Are the door panel clips on S40 2005 and up reusable?

When the panel pops off, the clips seem to pull back and are a little longer than brand new, unused ones. Need to push the tip back in somehow to achieve the perfect fit but that seems impossible! Anyone gas experience with these things? The door panels will go on fine with the old "hyper extended" clips but there is a slight gap, not great!

 

You can reuse the clips. I never replace them unless they actually break.

 

You can reuse them but if you compare the gap on a panel with reused clips to a panel attached with new clips you'll see a gap. I am wondering if there is a way to push the clips in, to make them tight again, eliminating the extra gap...

 

You may have them installed in the panel incorrectly.

 

No, I don't have them installed "incorrectly"; pretty hard to do that. I have a few new clips and I have old clips: the new clips are less extended than the old, used ones; there is an obvious break at the tip, and may be 2-3mm length difference...

 

Actually, it is easy to install them incorrectly.

 

I was just wrestling with ~8 of the devils on the V50's tailgate. They work something like a blind pop rivet. When in the "as supplied" (shorter) position, the center pin nests inside the expansion leaves. A light tap then pushes a boss on the center pin against the leaves and it locks in place.

The question is how to REMOVE them without breaking anything. A thread over at Swedespeed advocates a gentle pull:

V50 Tailgate Won't Open

"It's secured by pop-catches, you need to pull them steadily, they'll pop out about 3/8", then the catches will release." That didn't work for me! I ended up moving the tailgate panel off to the side off the clips, then individually releasing each clip.

Any insight here?

 

Exactly. And you can install them incorrectly in the panel. Notice the three "rings" at the end? (right side of picture) The part of the panel goes between the left one and center one (as pictured).

To remove, pry the panel off. I use a long "bone tool" and just give it a quick twist and they pop right out. Gotta do it quick, don't be afraid.