the board with some leftover stuff - I don't think it matters much what is used to stabilize the particle board.
There does not seem to be Sprinter specific replacement clips available outside of Mercedes. Those that are available using "Mercedes" and "panel clip" for search terms bring up clips that look the same as the ones in the Sprinter panel - but they are not the same as the space for the particle board panel is too narrow - presumably Mercedes uses a narrow board for their car door panels as compared to the vans. What I did find was not the same design, but the same 14 mm head size, same knotch, and same 9 mm stem size for VWs under part no. 20252 at http://www.clipsandfasteners.com/ . Original is green and the replacement is black in the picture below.
They work:
To remove a clip, it is easy if there is some stem remaining. Look into the hole and look for the knotch in the head of the clip. Twist the clip out. If the stem is broken off< i used needle nose pliers to help.
The original twist in and now the twist out does a number on the particle board. So I hardened the board with some leftover stuff - I don't think it matters much what is used to stabilize the particle board.
There does not seem to be Sprinter specific replacement clips available outside of Mercedes. Those that are available using "Mercedes" and "panel clip" for search terms bring up clips that look the same as the ones in the Sprinter panel - but they are not the same as the space for the particle board panel is too narrow - presumably Mercedes uses a narrow board for their car door panels as compared to the vans. What I did find was not the same design, but the same 14 mm head size, same knotch, and same 9 mm stem size for VWs under part no. 20252 at http://www.clipsandfasteners.com/ . Original is green and the replacement is black in the picture below.
They work:
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