how to remove factory radio
 

I was wondering if anyone here can help guide me on how to remove the factory radio on my 2002 protege 5? I wanted to paint the trim around the radio. Thanks.

hope this helps.

http://home.hawaii.rr.com/swazey/radioremove.jpg

once you get in the car and look at it, it seems pretty easy.

Go to Wal-Mart and buy 2 sets of the Ford radio removal tools. They should say on the package for Mazda as well. You will get 2 U-shaped things in each package. The last picture in the above post shows the radio removal tools.

I used butterknives....fyi.

I used a hammer mixed with alittle stress and viola...stock radio out

:laugh:

Hi,

DON'T BOTHER PAINTING IT!!!! I did the same thing, and even that special paint made for plastic does not stick well! I primed the thing like 100 times, and the paint still chipped, ran, and looked sloppy. I ended up getting the carbon fiber plate and glued it on there...MUCH better looking...

i just used a wire hanger, cut it into 4 4" peices, bent them in a curve, and used those... and another time i used 4 of my small screw drivers, worked like a charm... those removal tools are a waste of money unless you do this on a daily basis...

The tools cost like $4 for us lazy folk :D

I finally got the radio out and painted the trim around it. Just putted on this morning and let me tell you, IT LOOKED GREAT!! Hopefully will stay like that and not loose it's gloss or chip. One problem though, got a little scratch here and there from removing the radio, oops. If i could kick myself in the A** for this I would. Now i need to find some ways to hide them little scratches. :-(

dont look at them :p, or just replace whatever you scratched, if its on a plastic trim piece it will probably be REALLY hard to repair...

Aha, see...no matter how many times you paint that, the scratch will haunt you!

same thing happened to me!!

hey i got my radio out with my bare hands.......

i just went behind in from the glove box, and got to the other side from the top( right above the radio)....and i just pushed the clips with my thumbs (man did it hurt and reguire force)

but thats how i did it