Hi, I've recently purchased a GTI and decided to change some of the trim to the ghia spec chrome and wood.

Whilst I was removing the number plate trim, one of the screws refused to come out of the trim, so I pulled it, and the raw plug came out of the trim, so I have no leverage to get the nut out of the screw. I have tried pliers but had to real luck gripping it, any help on how to remove the plug from the screw would be appreciated.

Post up a photo of the offending item and I'll see what I can advise.

Is it a rawl plug or a rivnut? For the fact you call it a nut I'm guessing it's the latter.

It's a rivnut which has sheared and latched into the screw. I can't get a picture because I've put the gti trim back on, awaiting for the rain to stop.

It's a rivnut which has sheared and latched into the screw. I can't get a picture because I've put the gti trim back on, awaiting for the rain to stop.

Getting the old rivnut off the screw should be simple enough, even if you do need to hacksaw it. But what are you going to do with the hole now?

I had this problem on the rear of my Mk2.

Whoever fitted the last lot of plates used a screw so big that I needed a screw extractor to remove it and ripped the rivnut right out leaving a hole.

Access from behind the hole is very tight so I used some Sugru which I pushed the new screw into allowing it to set and form a kind of rubber nut (also sealing against leaks into the process).

Once the Sugru set fully firm after 24 hours I just nipped the screw up a little tighter.

I'm currently trying to get around to fitting new plates using plate holders so no holes will be seen.

I have a rivnut kit and various flat bolts to try and get a good match to the holes.

You could always just stick the plates directly on, Team Torquesteer sell plate adhesive pads that fit nearly the full size of the plates and are a lot stronger than small strips of sticky pads sold in motor factors.

Crisis averted, hack sawed the screw off and used a pair of grippers to compact the screw into a size which I could remove it from the hole without ripping the paint off,

I can't believe all that hassle just for a small bit of trim, anyways the gti looks the part now, it has some ghia trim I think

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