There is no way to replace these if they snap in half.

250,000 miles and 21 years of sun baking must have made them weak and brittle.

I need to swap my sunroof mechanism and they need to at the very least be loosened at the top in order to do this swap.

Is it inevitable to break them? Most likely? Probable?

Any tips on how to do this?

Just looking for opinions from those who have done this before.

 

Be gentle and find where it is fixed to the frame. Get something (like a screwdriver) and pry it off at the connection. There is a chance some of those will break off, but they can be epoxied back on usually. Just be careful and dont force it.

 

You putting some A-pillar gauge mounts on?

 

They're going to break. But you can try to minimize the carnage by using an auto-trim remover tool. It's like a angled screwdriver with a wide balde on the end that helps you reach behind the trim and pull the clips out instead of pulling on the trim.

 

NO the metal will break it use a panel removal tool like the one hes talkin about but plastic and only pry at clip points and it wont break. start from top work your way down dont use alot of pressure or when you pull and the clip finally releases youll flex the panel more that you meant to and itll break